Patriots defensive back Terrence Brooks tries not to focus on the past, but he remembers it. It’s all a part of football. Success is grown from misery, happiness from pain.
Brooks has felt the pain. After an injury to safety Patrick Chung in the Patriots’ AFC wildcard playoff game against the Tennessee Titans in January, Brooks was called upon to do a job. He did, but on this night Titans’ tight end Anthony Firkser did his a little better in a 20-13 Patriots loss [...]
Patriots defensive back Terrence Brooks tries not to focus on the past, but he remembers it. It’s all a part of football. Success is grown from misery, happiness from pain.
Brooks has felt the pain. After an injury to safety Patrick Chung in the Patriots’ AFC wildcard playoff game against the Tennessee Titans in January, Brooks was called upon to do a job. He did, but on this night Titans’ tight end Anthony Firkser did his a little better in a 20-13 Patriots loss that ended their season.
Some 40 minutes after the loss, Brooks sat motionless in a chair, his face in his hands in front of his locker. Slowly getting dressed, he barely acknowledged a consolatory pat on the back from Ben Watson and declined interview requests before leaving the locker room and the 2019 season in his wake.
"That’s what football is. You’re going to have good times, you’re going to have bad times, but we can’t just let that define you as a player," Brooks said on Monday at training camp. "I played pretty well that year and obviously things didn’t go well at the end so yeah, I was very tough on myself.
"For the most part, I’m very excited about this year. I can’t do anything about that last game. It’s gone now, so I’m here now."
The Patriots need him now. Brooks is one of several players vying for time filling the spot left vacant by Chung, who opted out of the 2020 season due to coronavirus concerns.
The role seems perfect for the 28-year-old out of Florida State. Chung is listed at 5-foot-11, 215 pounds, a fearless player who wants to inflict damage on every play, doesn’t back down from a challenge and does whatever the coaches ask.
Brooks is listed at 5-11, 205 pounds, and you could say the exact same things about him. The role seems tailor-made.
"Whatever they give me, I’m excited for it," Brooks said. "All you can do is go out here and work each and every day. You’re not promised anything. You’re going to get what you earn. My idea every day is to go out and be better than yesterday and to keep stacking good days."
There will be plenty of competition for the job, but that’s how it would have been even if Chung chose to play this season. Brooks doesn’t expect the job to be handed to him but isn’t worried about who he’s competing with.
"You also have to go there and make sure you’re taking care of your job because, if you’re too afraid of what the next man is doing, you’re not going to be able to handle what you have to do," Brooks said. "My mindset is I’m going to eliminate all those distractions and all those other things. I’m going to go out each and every day and force coaches to put me in the game."
Part of that is learning from failure.
Only the harshest of critics would blame Brooks for that playoff loss. It would have been ideal for him to come in for Chung and be perfect, but that’s not how sports work. You battle, your opponent battles and it doesn’t always mean you didn’t do your job.
Brooks — and the rest of the Patriots defense, for that matter — was good on that Saturday night. But the Titans offense was better.
"There’s guys on the other side of the ball, they’re great too. They can play well but sometimes you just come up short," Brooks said. "Usually I think it defines you on how you react after it. You can sulk and just keep doing worse and keep giving people a reason to doubt you, but honestly if you just cut out all the distractions and focus on what you need to do and know that you are one of the best and you have to go out and take the field like you are one of the best, not too much stuff can alter your mind."
That’s why Brooks doesn’t focus on the past. It’s not a clichéd motivational tool either.
"Ever since I was playing Little League, you’re going to go through adversity missing plays but I feel that I’ve made a lot more plays than that," Brooks said. "You’ve got to take the good with the bad and just keep rolling. That’s just football, that’s life in general.
"It’s a test. It’s just a test to see how you’re going to respond to it and I’m excited for the coming year."
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