Every football fan knows the book on stopping Tom Brady, and it is one perfected perhaps by Steve Spagnuolo, the defensive coordinator entrusted with slowing Brady down in Super Bowl LV: Interior pressure.
After all, it was Spagnuolo who was the mastermind of the “NASCAR” package in Super Bowl XLII that harassed Brady all night long, thwarting Brady and the New England Patriots’ drive to be the first NFL team to finish with an unblemished 19-0 record. Given this you can imagine that Spagnuolo will have some designs ready for Sunday night.
But there might be another coach that Spagnuolo would be wise to borrowing from, one that had his own tricks to slow down the veteran quarterback. We will get to the “who” and the “how” in a moment, but first, the “why.”
One of the questions that plagues Brady at this point in his career is the arm strength issue. From where I sit, Brady still can dial up the velocity when he needs to. But from the beginning of this season through the NFC Championship game, throws to the boundaries – particularly the deep out route – have been a risky proposition. It began in the season opener against the New Orleans Saints:
It continued during the season, as you see here against the Los Angeles Chargers:
And yes, you even saw Brady struggle on throws towards the sideline in the victory over the Green Bay Packers:
Three interceptions, all on throws towards the outside where the ball hung just enough for a defender to step in front of the target.
Imagine if there were a way to try and force Brady to push the ball towards the boundaries? Perhaps a defense that would clog the middle of the field by utilizing zone coverages through a variety of rotations, while aggressively re-routing the routes over the middle that Brady loves to targets? Maybe a defense that would creatively drop defensive linemen and edge rushers as “rats” to take away some of those quick throws to the inside that Brady loves to make?
Someone with that kind of game plan…a blueprint, if you will…would be a mad scientist.
Let’s meet him.
The man in green
That’s right, one such game plan does exist, and the mastermind behind it is the one and only Rex Ryan.
Now with ESPN Ryan is known more for dropping some audacious takes. But prior to his days as an analyst Ryan was a defensive coordinator and head coach in the NFL, and a great defensive mind at that. Ryan learned the game from his father, the bold Buddy Ryan, whose “46” defense was the heart and soul of the Chicago Bears in the 1980s. Chicago road that defense to a Super Bowl victory in Super Bowl XX, and Ryan rode his defensive players off the field as they carried him away in victory.
Both Rex and his other son, Rob, implemented parts of the 46 defense in their own coaching days. Rex was adamant that the 46 could work against the modern spread game, writing in his book Coaching the 46 Defense: “We aren’t sure where this rumor of a supposed weakness to the option originated, but you can probably guess that it was started by an option coach who didn’t want to deal with the 46 on a weekly basis.”
But Rex was not as hard-headed as his father, and knew that if he wanted to run that defense against more modern, spread offenses he would need to adapt. So he did. As Doug Farrar wrote in “The Genius of Desperation:”
To be fair, Rex also added several wrinkles to the base 46-linebackers had more assignments, ends slow played read-option quarterbacks, and deep zone concepts prevented the leaks downfield caused by a more consistently aggressive attack…defensive backs move to zones dependent on the situation, and the linebackers are tasked to adjust to crossing routes in new ways…Rex understood that in a more complicated football world, adaptations would be necessary.
Over the years, Rex Ryan was one of the few defensive minds who most got under Tom Brady’s skin. The two had some tremendous battles during Ryan’s time in coaching, both during his time with the Baltimore Ravens as a defensive coordinator, and later during Ryan’s time as the head coach of the New York Jets.
But perhaps nothing, from Ryan’s perspective, tops what happened on January 17, 2011. It was the Divisional Round of the AFC Playoffs, and the Jets traveled to Gillette Stadium to take on their bitter rivals the New England Patriots. The Patriots were 14-2, the top seed in the AFC, and led the league in scoring with 518 points on the season. The Jets? They came in with a record of 11-5 and advanced out of the Wild-Card weekend thanks to a one-point win over the Indianapolis Colts.
Still, few gave the Jets a chance. After all, the Patriots were red-hot. Despite losing to the Jets back in Week 2 of that season, New England had won eight-straight games, including a 31-point wins over the Buffalo Bills and the Miami Dolphins in Weeks 16 and 17, respectively.
And of course, a Week 13 win over the Jets on Monday Night Football by a final score of 45-3.
New England was favored, and the talk started to fly in the week leading up to the game. Wes Welker, a favorite target of Brady’s, was actually benched for the start of the game thanks to some comments he made about Ryan.
But this game would be about the Jets defense. Ryan had a game plan, his players executed it to perfection, and Brady was confused and rattled. “It was unbelievable,” defensive lineman Trevor Pryce said. “The game plan was out of sight. We did some stuff I’ve never seen a pro football coach do. That’s Rex. . . . It was the craziest thing. I don’t know how we did it. We made one thing look like this and it’s another thing. When you can confuse a Hall of Fame quarterback, you know your game plan is working. “I could see some of the horror in his eyes when nobody was open,” Pryce continued. “He’s not a running quarterback so he knows he’s going to get hit. And he got hit plenty.”
The main focus of the game plan? Take away the middle of the field, and those crossing routes that Brady loves to throw. Take this example from early in the game (Note: All-22 film on NFL Gamepass does not include the 2010 season we must work with the broadcast angles):
On this play from the first quarter, Brady is able to hit Welker in the left flat to move the chains on 2nd-and-7. But that is not where the QB wanted to go with the throw. He wants to hit Deion Branch on a quick in-cut coming from the right side, but both a linebacker and a safety get into the throwing lane, taking away the middle, which you can see on the replay angle:
Brady does pick up the first down, but he is forced off his initial read in the middle of hte field, and has to challenge along the boundary later in the down.
In addition to using linebackers and safeties in underneath zones to clog those throwing lanes, Ryan was creative with how he used man coverage, and the underneath “hole” defender. In the regular season meetings between these two teams Ryan relied on more man coverage, but used much more zone in this playoff game. But when he did call for man, underneath defenders who did not have a man coverage assignment still had a job to do: Reroute crossers, especially if it is Welker.
Watch this 2nd-and-12 play, with Welker coming in short motion on the left:
David Harris – who intercepted Brady on New England’s first possession – is the underneath “hole” defender, responsible for helping on routes breaking to the inside. Welker comes in motion and runs the shallow, and has separation from safety Eric Smith, who is trying to cross the formation through traffic. But Harris sees Welker and drives down on him, re-routing him and taking that option away from Brady. The QB comes off Welker and throws a slightly-deeper crossing route late in the play to Alge Crumpler, who is tackled short of the first down.
In addition to using linebackers to re-route underneath and take away Brady’s intended targets, Ryan also had another trick up his sleeves. Jason Taylor, the pass-rushing specialist, was used at times not to attack Brady, but to take away his throwing lanes. On this 3rd-and-4 from just before halftime, Brady wants to throw a slant route on the left. But Taylor chips Rob Gronkowski and then drops into the throwing lane, forcing Brady to come off the slant and throw the wheel route to Gronkowski along the boundary. The two are not on the same page, and the pass falls incomplete:
Unfortunately for Brady, things were just beginning.
Ryan continues to frustrate the GOAT
As the game wore on and Brady grew more and more frustrated, Bill O’Brien started using more empty formations to try and loosen up throwing lanes over the middle by alignment. Ryan, of course, stuck to his script. Whether it was dropping Taylor and using him as the underneath defender tasked with re-routing crossing routes:
Or just dropping seven into coverage and giving Brady nowhere to go with the football:
Ryan had answers for everything Brady tried to do. In fact, look at the replays for that 3rd-and-13 and you can see the impact of everything Ryan did in this game:
It starts with how Ryan tasks defensive end Calvin Pace with chipping Welker off his release, throwing off the timing of the play. But then look in the middle of the field. Every route is bracketed by two defenders and Brady has to look elsewhere. He eventually has a one-on-one matchup for Welker deep downfield along the right sideline, but he does not pull the trigger. He wants to attack the middle, and fights deep into the down to try and do so. His throw is forced into coverage, and falls incomplete.
Ryan had won.
Now sure. Steve Spagnuolo does not need advice on slowing down Tom Brady. Certainly not from me. But if he is looking for some inspiration prior to Super Bowl LV, he might want to give Rex Ryan a call. There are some lessons to be learned.
