In his first season as a defensive coordinator, Brandon Staley has been tasked with drawing up game plans to stop Dak Prescott, Russell Wilson and Josh Allen. Admittedly, it hasn’t been the toughest slate of quarterbacks thus far, but it’s about to get much tougher.
On Monday night, he and the Rams will take on the greatest quarterback of all time, Tom Brady. Despite being 43 years old, Brady hasn’t lost any of the juice he showed when he was with the Patriots, and is now leading the NFL in pass attempts for the Bucs.
Staley, 37, has watched Brady from afar for a long time, but not just as a fan. He’s thought about this opportunity his entire life. At least, that’s what he told reporters on Thursday in advance of Rams-Bucs in Week 11.
Asked Rams DC Brandon Staley, who was a teenager, when Tom Brady broke into NFL, if he thought about scheming to stop Brady as his coaching career evolved: “Every day of my life, I’ve been thinking about an opportunity like that.”
— Gary Klein (@LATimesklein) November 19, 2020
Staley apparently wasn’t kidding when he made that claim, which just goes to show how committed and passionate he is about football. Brady has had a long, decorated career in the NFL and Staley has seen him develop into a Hall of Famer since he first came onto the map in college at Michigan.
Rams DC Brandon Staley has been following Tom Brady his whole adult life, since Brandon was a QB at University of Dayton when Brady was breaking in with the Pats: “I was a big fan of what he went through at Michigan, to overcome that and to become a team captain.”
— Greg Beacham (@gregbeacham) November 19, 2020
Brady has far better weapons now than he probably ever had with the Patriots. He’s throwing to Mike Evans, Chris Godwin, Antonio Brown and Rob Gronkowski, making him as dangerous as ever.
The Rams have the secondary and pass rushers to keep Brady in check, but much of this game will come down to whether Staley’s scheme can counter Tampa Bay’s strengths.
