X-FACTOR: DERRICK BROOKS

On a roster filled with All-Pro mouths, Derrick Brooks gets tagged as a silent assassin who speaks only with his pads. Not really. Brooks finds ways to get his message across.

The eight-year veteran goes to San Diego playing the best ball of his career. He led the Bucs with 119 tackles, defended 11 passes and scored four touchdowns, the most by a linebacker in history. Along with that came his first Defensive Player of the Year award. Says Warren Sapp, "He's been the heart and soul of our team."

	Brooks is the "heart and soul" of the Bucs D

Brooks is the ideal middle linebacker for defensive coordinator Monte Kiffin's Tampa 2 scheme, which is designed to funnel receivers and runners to the middle of the field, where Brooks rules with pure speed and uncanny instincts. So confident is Kiffin that he occasionally used Brooks as a spy against Mike Vick. The fastest quarterback in league history -- and the guy who said he'd have "something special" when he played Tampa Bay -- finished the season with 10 yards rushing on seven carries in two games against the Bucs.

Jon Gruden became a believer during a 26-14 win over the Rams on Sept. 23. When Brooks reached the sideline after leveling Marshall Faulk, an excited Gruden gushed that it was as good an open-field tackle as he'd ever seen. Brooks cut him off: "Coach, I've been doing this for a while."

Later, in a Dec.8 game against Atlanta, Brooks nailed Vick with a face-mask bender that left the young Falcon's head thumping like a nightclub. The next day, Kiffin kept rewinding the play, not to study the hit, but to see Brooks talking smack to Vick: "I saw his lips moving. I know he said something."

What? Brooks will never tell. But Raiders players should keep open not only their eyes, but their ears too. "When I get a good lick, I'll whisper to the guy," Brooks says. "Just between him and me. It's just to let the guy know, 'Hey, this was me.' "

In case he didn't get the message.

***

X-FACTOR: JOE JUREVICIUS

He talks junk. He flexes after a catch. He pumps his fist into the air to get the crowd jazzed. He's done some modeling. He's a big, physical receiver who came to Tampa from New York because the Buccaneers pledged to throw him the damn ball. And he isn't Keyshawn.

He's Joe Jurevicius, the 6'5'', 230-pounder who's emerged as Brad Johnson's favorite third-down and red-zone option. If Super Bowls have surprise stars, it's Joe's show to steal. "He's our X-Factor," says QB Johnson. "He's got good hands, uses his size well, and can make any catch."

	If you need the first down, toss it to Joe.

After four years as a Giant, Jurevicius welcomed the chance to come to Tampa. His regular-season numbers -- 37 catches, 423 yards, 4 TDs -- won't earn any tickets to Hawaii, but his catch-by-catch breakdown should. Of his 15 catches on third downs, 12 were converted into firsts. Gruden loves to send Jurevicius inside and then have him break to the bench, where his size and reach give him the edge over a tiny corner. "No matter what cornerback I go against," says Jurevicius, "I know I'm not going to face a guy who is 6'5''."

He's played as big as his size in the Bucs' biggest games. Against Green Bay on Nov. 24, he scored the game-winning touchdown. Against Atlanta on Dec. 8, he caught eight passes for 100 yards and two scores. In Tampa's 27-10 victory over the Eagles in the NFC championship game, Jurevicius did it again. He put the Bucs ahead in the first quarter with a 71-yard catch and run to the Eagles' 5-yard line on third-and-two. Not bad for a guy whose availability for the game was in doubt after his infant son developed complications following his birth four days before the game.

"When we asked Joe how his son was doing this week," says Bucs safety John Lynch, "he would always answer the same way: 'The kid's a lot like his dad -- he's a fighter.'"

This article appears in the February 3 issue of ESPN The Magazine.