Texas NFL Capsules: Brooking ignites Cowboys with fiery pregame huddle
IRVING — A few minutes before kickoff against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys will form a big circle around linebacker Keith Brooking, giving him their full attention.
In his 12th NFL season, Brooking could offer all sorts of insight, maybe a final few words of wisdom to keep everyone focused on what's at stake. But that's not his thing.
Brooking will start ranting and raving like a revivalist preacher trying to save souls and convert nonbelievers. He'll holler things that demand words of affirmation to be hollered back. There will probably be some jumping up and down and maybe some body slamming, all in the name of motivation.
Could this pregame pep session be a secret reason why the Cowboys have a chance to win the division?
"Who knows?" Brooking acknowledged. "When toe meets leather, are you remembering that? Probably not. But at the end of the day it is an emotional game, and if that little bit of spark may help us a little bit, I'm all for it."
Here's how it went last Sunday, before the Cowboys played the Redskins in Washington, courtesy of NBC cameras and YouTube:
"This is all we need!" Brooking screams twice, his helmet off, head bobbing and eyes bulging as he shuffles around the middle of the circle, teammates responding to each line with cries of "Yeah!"
"We're gonna keep hitting 'em!" he screams twice, followed by more cries of "Yeah!"
"They might get back up. Then we're gonna hit 'em again!" he continues, now moving in faster circles. "And when they're barely hanging on ..."
"What're we gonna do?" screams running back Tashard Choice, setting up Brooking for his frenzied finish.
"We're gonna hit 'em in the mouth! We're gonna bloody their nose! We're gonna knock 'em to the ground!" Brooking says, drawing cheers and laughs as players close it by bashing into each other.
This ritual has been going on for weeks, although somewhat under the radar. Special teams coach Joe DeCamillis didn't even know about it, finding out only because he was watching the Redskins game from a hospital room when NBC showed the clip during the second quarter Sunday night.
"That was an interesting deal, that's for sure," DeCamillis said. "He got them jacked up, and that's what it's all about."
DeCamillis wasn't surprised, though, because he coached Brooking for many years in Atlanta before being reunited this season. He knows that Brooking is the rare guy who at 34 plays with the excitement of someone half his age.
The Falcons, however, thought Brooking was too old to keep playing linebacker in a young man's game, so they let him go after last season. Cowboys coach Wade Phillips disagreed and signed him to play on first and second downs, figuring his attitude would be nice to have, too.
Brooking started out relatively low-key until he started making plays all over the field — pressuring quarterbacks, breaking up passes, chasing down younger running backs from behind. Then out came his wild side, much to the delight of teammates and fans.
Around midseason, the club began using him to ratchet up the noise at home games. The final thing shown on the massive video boards before kickoff is a close-up of Brooking staring out and saying, "It's 80,000 of us against 11 of them," then cutting to a shot of the visitors, drawing boos and helping whip the crowd into a frenzy.
About the same time, Choice — another vocal, emotional leader — began encouraging Brooking to lead the club in a pregame "breakdown," a pump-it-up session used by many teams. It went over so well they do it every week.
"I'm just like, 'OK, Brook. It's time,'" Choice said.
Teammates say it works so well because of how genuine it is coming from Brooking.
"You can definitely see the passion pouring right out of him," receiver Miles Austin said.
"If it was just something he had to do, a lot of us would take it as a joke because we are grown men," added receiver Sam Hurd. "But when you look into his eyes, you can tell it's something he really feels and you want to get on the same level he is."
Hurd, Choice and even Austin are relatively young guys, the kind more prone to buying into college-like enthusiasm.
But receiver Roy Williams, in his sixth year, gets a kick out of it, too.
"I was one of those guys that was in the back when he gets going," Williams said. "Now I'm one of those guys in the middle when he gets going."
The only person complaining about it all might be Holly Brooking, Keith's wife.
After seeing the clip on TV Sunday night, "she's like, 'I don't know if I know that guy,'" Brooking said, laughing.
Cowboys special teams coach receives courage award
IRVING — Cowboys special teams coach Joe DeCamillis has become just the fourth recipient of the Special Courage Award.
The only previous honorees in the NFL were Dick LeBeau (2008), Vince Papale (2006) and Eddie Jones (1999).
DeCamillis oversaw offseason practices two weeks after surgery to repair a broken neck and missed only two days after undergoing an emergency appendectomy that also led to a hernia repair this past weekend.
Dallas players wanted to recognize DeCamillis for how he's overcome such major setbacks. As a coach, he's not eligible for the Ed Block Courage Award, so he received this rare honor.
Offensive lineman Kyle Kosier was the club's Ed Block Courage Award winner, as voted on by his teammates.
Kraft Foods to sponsor Texas Stadium implosion
IRVING — Some lucky contest winner is going to get to blow up Texas Stadium.
The City of Irving and Kraft Foods provided details Thursday of their sponsorship deal for the building's implosion — including a national essay contest with the winner getting to pull the trigger that finishes off the iconic stadium.
The city council unanimously approved the sponsorship deal with the mac 'n cheese makers Thursday. Details on the essay contest, part of Kraft's "Cheddar Explosion" promotional campaign, will be announced next week.
The storied stadium, known for the hole in the roof and home to the Cowboys from 1971 to 2008, will cease to exist in March or April.
Schaub finds sccess in Houston
HOUSTON — Houston's Matt Schaub is having the best season of his career.
Sure, he's improved in his third year as Houston's starter, but the biggest factor might be that he's played each game this season for the Texans. Schaub missed five games in each of his first two seasons in Houston with injuries after being traded from the Falcons.
"It's definitely helped to avoid being sidelined with an injury and just be out there for the full complement of the year and not have any setbacks," Schaub said.
Schaub leads the NFL with a franchise-record 4,467 yards passing and he has thrown 27 touchdown passes this season. His development has helped Houston's passing game flourish and the Texans rank second to the Colts in yards passing a game with almost 291.
The Texans (8-7) remain in playoff contention entering the last weekend of the regular season for the first time in franchise history. They need a win and a lot of help to get one of two AFC wild-card spots, but a victory will give the 8-year-old team its first winning record.
"It's a huge game for us and it's a chance for us to get to 9-7, which we haven't been able to do," Schaub said. "Obviously there's a lot (riding) on the game. It's a playoff game in our mind, a must-win game to stay in the hunt."
Andre Johnson, who leads the league with 1,504 yards receiving, said it makes him proud to look at the top passers in the NFL and see Schaub's name above them all. His year has helped Johnson put up another big season after finishing with an NFL-best 1,575 yards receiving last year.
"He's taken a lot of criticism, but I think this year by what he's done he's kind of shut some people up," Johnson said. "In this league it's about being consistent, so he has to come back and hopefully have a similar year like he had this year and hopefully we can go out and win more games and he'll get the recognition he deserves."
Schaub's injuries in his first two seasons as a starter after spending his first three years as Michael Vick's backup in Atlanta had some questioning his toughness. If those doubts remained this season, he put them to rest when he returned to a game against Jacksonville after dislocating his non-throwing shoulder on the first play.
While Schaub has started every game this season, he's had to deal with an array of different offensive linemen and tight ends because of injuries at those positions.
"This whole league is a war of attrition and is about the team that can avoid the injuries the most and stay healthy the longest and battle through adversity," Schaub said. "We've had some setbacks especially up front and with Owen (Daniels) going down, but everyone else has been able to stay healthy so ... we've been able to battle through it."
Even though Schaub leads the league in yards passing and has numbers comparable to the league's elite quarterbacks in virtually every passing category, he isn't often mentioned as one of them. Coach Gary Kubiak said the reason he isn't yet seen as being on the level of Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Drew Brees is simple.
"Let's face it: quarterbacks in this league are judged in the long haul on winning," Kubiak said. "He's played good football. It's time for him to take his team to the next (level) and that's being a playoff team and having a chance to compete for a championship someday. That's what it's all about. Tom, Peyton and of course I was around John Elway all those years, that's ultimately what those guys are judged upon."
Kubiak, who is a former quarterback, has seen Schaub grow in each of his three years in Houston. He knows he'll have to do more to make this team a contender.
"I think he's doing his part," Kubiak said. "We have to continue to improve as a team and he has to continue to improve as a player. Him being healthy has been a big part and he's been able to do that this year."
-- Kristie Rieken
