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Taking a break from his Achilles rehab, Eagles guard Brandon Brooks stopped by 94WIP’s Zero Fs Given podcast and talked a bit about his recovery and also called the anonymously sourced report earlier this offseason about his quarterback, Carson Wentz, “bullshit”.
Brooks not only defended his teammate against the report, but also was sure to give him some credit for the team even making it to the Super Bowl that season, saying:
“Nick Foles, you can never take away what he did. Tremendous person, tremendous teammates, tremendous talent. Started off hot, he’s been at the top and at the bottom, back at the top. He’s seen it all. Just an overall great dude, not enough good things I can say about him. But people also forget, that year we were 11-1 because of Carson Wentz now. Let’s not get that twisted. Without Carson, basically at that time, being the league MVP, we not sitting in the number one seed with a bye. You see what I’m saying?
That’s one, but two—Carson’s driven. Yeah, damn right Carson is hard on himself. You’re damn right Carson is hard on his teammates. He wants the best for everybody. I think all the great quarterbacks were the same way. They demanded the best from everybody, they want to win games. Does Carson have input in the offense? Clearly he has input in the offense. I mean any quarterback that’s a starter is going to have input in the offense. I just thought the article was just a lie. But Carson is thick skinned, he’ll be fine. If anything he’ll use that to ball out.”
He went on to note Wentz’s strength to go out there and play with a stress fracture in his back last season, and still managed 20+ touchdowns with single-digit interceptions.
“What more can you ask of the man?”
Brooks is just the latest in a long list of Wentz’s teammates to question the authenticity of the anonymous report. A lot of the attributes that were questioned are ones, as Brooks noted, that make a good quarterback and teammate, and are part of the reason for the team’s success since he took the reigns.
Other noteworthy bits
He talked a little bit about his Achilles surgery recovery, and said he’s rehabbing about 4-5 days a week, and is able to go up the stairs without any kind of pain, in addition to doing the underwater treadmill a bit.
Brooks had previously commented on the work environment in New England — and former players and coaches saying it wasn’t that much fun —, which caused a bit of a stir with Patriots fans, but he was sure to point that he loves where he’s at in Philly.
“I’m happy to be here, I love being here. I love going to work everyday, and I know what it’s like to be on the opposite end.”
He was also asked for the craziest story from the Eagles locker room, without having to name names, and it brought a smile to Brooks’ face. The guard wouldn’t tell one though, saying anything he’d say would make it too easy to figure out who he was talking about.
One thing he did talk about was his friendship with Lane Johnson, and Brooks pointed out that the thing that bonds them the most is that they both just want to be great. Brooks said he was like Johnson’s big brother, and they get together all the time outside of football — with Brooks going to Johnson’s sons baseball game recently. But it all comes down to their desire to be the best, and together to form the best right side in NFL history.
Brooks also talked about playing for Doug Pederson, who is a different type of coach than a lot of others around the league. The OG said that first and foremost he’s a former player, so he has a better idea of what it’s like for the players and to have up and down years. But also, before every game, Pederson says, “Let your personality show” and he treats the players like men — as long as they’re handling their business, he won’t be over their shoulder telling them what to do.