When two people are grizzled NFL veterans like New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady and current Los Angeles Rams defensive coordinator Wade Phillips, they are bound to cross paths from time to time.
The 71-year-old Phillips has faced off against Brady nine times during Brady’s 18-year career. The Patriots are 6-3 in those nine games, but Brady has shown to have problems with Phillips’s defensive strategy.
While facing each other in the playoffs, Brady is 2-1 against Phillips. He has a completion percentage of 53.7 percent and has a touchdown to interception ratio of six to five. Brady’s postseason completion percentage (63.3 percent) is nearly 10 percent higher than when he faces Phillips. His 72.8 quarterback rating is well short of his 90.9 rating in his postseason career.
Brady’s overall numbers when facing Phillips’ defense are actually quite impressive. Brady has completed 58 percent of his passes and averaged 297.9 yards per game. He’s thrown 21 touchdowns to just seven interceptions. While he has performed well the majority of the time, Phillips had success when he was the defensive coordinator with the Denver Broncos.
While coaching in Denver, Phillips’ defense was able to hold Brady under 225 passing yards twice, including 2016’s regular-season matchup in which Brady only had 155 passing yards, the last time the two met. In the 2015 AFC Championship, Brady only threw one touchdown while getting picked off twice. He managed to throw for 310 yards, but he had to throw the ball 56 times to hit that mark. He finished 27-for-56 with a 48.2 completion percentage and a 56.4 passer rating, which are both Brady’s second-lowest outings in his postseason career. His lowest postseason passer rating (49.1) came at the hands of the Baltimore Ravens back in 2009.
Phillips was victorious because he was able to get pressure on Brady. Defensive standouts Von Miller and DeMarcus Ware repeatedly beat the Patriots’ offensive tackles, while Derek Wolfe brought the pressure up the middle. The onslaught resulted in four sacks and nearly 20 hits on Brady.
The question is, will Phillips be able to have the same success against Brady now that he’s with the Rams? He certainly has the high-caliber talent like he did in Denver.
Defensive lineman Aaron Donald may be the best player in the NFL on either side of the ball. His 20.5 sacks are the most in the league this season. Ndamukong Suh is a beast of a man in the middle of the Los Angeles defensive line and a terrific complement to Donald; the two form a terrifying defense that no opposing offense wants to face. On the outside, the Rams have Michael Brockers and Dante Fowler to harass Brady from the edges.
The goal of Wade Phillips’s defense is to stop the run while rushing four guys and dropping seven back into coverage. The Patriots offense is all about establishing the run and utilizing the play-action pass.
With rookie running back Sony Michel leading the way in the backfield, the AFC champions have been able to keep the pressure off of Brady and control the clock with the run game. Michel has rushed for over 100 yards in both playoff games, and the Patriots haven’t lost a game when he’s been able to hit the century mark.
Phillips coached his way to one Super Bowl victory, while Brady has played his way to five Super Bowl wins. Ultimately, it’s the players who decide the outcome of a game by their performances, and the five-time Super Bowl champion trots out on to the field at the age of 41, putting his destiny in his own hands.
15 Responses
Great article by Terry Goffena!
Banger!