Posted by Josh Katzowitz

Eight months after saying goodbye to his NFL playing career – by video, naturally – former Buccaneers LB Derrick Brooks has found new life in the Arena Football League.

Not as a player. But as president of the Tampa Bay Storm.

It’s a good move by the organization, considering the respect gathered by the 11-time Pro Bowler around professional football and, more specifically, in the Tampa-St. Pete area.

"Right now, we're setting foundations," Brooks said today at a news conference, via the St. Petersburg Times. "We're not into going in and blowing up a house. There's a season going on and we respect that.

"Right now, what we can do for coach (Dave) Ewart is take some of the things off his plate that he had before. Now he can really just focus on the football team and getting these guys going again. And I think that's a support system that he didn't have, that he has now."

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Photo courtesy of Twitpic.

Posted by Josh Katzowitz

The condemnation came quick and mercilessly.

@RaheemBrock (Raheem Brock – Seahawks DE) “Cutler...wut a sissy! This is the NFC Championship game! Guaranteed if it was brett farve..he would still be in the game!” (and) “Cutler u little siSsy...how does it feel that ur back up's backup is the only 1that can put pts on the board!I bet cutler comes back now!”

Bears QB Jay Cutler was out of the game early in the third quarter with a knee injury, and those in the Twitter world, especially his NFL colleagues, began to brutalize him.

@Jones_Drew32 (Maurice Jones-Drew – Jaguars RB) “Hey I think the urban meyer rule is effect right now... When the going gets tough........QUIT.. (and) “All I'm saying is that he can finish the game on a hurt knee... I played the whole season on one...”

Cutler, out with a knee injury that no one had seen him sustain and that kept him on the bench for most of the second half of the Bears 21-14 loss to the Packers, showed no heart. He has no guts. One sweet-looking woman on Twitter – she looks like she makes cookies on the weekends for her children – called him the p-word.

@DBrooks55 (Derrick Brooks – former Buccaneers LB) “BEARS fans I am so SORRY, I have to be crawling and cant get up to come off field,Josh Freeman would not come out, MEDS ARE AVAILABLE

But much of the rancor came from Cutler’s fellow players. Most of them would play on a knee injury – any kind of knee injury – if they had the chance to participate in a conference championship game. Like a certain QB from San Diego.

@DBrooks55: “Knee injury has to be VERY VERY INJURED, if you come out, Philip Rivers p[layed on torn acl now its pick,seriously JAY CUTLER”

Cutler left the field a few seconds early at the end of the first half, and he was one of the last Bears on the field to begin the second half. After one series, he was done for the day.

@kerryrhodes (Kerry Rhodes – Cardinals safety): “Cmon cutler u have to come back. This is the NFC championship if u didn't know.”

I guess the issue now is how his teammates will view him. Is he not tough enough? Did he quit on his teammates?

@Thepresidentcb (Asante Samuel – Eagles CB) “If he was my teammate I would be looking at him sideways.”

Hell, would his teammates even allow him to dress in the same space as they did after the game?

@ddockett (Darnell Dockett – Cardinals DT) “If I'm on chicago team jay cutler has to wait till me and the team shower get dressed and leave before he comes in the locker room! #FACT”

So, let’s hear from one of Cutler’s teammates. A guy who most likely knows Cutler better than anybody else on Twitter. A guy who watched the Bears offensive line allow an NFL-high 56 sacks behind a mediocre offensive line, a guy who watched Cutler continue to rise from those sacks to take even more punishment.

“A lot of jealous people watching our game on TV when their season is over,” Bears LB Brian Urlacher said when he was told many NFL players were blasting Cutler on Twitter. “Jay was hurt. We don’t question his toughness. He’s tough as hell. He doesn’t bitch, he doesn’t complain when he gets hit.”

Will the comments from his teammates - C Olin Kreutz indicated to reporters he thought Cutler had a torn ligament and that he couldn't believe Cutler came out for the second half at all - change the public’s perception of Cutler? Probably not. If Cutler – who declined after the game to comment on those questioning his toughness – is diagnosed with a torn ACL, will people walk back their words? Doubtful. If he needs major surgery, will people apologize for their snap judgments? No chance.

The die already has been cast for Cutler. His reputation will suffer. It might follow him for the rest of his career.

People won’t forget this, no matter the reasons he couldn’t play. People still will want to burn his jersey. His career will be tainted by this. It’s unfortunate.

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Posted by Will Brinson

'Future Hall of Famer' and former Tampa Bay Buccaneer (for 14 years) Derrick Brooks "officially" retired this morning. And he did it via the web, on his site DerrickBrooks.tv . To answer your next two questions, 1) yes, I would presume that he's looking to expand his repertoire and get tech-y with it, and 2) obviously I'm buying WillBrinson.tv right now and spending the rest of my afternoon recording John Goodman-in-"Treme"-style rants.

That should have been as obvious as the expected hanging-up of the cleats from Brooks, who was cut by the Raheem Morris regime in Tampa before the 2009 season and then unable to find work last year. Although the news is official only via Brooks' personal version of Chat Roulette, the Bucs will hold a press conference on Thursday (deets on his site).

Brooks spent much of the two-and-a-half minute video thanking the fans in Tampa, his former coaches (Tony Dungy, Jon Gruden, etc) and guys he played with, with personal shoutouts going out to John Lynch, Warren Sapp, Simeon Rice and Ronde Barber.

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In our neverending quest to find an NFL player – any NFL player – who will say they think playing an 18-game schedule is a great idea, we turn to SI.com’s Ross Tucker , who conducted a round table discussion to, well, discuss the possibility of enhancing the ledger.

We talked to Bengals OT Andrew Whitworth about this last week , and he didn’t like the idea. Patriots QB Tom Brady and Ravens LB Ray Lewis also have given their disapproval. What do you think the chances of us finding a member of the NFLPA who will say something – ANYTHING? – nice about erasing two preseason games and replacing them with real contests?

Here are a few quotes from the players:

“Nope.”

“No thanks.”

“Not interested.”

“No gracias.”

OK, I might be paraphrasing a bit.

Here’s what some of them actually told Tucker.

Derrick Brooks, free agent LB: "The owners can't have it both ways. If they want an 18-game season, then they need to say it. I know they are saying it publicly, but they are not saying it at the bargaining table. They need to tell us what they are going to give up and what we as players are going to get in terms of guaranteed money. We are asking for a certain percentage of the contract to be guaranteed if they want to add 120 or more plays a season."

Larry Izzo, free agent LB: “I think this is simply a diversionary tactic on their part. The owners get the full value of the ticket prices from the preseason games already. I think this entire CBA is a big PR battle and this is one of the league's strategies to win that battle."

Read the full article. Some interesting stuff in there.

And on a completely different topic, Tucker asked if there was any sympathy for Washington’s Albert Haynesworth. Six out of eight players said no.

--Josh Katzowitz

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