When the Cowboys flopped last December, there were many reasons floated about why the team again lost their way after a promising start to the season. The lack of veteran leadership came up quite often, something that the team cited as part of the reason why they signed linebacker Keith Brooking during the offseason.
Brooking turned out to be a natural for the role, taking long turns with reporters in good times and, especially, bad times as the spokesman for the team. After the last two weeks, you can't argue with how well it's worked out. And, thanks to NBC's cameras on Sunday night, we now know exactly how Brooking fires up his teammates.
That's gotta be the most polite pregame speech in the history of football. It comes off like a poorly choreographed WWE routine.
"We're going to bloody their nose" sounds like something you'd hear before an Oxford-Cambridge regatta, not a Cowboys-Redskins game on a Sunday night with the playoffs on the line. And, you've gotta love the fact that Brooking allows for the chance that the Redskins might get back up after the Cowboys knock them down. He's fiery, sure, but he's also honest.
Who knows what Brooking might have up his sleeve for the playoffs. Threats of fattened lips and bruised bottoms? A haircut that isn't reminiscent of Tom Cruise in "All the Right Moves"? We'll all be glued to our seats to find out.
We're having a bit of fun here, but obviously Brooking's speechifying is pushing the right buttons so it doesn't much matter that he sounds like a Bizarro world version of Ray Lewis.
