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Monday, August 6, 2007
Brooking has confidence in ‘solid’ team
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Mark Bradley
Flowery Branch — Keith Brooking shared a back row with Morten Andersen on the bus carrying the Falcons from the Metrodome after their epic overtime victory in the 1998 NFC championship game. Said Brooking, then a callow rookie: “This is pretty cool.”
Said Andersen, already ancient and therefore aware of the moment and its enormity: “Pretty cool? Do you realize what we just accomplished?”
Pretty cool soon got pretty weird. On Super Bowl eve, Eugene Robinson was arrested hours after receiving the NFL’s citizenship award. The next night, Andersen missed a point-blank field goal and Rod Smith beat Robinson for an 80-yard touchdown on consecutive snaps. Thus did even the greatest Falcons season wind up reminding us these were still the Falcons.
Nearly a decade later, the only remaining player from the Falcons’ only Super Bowl sweats through a training camp that opened to oral and aerial protests. From a solicitation arrest along Biscayne Boulevard to a dogfighting indictment in Virginia — some franchise, huh?
Says Brooking, now in his 10th professional season: “Nothing really surprises me. … It’s been a roller coaster.”
A guy doesn’t last in the NFL by getting queasy with every dip, and goodness knows the linebacker has felt his share. The way to react, Brooking says, is not to react. “You hear something or you see something and, taking nothing away from your teammates, you have to have that move-on mentality. Some things are out of your control. You have to have tunnel vision and look straight ahead.”
Brooking was one of a half-dozen veterans who met the media on the first day of training camp. Earnestly and collectively they maintained this latest furor can be overcome by the team Michael Vick leaves behind. A historian would recall similar pronouncements in 1999 after Jamal Anderson hurt his knee in Week 2 and again in 2003 after Vick broke his leg in the second exhibition. Both times the Falcons wound up 5-11.
“We had Jamal and Vick going down, and those [circle-the-wagons] scenarios didn’t take place,” Brooking says. “But you see those scenarios all around the league.”
He mentions the 2006 New Orleans Saints, who came off a losing season and a coaching change and Katrina-caused displacement to play for the NFC title. “I don’t think [Vick’s absence has] made it easy on us, but anything worth earning doesn’t come easy.”
And then: “I know we have the right head coach. [Bobby Petrino] has tunnel vision like I’ve never seen in my life. We have the right pieces in place. The schemes are solid. The coaches are solid. … You need everybody pulling on the rope, and I don’t think anybody’s pulling in the opposite direction. We’ve all bought in.”
If nothing else, Vick’s indictment came before camp commenced, leaving the Falcons and Petrino more than a month to adjust. “We have a lot of practices,” Brooking says. “Joey [Harrington, the new No. 1 quarterback] will get his work, and it gives guys time to exude confidence in Joey. That’s important. I’ve told Joey, ‘I believe in you, I’m here for you and I’ve got your back.’ “
And, unlike in 2003, these Falcons are operating under the assumption Vick will be gone for the duration, not six to 10 weeks. “It’s that tunnel vision again,” Brooking says. “We can’t be wondering, ‘What if he’s back in three weeks, or two games into the regular season?’ We can’t look beyond [today].”
Over time, not much has gone right for the Falcons. (Forty-one seasons and still never winners two years running!) Without Vick, this autumn has the makings of one of the worst. But, should Brooking and his mates squeeze out seven victories, it would deserve to be hailed as one of the best. In the grand scheme, just hanging tough would be pretty cool.
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