New England Patriots: Denver’s Defense Crushed Brady
Tom Brady and the New England Patriots were crushed, and the Denver Broncos didn’t have to run anything exotic or revolutionary. They didn’t have to.
Patient: New England Patriots‘ Brady, Thomas Edward Patrick.
Cause of Near-Death: 8,000 quarterback hits (estimate).
Diagnosis: Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe, Malik Jackson, Shaquille Barrett, Shane Ray.
Sunday’s AFC Championship game was an instant classic, a slugfest that’ll go down in history with all the other high-stakes slugfests that both the Patriots and the Broncos have clashed in since Peyton Manning got to town. It was Return of the Jedi if you live in Denver and The Empire Strikes Back if you’re a Masshole. After watching Kansas City’s defense fail to sack Tom Brady even once, it was fair to wonder whether the New England Patriots’ duct tape and popsicle stick offensive line could hold off the NFL’s best defense.
Fair to wonder, yes. Fair to assume, oh, hell no.
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The Broncos defense ate Tom Brady like an East Coaster eating Rocky Mountain Oysters before they know what Rocky Mountain Oysters are. Brady got hit 23 times, according to ESPN Stats & Info, didn’t complete half of his passes (27 for 56), and, of course, got picked off twice.
But enough about that. What’s more interesting, if you’re a football dork, is looking at all the ingenious ways the Broncos made Tom Brady’s life a living nightmare while only blitzing on a laughable 16% of their defensive snaps. (For some context on the Broncos, in 2015, they blitz on 42% of their defensive snaps. They sized up the New England Patriots and said “Yup, no need to send the heat against these guys”)
SB Nation’s Stephen White’s outstanding and frequently hilarious Hoss of the Week column got into the types of tactics and tricks the Broncos used to take Brady’s lunch money. Here’s how they prevented Brady from his trademarked pocket movement:
“One of the smarter things the Broncos did was run a ton of those Ex games — end penetrates inside B gap, defensive tackle loops outside for contain — between the edge rushers and the inside guys. Miller and Ware worked their speed rushes early, which got both Cannon and left tackle Sebastian Vollmer to start bailing out of their stances on the snap to try to catch up to them.”
“That eventually left them vulnerable to inside moves. When Miller, Ware and their backups Shaquil Barrett and Shane Ray came inside, Wolfe, Jackson or backup five-technique Antonio Smith would fake inside and then come outside, and the Patriots offensive line did a sh–y job of stopping it. That meant Brady had immediate pressure a lot and he couldn’t step up in the pocket to avoid it because of the inside moves. Trying to sidestep it also put him in harm’s way several times.”
Everybody, Brady included, jokes around about his running skills – his “Chariots of Fire” video from last year still sets the bar for self-parody – but pocket movement is one of his signature weapons to buy precious fractions of a second and let guys get open down the field. By taking away what Brady does well, the Broncos were gambling that their guys would win the one-on-one matches up front and hit the quarterback before he had the chance to unload the ball downfield.
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Stephen White describes the play of Demarcus Ware, who has zero business being as good as he is at his age, like this:
“DeMarcus Ware may only have gotten credit for half a sack, but if you watched the game you know he had a much bigger impact on the outcome of that game. He lead the team in pressures with six out of those 17. More impressive than just that raw number was the timing of those pressures; they kept coming at crucial moments for the Broncos defense.”
“Then you had the dynamic duo of Derek Wolfe and Malik Jackson just absolutely wrecking shop inside. That’s another reason why I didn’t feel comfortable crowning Miller as the lone Hoss; so many of the plays he made were helped by his defensive tackles not giving Brady anywhere to step up to avoid him.”
The result of getting embarrassed in the trenches, of course, is this:
“Brady has been around the block a time or two, so I’d never say he was shook on Sunday. After all, he still almost helped his team pull it out at the end. I will say that he damn sure started rushing some throws that he normally completes in his sleep.”
Those looking for a reason the New England Patriots simply could not protect TB12 on Sunday, there’s your answer: it didn’t take exotic blitzes, disguised coverages, or sending the house against the guy who sliced and diced the Seattle Seahawks for 320 yards and four touchdown passes.
Next: Patriots on Fourth Down: Analytics vs. Real Life
All it took was Denver trusting that their defensive line would take care of business and manhandle a physically inferior, overmatched offensive line.
Turns out, they were right.