Is there a way to stop Brady? Well, kind of, but not really.

With two weeks until the Super Bowl, I decided to use the small amount of free time I had to see if I could figure out how you can stop one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL History. So I subscribed to NFL Game Pass and sat down to watch some of Brady’s worst games this year and see if there’s something 31 NFL teams haven’t figured out. I found some things to help the Atlanta Falcons this upcoming Sunday, but it’s going to take Benedict Cumberbatch and the rest of the cast from “The Imitation Game” to help me break this Enigma Code.

Disclaimer: I am in no way an NFL expert. In fact, I prefer CFB over the NFL but since I can’t find All-22 film on the USC Trojans, I elected to watch Patriots games to learn more about the craft. With that being said, I’m very good at watching film. Even though I haven’t watched any since my time in high school, it was the only reason I got any playing time. It’s hard to be 190-pound starting nose guard if you don’t know your opponent’s game plan as well as they do.

Warning: Some of the GIFs I created did not come out as high resolution as I would have hoped.

No Zone

I don’t think I can emphasize this enough:

FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T PLAY ZONE DEFENSE AGAINST THE PATRIOTS!

Tom Brady will pick you apart, which is exactly what he did against the Pittsburgh Steelers. The worst part of that game is that they didn’t even think of changing their game plan. Well, the zone defense didn’t work the 10th time, but I have a good feeling about it the 11th time. I think that was a direct Mike Tomlin quote. Pretty sure I heard him say it on Antonio Brown’s Facebook Live from the sidelines.

If you’re going to run zone, don’t break your assignment. Look at the two corners on the top right follow Brady’s eyes and get duped into allowing Chris Hogan to be wide open for a touchdown. Brady was staring down Malcolm Mitchell, the only wide receiver on the left side of this play, who was already sufficiently covered by the safety and corner on that side. Why are they cheating over? Do they think he’s going to run? Tom Brady doesn’t run, and if he does, trust me, you’ll have plenty of time to catch him.

The Steelers did all the work for him. All he had to do was look for his second option, which lead to an easy six.

Tom Brady is going to find holes in your zone coverage, and play pitch and catch all the way down the field. It’s not a viable defense when the Patriots trot out four to five receiver sets.

So wide open the linebacker covering the middle is the first to tackle him on a short curl on the sidelines.

SIX! Six defenders near Chris Hogan and they still can’t stop this big gain. Run man or be prepared to lose. It really is the only chance you have to win. Tom Brady’s only regular season loss came to the Seahawks who ran man coverage most of the game, and the only time he struggled in the playoffs was against the Texans who ran the same coverage. If only Houston had a giraffe instead of Brock Osweiler. At least the giraffe doesn’t cost 72 million.

Another point I need to throw my all caps on to emphasize:

DON’T HAVE A QB SPY ON TOM BRADY

The Steelers really played zone, rushed three, and had a QB spy on Tom Brady like that Himalayan pink salt of his was going to take a second off of his forty time.

Here’s some examples of successful man coverage. Even when rushing only three, the Broncos’ defenders were able to cover each receiver forcing Tom to scramble out of the pocket and throw the ball away.

This is why you don’t worry about Tom Brady scrambling. Again, the defense only rushing three with man coverage. You can even see the defenders switching off on their man and finding the nearest blue jersey to cover on this red zone play. Tom Brady gives up and tries to scramble for the score. He gains one yard.

Pressure Him

This is pretty obvious, but if you aren’t rushing at least four linemen on every play, Tom Brady will take his sweet time and wait for one of the dozen white wide receivers on their roster to get open for the first down.

The Patriots’ offensive line is good, but not great. Tom Brady really makes the whole offense look a lot better than it is. I mean his best receiver in the playoffs only caught 14 passes in his collegiate career. At a Division III school. It’s not like he has Julio Jones and Devonta Freeman. It is possible to get enough pressure with only four pass rushers as you’ll need all the help you can get covering all of the Patriots’ skill players. Also, another example of never having to worry about Tom Brady and his feet.

Tom Brady’s worst game in the regular season came against the Broncos as they were constantly pressuring him with four or more defenders. They also implemented a lot of stunts to confuse the offensive lineman’s blocking assignments.

For those not familiar with the term, a stunt is a planned maneuver by a pair of players of the defensive team by which they exchange roles to better slip past blockers of the offensive team at the beginning of a play, in order to better rush the passer. Yes, I copied and pasted that directly from Wikipedia.

Here’s a bizarre stunt from the defensive end going to the complete opposite side and successfully getting in Tom Brady’s grill forcing a bad pass and incompletion.

Quick spin move by the defensive end on the right side to lead to a bad pass from Brady and a turnover.

Pressure from both sides leads to dump into the dirt for Brady

No pressure, no diamonds. Easy completion from Brady to Edelman

Rush The Middle, And Not The Edge

When you pressure Tom Brady, focus on rushing the middle instead of the edge. When you rush the edge, you allow his tackles to form a perfect pocket for Brady. It actually seems like he benefits from outside pressure. It allows him to step into his throws, which allows for more accuracy and power. I just explained throwing like it was the first chapter of “Football For Dummies.”

The tackles seal the edge, and Brady just steps in the pocket to add a perfect touch to wheel route to Dion Lewis for the touchdown

Another example. Steelers rush the edge (and zone coverage), Brady steps into his throw for a 15+ yard game.

When you rush the middle, it doesn’t allow Brady to step in his throws and forces of him out of the pocket. Have you’ve seen Brady scramble? That’s the last thing on Earth he wants to do. You know, besides answering questions about his friend, Donald Trump.

A bum rush by defensive on the right side, helped by the alignment of his counterpart on the left, which forces the guard and center to double team, allows for the easy sack.

Rush from the middle hear forces Brady to scramble back, and throw the ball away off of his back foot.

Another example here. Throw off your back foot leads to inaccurate throws. Just look at Jay Cutler’s career.

Pressure from the middle doesn’t allow Brady to step into his throw and he over shoots his wide receiver. May have been intentional just to prevent the sack or committing a intentional grounding penalty.

If you know it’s a pass play (no running backs in the backfield usually means that), you don’t have to worry about outside containment, as shown by Jadeveon Clowney rushing the middle and forces Brady to fail in his attempt to scramble because, and I can’t stress this enough, HE CAN’T RUN!

Same thing again. Both defensive ends break their outside containment assignment and rush the middle and force Brady to run. He’s not the greatest passer on the move. He’s very good but I think you rather have him running while throwing the ball then just sitting in the pocket. But what do I know? I have just watched him tear apart defenses for the last 17 years.

All four (or five) Texans pass rushers stunt into the middle and force the scramble and incompletion.

Don’t have to worry about Tom Brady running anywhere except to the nearest Uggs sale. Forget about outside containment and swarm the middle of the pocket.

Exploit No. 62

Joe Thuney, №62 on the Patriots, is the weak link in their offensive line. If you want to get to Brady, go through him. Here’s some examples.

Example 1: Getting bum-rushed and thrown to the ground to allow for an easy sack.

Example 2: Getting fooled by a linebacker stunt and unable to block his assignment leading to a tackle for a loss.

Example 3: A simple swim move and a failed attempt to tackle the pass rusher leaves both Thuney and Brady on the ground after the play.

Example 4: This time the Broncos switch it up on Thuney with a simple spin move. Again, the play ends with him on the ground failing to block his assignment.

Example 6: This guy sure loves getting beat so badly he’s on the ground by the end of the play. In his defense here, it looks like he’s intentionally falling to make it harder for the pass rusher to get to Brady. Doesn’t matter in the end as Tom has to throw the ball away.

Watch Linemen Alignment

It was a lot easier when I was watching offensive linemen in high school football, but you can still have a pretty good sense on what type of play is going to happen by looking at the offensive line’s stance and foot alignment

This is a pass play. Notice both offensive tackles outside legs are back so they can be prepared to back pedal and pass protect.

Here’s another example of said foot alignment.

Another pass play. Here the guards and tackles create a sort of V-formation so that are prepared to pass block. Also if there aren’t any running backs in the backfield, pretty good chance it’s a pass.

Here’s a run play. Notice each offensive linemen is in a three point stance and more importantly their feet are parallel with each other.

Another run play. Same three point stance. Same foot alignment. You can also see that the right tackle is leaning towards the right, which is the side the play went.

Now on this play the right tackle has his feet parallel but the left tackle has his left foot back like his is a position to pass protect. This is a run play to the right side. The left tackles is positioned like this so that he can block the defensive end on his side in a way the forces him to go around him instead of running down the line of scrimmage and tackling the running back. Also notice the right tackle is in a three point stance, while the left tackle is in a two point stance. Low pad level is essential for run blocking.

This ended up being a pass play obviously (no running backs in the backfield, duh). But look at the linemen package. Four linemen with a tight end as the left tackle. These are the kind of plays that pissed John Harbaugh off so much two years ago when he accused the Patriots of cheating, even though there’s no rule against it. Little tip to Dan Quinn this Sunday: If there’s a tight end lined up as an offensive guard or tackle, maybe tell your players to defend him.

Don’t let the I-formation and three point stance fool you. This was a pass play. Just look at the tackles’ foot alignment.

Here’s another example. The feet don’t lie.

FEET DON’T LIE!

Watch №61 as Brady audibles from a run play to a pass play. See him shift his left foot back?

One thing I discovered while watching the Patriots’ offensive line. They don’t telegraph where the ball is going and if they are pulling like high school players did. Who knew?

Don’t Worry About Bennett As A Blocker

Starting tight end, Martellus Bennett, doesn’t seem too focused on pancaking linebackers anytime soon. His blocking technique is more just getting in the way of the defense. He sets great illegal screens, he’d be perfect as a power forward on the Warriors.

Bennett is more of a nuisance than a blocker, as shown as he get pancaked by the linebacker he’s trying to block.

Again, no push from Bennett, unable to set the edge for his running back who has to make a cut inside (and successfully does so).

There are a lot more plays like these that I’ve watched that show that Bennett is not in the game to put linebackers on their ass and help the running game with his blocking. He will do the bare minimum which is just being a obstacle between the defense and the running back.

The primary focus when Bennett is on the field is a passing threat. The defender playing man coverage on him should think pass first. Tom Brady is extremely good at exploiting mismatches, and a linebacker against an extremely athletic tight end is more lopsided than Floyd Mayweather fighting Connor McGregor in the ring. Anticipate the pass first, and maybe the match will move to the Octogon.

Talk To The Ref About Their Pick Plays

I’d walk up to one of the Zebras pregame and let them know of the Patriots’ pick plays. It’s a hard play to call a penalty, which is why New England likes to run it. Skirting the fine line between cheating and fair play is what has made Bill Belichick one of the greatest coaches in football.

Watch at the bottom as Dion Lewis bumps Richard Sherman on a cross route to allow for Julian Edelman to get open for a big game. If you have a magnifying glass you can even see Sherman complaining to the sideline referee mid-play about the pick in question.

The play on the bottom isn’t illegal, but defense should be aware that the Patriots love these kind of routes to create open space between the wide receiver and whoever is defending him.

Here is another example (top right) as Edelman runs in between the linebacker and the running back running a flat route, allowing the target to be wide open for a first down.

Don’t Fall For Their Trick Plays

Don’t fall for the bells and whistles the Patriots like to pull out once or twice a game.

Especially if you’re a free safety. Sacrifice the short gains for preventing the big plays. Nothing more demoralizing than a former Lacrosse player scoring on a Flea Flicker.

Pray

Honestly, watching some of these throws, Tom Brady is some sort of God. Just look at some of these throws. I’m not even going to provide commentary on each play. It would only diminish how perfect these passes are.

Example 1

Example 2

Example 3

Example 4

Example 5

Example 6

Example 7

Example 8

Example 9

Example 10

Example 11

Buy a Tom Brady voodoo doll. Go to church a couple times before Sunday. Pull the fire alarm at wherever hotel the Patriots are staying. See what Tonya Harding is up to.

This may be the most motivated Tom Brady has ever been in his career. Not only can he get revenge on the NFL and Commissioner Roger Goodell, but also win the most Super Bowls as any quarterback ever and solidify himself as the GOAT.

Roger Goodell might have one more trick up his sleeve to prevent having to hand over the Lombardi Trophy to the player he suspended four games without much (or any) evidence, but with passes like these, resistance may be futile.

Atlanta Falcons, you’re our only hope.

Note: I didn’t pay too much attention to the Patriot’s run offense, so if that starts clicking, might as well turn on the Puppy Bowl.

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