Brooks Tells How To Beat The Saints

October 13th, 2011

Plenty of Bucs fans were tossing and turning last night wondering how the Bucs can win Sunday at home against the Saints, especially without LeGarrette Blount and his wounded knee.

(Joe must inject. Will Blount really sit out a huge game with a knee bruise/knee sprain/the Bucs aren’t really saying what it is? There’s been no talk of any MRI, and Jeff Faine said Blount looked fine. Could the Bucs be rest/rehabbing Blount and confusing the Saints at the same time?)

Well, it seems Bucs icon Derrick Brooks is confident Tampa Bay can knock off the Saints. He offered a how-to guide during his weekly appearance yesterday on WDAE-AM 620 on The Steve Duemig Show.

“Win on your early downs, making it 3rd-and-short, 3rd-and-3, 3rd-and-4, you have a chance to convert against this defense and you keep them out of all these exotic blitzes that [defensive coordinator] Greg Williams likes to dial up,” Brooks said.

“We’ve had a formula to beat’em. You know, we’ve beat’em before. And that formula was running the football and scoring in the red zone and not turning the football over. That’s how you beat the Saints. You protect the football. You don’t turn it over. Stay in manageable downs on offense, and defensively don’t give up the explosion plays.

“Make Drew Brees drive down the field and stay patient … because Sean Payton, if you make him do that sometimes he gets a little impatient trying to dial up the big play, and then sometimes he gives you a chance to burn him.”

Somehow the Bucs need to find a way to move the chains from the opening whistle, as they did in New Orleans last January. Having Brees off the field is the best medicine for the Bucs’ banged up defense and the Bucs’ best chance to be in a tight game in the fourth quarter, when they usually play their best football.

24 Responses to “Brooks Tells How To Beat The Saints”

  1. Captain Stagger Says:

    So what you’re saying is…..Score more points?

  2. CoachG Says:

    No he is basically saying don’t give them anything over the top on defense and they get over aggressive and throw deep into coverage

  3. Tom Says:

    No offense to Mr. B, because he was a great player… but his advice is like telling someone the key to being rich is saving your money and investing wisely. The devil is in the details. I doubt that the Bucs have been trying to avoid 3 and short.

  4. FLBoyInDallas Says:

    Hate to be a buzz kill but this is the strategy to beat any team in the NFL. The problem is having the players to execute it. That’s where the rubber meets the road. Do the Bucs have what it takes? We’ll see…

  5. bucfanjeff Says:

    If they Bucs are sandbagging on Blounts “injury”, JBF just possibly brought it to light for the enemy…much like he did Raheem and player contact.
    Oh how can we thank you enough. Jeez joe.

  6. admin Says:

    Joe here,

    @BucFanJeff — Or Joe just further confused the Saints. … You guys crack Joe up. Surely, thinking Bucs and Saints fans everywhere and Saints management already were wondering how hurt Blount realy was. Joe would be stunned if that hasn’t been a topic of conversation in many forums.

    As for shining a light on Raheem, Joe still finds it comical that some wag a finger of shame at Joe and believe Joe should have quashed the coach’s words during an advanced hyped radio appearance before 40,000+ on the team’s flagship station, which was archived by the station itself on its popular website. Raheem should be proud he did what he had to do to stay in touch with his team. It’s only a matter of time before it’s revelaled that most coaches were in touch with players an awful lot, though most not via trackable phones.

  7. Joe Says:

    bucfanjeff:

    If they Bucs are sandbagging on Blounts “injury”, JBF just possibly brought it to light for the enemy…much like he did Raheem and player contact.
    Oh how can we thank you enough. Jeez joe.

    [facepalm]

    Yeah. This never, ever, crossed the mind of Sean Payton and Gregg Williams. An out of town blog had to tip them off. No one else with a public forum thought this?

    jeez indeed!

  8. mikeck Says:

    Wow..so if the Bucs move the ball, score touchdowns and keep the other guys offense off the field, we can win???? well hell…why didnt you say so!…14-2 here we come.

  9. McBuc Says:

    Bucfanjeff…Joe has a great site, but come on man! You cannot blame Joe for writing what Coach Morris says on a public radio broadcast! Joe has grown since I first started reading this site by leaps and bounds, but I am pretty sure he was not the guy that shined a light on Morris and got him the $250K fine. Morris is proud of what he did and refuses to apologize for it. Sean Payton is an NFL head coach with a bunch of wins under his belt, I think he is watching everything the Bucs do with Blount right now. In fact, I would bet he is preparing his team for Blount, Since Lumpkin and Bradford are lesser backs of the same style. They know EG just fine, so no worries there I am sure.

  10. McBuc Says:

    It sounds to me like Brooks is brushing up on his coach speak. This sound like what a head coach says before a game…then at the half they say…”We need to make a stand on defense and stop the other team on third downs. Our offense need to make a statement and move the chains, we need to convert more third downs. We need to protect the ball better and be more aware in the red zone.

  11. Joe Says:

    Thanks for the kind words McBuc!

  12. Theodore Says:

    Yep Joe, there you go again, spreading information harmful to the Bucs. The Bucs are gonna try to gain yards on 1st and 2nd down, and now the Saints know to prepare for that.

    The cat is out of the bag now!

  13. Joe Says:

    Theodore:

    Next thing you know, Joe’s going to blow Raheem’s cover again and spill the beans about how Raheem wants to get his defense off the field on third downs. :/

  14. CoachG Says:

    To Theodore and Joe
    Hilarious stuff!!

  15. Bobby Says:

    In a related development, Derrick Brooks revealed that oatmeal contains oats……

  16. Mauha Deeb Says:

    Why isn’t this guy working for the Bucs already? Oh yeah, he is making too much money.

  17. Joe Says:

    Mauha Deeb:

    Why isn’t this guy working for the Bucs already? Oh yeah, he is making too much money.

    Ding!

  18. bucfanjeff Says:

    Uh, it was in jest…LOL you guys are crackin’ ME up now.

  19. McBuc Says:

    LOL, sorry Bucfanjeff!

  20. SteveK Says:

    We need 2 more coaching changes this offseason, a D coordinator so Rah can just run the show, and a QB friendly offensive coordinator so #5 can continue to grow.

    DeSean Jackson would be a possible FA addition, and he would make this offense go from average to awesome.

  21. Wade Says:

    “Win on your early downs, making it 3rd-and-short, 3rd-and-3, 3rd-and-4, you have a chance to convert against this defense and you keep them out of all these exotic blitzes that [defensive coordinator] Greg Williams likes to dial up,”

    Wow, what a genius. So, I guess this strategy is different than any other game.

  22. 941-Bucs Says:

    Brooks please come be our Defensive Coordinator next year. Pretty please? Even as just a Line backer coach. Kieth Millard teaching the boys up front. DB teaching the boys in the middle. and Rhonde showing the DB’s how to do it on the tail end.. Would be a dream come true.

  23. 941-Bucs Says:

    I agree SteveK i am not taking a knock at Raheem’s D Play calling… for the most part it works well. The Defense as a whole is Great. They just only play Great indivually at times. Once they all play great together it is a force to be reconed with. But still Raheem needs to focus on the overall picture and let someone else dial up the Defensive plays for him.. also would give him fresh pair of eyes to help keep the D growing in the right direction

  24. D.P.Boo Says:

    How about Derrick Brooks as our new D-Coordinator ?