Finally, iconic Derrick Brooks came out of wherever he’s been hiding and treated Buccaneers to fans to deep insightful breakdown of their beloved team.

Order was restored for a change yesterday as Brooks sat down with the dean of Tampa Bay sports radio, Steve Duemig of WDAE-AM.

Asked about the Bucs’ defense and who’s to blame, Brooks first said he would provide the “political answer,” which is everyone is at fault.

But then Brooks opened up passionately.

“In breaking it down, you gotta start up front, the defensive line, in terms of getting pressure to the quarterback, is a disappointment,” Brooks said. “For whatever reason, they’re not getting it done. You cannot sit up here eight weeks into the season and not have figured out a way to create pressure. If the four-man rush is not getting it, you start bringin’ other folks. You start risk-reward in terms of the blitzes and disguising, and exploiting match-ups. “Every offensive line that we’ve played across the board, you can’t tell me man-for-man they were better than what we had put on the field. You just have to find a way to exploit it. Now how do you set up those exploitations when it gets to passing? You gotta stop the run. (laughs) You gotta stop the run. We’re losing the 1-on-1 tackling battles. Teams are scheming up our defensive backs to be 1-on-1 making the tackles. How you combat that? Somebody has to win the 1-on-1 to not allow them to be in that position — to assist them. When you’re cracking a safety and putting the corners on the edge to make the tackle, you gotta disguise some run blitz to take the options away from the offense, you know, switching those things up and being more consistent.”

Fantastic stuff from Brooks. And Joe’s going to dare to offer a translation of the Hall of Famer. Hey Mike Smith, the plan is broken. Fix it. At least change more up. …Of course, Brooks also knows it’s a players league and no coach wins a 1-on-1 battle. That’s on the player.

“You can’t allow injuries to be an excuse,” Brooks said. “We just haven’t done a great job of figuring it out.”

Brooks also directly addressed those who are calling for defensive coordinator Mike Smith’s head. “I don’t think that’s going to happen,” he said.