Brady remains a nightmare for Birds’ coaches
PHILADELPHIA >> Not often, but occasionally, Jim Schwartz will be jolted awake with one haunting thought.
In his slumber, he will be back in Minnesota, coordinating the Eagles’ defense against the New England Patriots in the Super Bowl. As always, the Patriots would be behind by eight, at their own 49, with just enough time for one more play.
And …
“Cold sweat,” Schwartz said Monday. “Four in the morning.”
As it happened nearly two years ago, the play would be an incomplete pass and the Eagles would win the Super Bowl. In the nightmare, Schwartz can never shake the vision of what Tom Brady can do at any moment. So, he remembers it all, and in vivid detail, about how the Patriots’ quarterback would be in direct line of an on-rushing Brandon
Graham, there to be sacked. Instead, he would slip away, free himself open to the right, heave the ball into the end zone and stop hearts.
No…
Seconds later, after a mob of Eagles helped to push the ball to the ground, Schwartz would be a worldchampion defensive coordinator. Yet all this time later, that effort by Brady still has him tense. It particularly has him tense this week as he prepares to face Brady again, Sunday at the Linc. And that has him aware that the cold sweats might just after four in the afternoon, not in the middle of the night.
“Everybody thinks about the earlier play where Brandon knocked the ball out of his hand,” Schwartz was saying Monday, on the NovaCare Complex field after practice. “And you don’t think about Brady that way. But he is effective, sliding around the pocket. And that doesn’t happen by accident. He works very hard at it and that’s one of the reasons he’s been successful.”
Successful? A little. But the Eagles have been successful, too, beating Brady in that Super Bowl, and playing just well enough this year to roll into Week 10 in a firstplace tie in the NFC East. The NFL, though, never provides prolonged rest. So Schwartz spent much of his bye week going over the film of the last time he faced Brady and remembering that Brady passed for 505 yards and three touchdowns in that championship game.
“A lot of the scheme stuff has stayed the same,” Schwartz said. “Obviously, there has been some turnover. (Julian) Edelman wasn’t playing in that game, even though he’s been a long-time member of their team. It’s a little different when ‘87’ (retired tight end Rob Gronkowski) is not out there. That’s a little different for them. But they’ve got some continuity at the running back position. They’ve added Sony Michel in there.
“When it’s all said and done, they’ve been a winning team, regardless of who’s been out there. So that’s what the challenge is. The challenge is being able to match up, being able to tackle, being able to run, being able to pass and finding a way to come out with a win. And that’s our job this week.”
It’s been done before, and the Eagles had a parade as proof. But the NFL moves quickly.
“It’s a couple years ago,” Schwartz said. “They have different guys. We have different guys. But I’m sure they are going back and looking at that. It’s the last time we played them, other than preseason. So there’s always something you can take away from it.
I’m sure they’re doing the same thing.”
So much has passed since Super Bowl LII. Already, Howie Roseman, the designer of the championship team, has become an easy target of fan criticism. Nick Foles, the MVP in that game, has moved on to Jacksonville. The Patriots never sit still for long. Yet there is that constant: Brady, who even at 42, has everything necessary to keep a defensive coordinator alert.
“It makes it hard,” Schwartz said. “When guys have maybe one skill set, you can take that one skill away and they have a hard time adapting. He’s lived through that for years. But he’s a tough competitor and gives them a chance to win every week. He doesn’t make many mistakes.”
The Eagles are about where they need to be with seven games left, tied with Dallas at the top of the division. Because they paid an up-front cost by taking a threegame road trip to clear their stadium district for a Phillies postseason that never happened, the Eagles have a favorable remaining schedule, with four of the final seven at the Linc. But one of those is Sunday against the champion Pats, who have won two of the last three Super Bowls. Since the Eagles don’t have much room for any more stumbles, all of the coaches on Doug Pederson’s staff, not just Schwartz, did a byeweek film study of their historic victory over the Patriots, trying to figure out what worked then, understanding that it might not work again.
“It’s certainly a resource,” offensive coordinator Mike Groh said. “But they are two different teams. You look back two years ago, there’s different guys playing for them, different guys playing for us. Certainly, nuts and bolts, who they are, they are not going to stray too far away from that.
“They are playing a little differently now, just like we are. It’s about understanding the moment as much as it is about going back.”
Sometimes, though, the memories, good and bad, cannot be avoided. And if Schwartz is jarred awake in the wee hours of Sunday morning, he won’t be surprised.