Ahmad Brooks on playing sparingly against the Giants: “I’m going to hope and pray that it doesn’t ever happen again.”

SANTA CLARA — Ahmad Brooks answered questions at his locker Wednesday afternoon. Here’s a transcript.

Q: What happened when you didn’t play the second half against the Giants?

BROOKS: “I reacted out of my character. I did not quit on the team. I did not take myself out of the game. But words that were said by me obviously could not be taken back, so they decided not to put me back in the game. But we’re moving forward as a team. What happened happens every day in companies. If you got to work, you’re not always going to be on the same page with your co-workers. This is one of those instances. It happened on that day during the game. It happened to me. I sent my apologies to the team. Just moving forward. Still got six games left. Still have the team to make it to the Super Bowl. Still are capable of making it to the playoffs, so that’s where our focus is as a team right now.

“We don’t want to focus on the distractions.  We’ve had several distractions this year. This can’t be — I can’t be a distraction, especially me being a veteran. I can’t bring that attitude to the team. I’m just looking at myself in the mirror and saying, ‘What can I do to make Ahmad Brooks better?’ Then, the team will be better.”

Q: You were told to sit on the bench and take your spats off?

BROOKS: “Nah, nah. It was just the fourth quarter and I took my spat off.  But during halftime — I had a white spat on during the first half — they told me to change the color. So that’s what I did, thinking I was going to go back out there and play, but I never went back out there so I just ended up cutting them off in the fourth quarter.”

Q: At what point did you feel like an apology was necessary?

BROOKS: “On the ride back home, on the plane, I felt bad. And I didn’t like that feeling. So I decided to apologize to Jimmy Tomsula because that’s who I obviously said those words to. I apologized to him, he accepted my apology and just moving forward.”

Q: What were the words that you said to Tomsula?

BROOKS: “I’m going to keep that behind the scenes.”

Q: Jim Harbaugh just pointed to your record of 58-straight starts and how he trusts you. How much does that mean to hear that from the head coach?

BROOKS: “It means a lot, coming from him especially. He’s been a player at one point in time and he’s a National Football League head coach. He’s been in the business for a while. He understands players attitudes and how things can kind of get escalated on the sideline or even in practice or an every-day basis. So just hearing that come from him is nice.”

Q: Did you get fined?

BROOKS: “What has happened has happened. I don’t really want to answer too many questions. That’s it. I’m just going to move forward. If I got fined, I got fined.”

Q: Are you expecting to start on Sunday?

BROOKS: “Am I expecting to start? I’m expecting to play. We never discuss our schemes. We never discuss rotations with the 49ers. Whether I’m the starter or not really doesn’t matter. As long as I’m out there playing, that’s what really matters.”

Q: How do you feel about being part of a rotation where maybe everyone is not going to play all of the time?

BROOKS: “Who I am as a person and as a football player, I expect to play. That’s just who I am. I expect to play, I expect to be out there and that’s that.”

Q: You said you want to be the best Ahmad Brooks you can be. Do you think you have been up to this point this season?

BROOKS: I haven’t, not this year. I haven’t been very productive, as I’ve been. But most of the times you have ups and downs, and that’s that. Like I said earlier, I’ve got to look myself in the mirror, I’ve got to reevaluate myself as a person, as a man, and just get better. That’s all we all can ask for as human beings. I took a step back, but I’m going to keep going forward.”

Q: It seems like with the way Aaron Lynch is playing and with Aldon Smith back, what happened against the Giants could happen again in the future. Do you feel like you’re going to respond to that differently?

BROOKS: “I’m going to hope and pray that it doesn’t ever happen again. I don’t want to feel like I’m second to anybody. If it ever were to happen again, then I would just keep my mouth shut and not say anything.”

Q: There were reports a couple weeks ago that the 49ers were talking about trading you to the Browns. Did that ever come across your radar?

BROOKS: “I seen it. I seen it on twitter. This is one of the reasons why I don’t get on the computer and look for these things. There’s always a story out on something. I’m not going to pout about it, I’m not going to cry about it, but it is my job, it is my career. If I don’t speak about it then nobody is going to speak for me. I know what I’m capable of doing. We all know what I’m capable of doing. We all know what this team is capable of doing. So with that being said, we’re going to move forward. It’s a business, and even though I signed a six-year deal, it’s really a one-year deal for us all. Somebody could get injured, somebody could have a bad year, somebody could step up and just play great. It could be a rookie, it could be a third-year guy, somebody you just picked up off the street. Trade rumors are trade rumors — we hear them every day. Hopefully I don’t get traded. Hopefully I don’t leave. I don’t plan on doing that. Like I said, I’ve just got to make Ahmad Brooks better.”

Q: Do you expect to be here next year?

BROOKS: “Yeah. I mean, it’s a business. I expect to be playing in the National Football League. I expect to have a job. I expect to be out there being Ahmad Brooks. So, yeah. I’m out.”

This article has 28 Comments

  1. ” I don’t want to feel like I’m second to anybody.”

    Interesting. I’m not digging his answers too much, but at least he’s honest.

    He’s gotta realize that Lynch is playing some really good football right now, and that there’s no way he gets the call over Aldon. Maybe its an ego thing, or maybe he has a problem with Lynch.

  2. After further review, I’ve decided I need every opportunity going forward to make plays on tape if I’m ever to get another job in the NFL….

  3. He’s a competitior. I understand his mindset. He realizes he messed up by coming into camp out of shape. He should always know, especially with the niners defense, there’s always competiton behind you. The comp has passed him, probably a vulnerable situation. He better step his play up.

  4. Brooks has been awful so far the season, it’s just the truth. He has the lowest pass rush productivity of any 3-4 OLB that has played at least 50% of the snaps. Lynch is playing worlds better and Brooks doesn’t deserve to be out there on passing downs until he shows he does. Sounds like he has the right, or at least a better mindset right now but I’ll be surprised if we see him on the field on the majority of passing downs for the rest of the year.

      1. Last I looked, Crabtree was running 45 yrds for the winning TD, not cutting off his spats on the bench.

        1. More of a general comment about Crabs complaining and not producing. Besides, 1 long play and Crabs is exonerated for years of mediocre play, getting bit$&ed by Sherman, failing on the goallineSSSSS, and shale I go on…

  5. Amazing how the real story doesn’t fit the narrative isn’t it? Brooks pouting and taking himself out of a game is far more enticing than Brooks doesn’t want to come out, argues with Coach, and is told to take a seat.

    This is about the 10,345th example (give or take) of why you shouldn’t overreact to a story before all the details come out.

    1. Cutting spats off in the fourth quarter is quitting on your team. Brooks and his agent can spin that how ever they’d like. Bottom line, he cut them before the game was decided. He quit.

      1. Cutting spats off in the fourth quarter is quitting on your team.

        According to Brooks, he was told he wasn’t going back in. Maybe you ought to wait until you know what happened before you get so judgmental.

        1. Here is the actual question and answer quote:
          You were told to sit on the bench and take your spats off?

          BROOKS: “Nah, nah. It was just the fourth quarter and I took my spat off. But during halftime — I had a white spat on during the first half — they told me to change the color. So that’s what I did, thinking I was going to go back out there and play, but I never went back out there so I just ended up cutting them off in the fourth quarter.”

          “It was just the fourth quarter and I took my spat off.” No where here does he say he was told he wasn’t going back in. His exact response in his own unadulterated words: “I was going to go back out there and play, but I never went back out there so I just ended up cutting them off in the fourth quarter”

          For someone so good at cutting and pasting what is said, it’s deafening that you choose to put words in his mouth that he clearly did not say. His quote clearly says he quit in the fourth quarter. No one at any point in his account or the other coaches accounts say they told him he wasn’t going back in.

          In his own words he quit. Cut and pasted. So, maybe you ought to read what was written and not the spin factor.

        2. matt:

          No one at any point in his account or the other coaches accounts say they told him he wasn’t going back in.

          You are selectively quoting from the transcript. Reread the first paragraph. Here, I’ll help you.

          I did not take myself out of the game. But words that were said by me obviously couldn’t be taken back, so they decided not to put me back in for the remainder of the game. But we’re moving forward as a team.

          I don’t put words into people’s mouths, but I do read the entire transcript before I claim that someone “never said _____________.”

          Do you want to apologize now, or dig deeper into that hole?

  6. Why not use him as an inside line backer. We sure could use some talent there. Did he not do some time in his previous team at inside linebacker?

  7. Well said Ahmed. Pretty direcr and honest answers. Now just go out and prove you deserve to be on the field full time!

  8. What is so amazing about these 49ers, no matter who is speaking and that includes the 78 players and 31 staff, the message and words used are the same. I have no clue what happened and what took place between the player and staff but it would be refreshing to hear someone say anything but the company line. Maybe all of these humans actually feel the same way but my life experience says other wise. So it does not surprise me that there is an intence desire by some to ,as the coach says,” to peel back the onion” .

    1. How about they are on the same page. I’ve come to learn when Harbaugh puts his words out there for his players, he’s hardly wrong. Athletes in general have heated moments with coaches all the time. When your emotions are high and your livelihood is on the line, thinking is sometimes the last thing you are doing. Athletes are told their entire lives not to think, just react. Thinking slows you down. Sounds like that’s what happened.

  9. KY,

    The line and I am taking part of this out of context “When your emotions are high and your livlihood is on the line” is in my world the reason the company line is used. You want to go home, say something thats not approved and you will! Again, I do not know what was or wasn’t said, just hard to believe that over 100 people feel the same way about anything and use the same words and phrases to desribe it ,be it a game or anything else.

    1. Well that is where your line of work, my line of work, and majority of America’s line of work is different from professional sports. A lot of things get said but once cooler heads prevail, a conversation happens, then you get an understanding. He immediately knew what he did was wrong. I am taking it as two grown men had a conversation and came to an understanding.

  10. KY,

    Nice to have the conversation with you, now on to the task at hand and thats rooting these guys on the playoffs.

  11. I’m just looking at myself in the mirror and saying, ‘What can I do to make Ahmad Brooks better?’ Then, the team will be better.”…..

    Well Ahmad first thing is working your butt off for an organization who took you an all of your problems off the field.
    Second you can show up to TC in shape and act like you want to be a starter.
    Third you don’t have words with a well respected coach who has shown you and your teamates NOTHING but respect and love.
    Fourth…. You stop feeling entitled an realize it’s not only injuries that fall under next man up.
    Fifth… You could never quit on your team again. Taking off your spats without being told you weren’t going to enter the game again. Is flat out quitting. I can’t imagine how you would feel if there was an injury and the coaches look over to you and you’re not suited up or ready to go.

    There’s 5 things you can start with. Smh!

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