HIT THE SPOT
Ealy eager to use friendly tips from Patriots QB against him
IF THERE is a Jet who knows a thing or two about the inner workings of the Tom Brady mind, it is Kony Ealy.
Never in Brady’s wildest imagination did he think that the tips he graciously provided Ealy during the short time they were Patriots teammates could potentially come back to haunt him.
Possibly as early as Sunday at MetLife Stadium.
“When you got a guy like that that’s been in the league for a long time and been highly successful in his career, you obviously want to pick his brain about things that quarterbacks don’t like,” Ealy told The Post.
“I picked his brain a l ot, just asked him certain things that would obviously help me from the opposite side of the ball as far as just being able to be faster in the game and approach to the game.
“For him to be known as one of the greatest quarterbacks that ever lived, he knows something. He’s doing something right. For me, a young guy trying to accomplish more than what I’ve already accomplished and try to learn more than what I’ve already learned, what better way than ask a guy that’s been at the highest of his career throughout his whole career? And who’s accomplished so much that I want?”
Ealy wants to be the player he was in Super Bowl 50 with the Panthers — when he recorded three sacks, forced a fumble and intercepted Peyton Manning.
“I may ask him a question that may not relate to him,” Ealy said. “It can relate to a guy like Cam Newton. Just mindset-type questions. Playing mind games as far as when you’re on the field.
“Basically things that quarterbacks don’t like, they like ... just little knicky-knack stuff just to pick his brain.
“What are different ways that I can get to the quarterback and be more effective? Things that put quarterbacks more under pressure or that they’re alert for. Certain things like that. You have to be in a situation to understand what I’m saying. You have to be in the moment to understand the conversations between me
and him that I’ve had.”
Ealy — a 6-foot-4, 275-pound defensive end — has sacked Brady twice in hi s four-year career.
“You got a guy like that, that you grow up watching,” Ealy said. “He beat my dream team when I was younger. I used to be a Rams fan [living in the St. Louis area] when I was really, really young. And I always teased him about it every time I saw him: ‘ You beat my childhood team!’ He would just kind of laugh about it.
“When you sack a guy like that, a guy that’s gonna go down in history, what better feeling than to say, ‘ Hey, I sacked Tom Brady’, or Hey, ‘I knew Tom Brady’?”
Ealy grew fond of Brady during their five months together.
“He’s a really good guy, very smart guy, very cool, down-toearth guy,” Ealy said. “Football, it’s just a different story. His light switches on different.”
Ealy was released because he wasn’t a scheme fit in Bill Belichick’s defense.
“This defense is a better fit for me because they’re allowing me to go rush the passer,” Ealy said. “They’re allowing me to do what I naturally am allowed to do, and that’s go rush the passer and get the running back on the way to the quarterback.”
Ealy made an impact against Blake Bortles and the Jaguars in Week 4 (four bat-downs, one pick), even while carrying a heavy heart following the death of his 32-year-old sister LaToya Brown.
“No one wants to have one of their young siblings pass or any- thing bad happen to them,” Ealy said. “It’s heavy on my mind every day that I think about her passing. But at the end of the day, I’ve learned to gain a sense of comfort knowing that she’s not suffering anymore. I know the things that she would want if she was still here. It’s definitely something I think about every day, but at the end of the day, I find a sense of purpose to be positive about the matter.”
Ealy swears he won’t have added fuel to show Belichick and the Pats they erred letting him go.
“I have extra fuel because I have to feed my family,” Ealy said. “It’s not about any other team except us. And no matter where or who I play and for what reason, it’s always gonna be that way.”