Challenge presented by Brady hasn’t changed much for Colts
One fact sticks out this week for the Indianapolis Colts defense: They’re not facing Alex Smith anymore.
Smith played a tremendous game for the Kansas City Chiefs last Saturday. In fact, his passer rating was the best of any quarterback who played in the wildcard playoff round. He threw four touchdown passes and no interceptions. It might have been the best game of his life, and the Colts were pushed to the limit. But he’s not Tom Brady. Smith made some mistakes late, such as missing a couple wide-open receivers and taking an intentional grounding penalty. With all due respect to coach Andy Reid, Smith didn’t have Bill Belichick designing a plan to protect a surprisingly surmountable 28-point lead.
The New England Patriots’ Brady and Belichick have had two weeks to prepare for this game, to assume they would face the Colts and to analyze vulnerabilities in the Colts defense.
Brady doesn’t have the depth of talent around him that the
Patriots’ greatest teams possessed. In a way, that makes him even more dangerous. An impressive running game sets up the pass, and the man can still pass.
The Colts play the Patriots in an AFC divisional-round game at 8:15 tonight at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass.
And Brady will be one of the most pivotal performers.
“We know how potent that offense is,” Colts coach Chuck Pagano said. “We know the signal-caller is a future first-ballot Hall of Famer. With [LeGarrette] Blount running the ball the way he is and [Stevan] Ridley, they’ve got a stable of backs. [Shane] Vereen on third down. They are very balanced.
“You can’t just go in and say, ‘Hey, you got to get after Tom and put pressure on him and get him off the spot and try to frustrate him.’ ”
Brady has been sacked 40 times, so pressure is possible, as well as necessary. When Brady has time, and his receivers find openings, it’s usually a long day for the defense.
The key problem areas for the Colts defense:
chess match.
Brady can be, and has been, sacked. There’s some vulnerability there. But the Patriots also know that the Colts’ quarterback pressure stems almost entirely from the lead and play of veteran defensive end Robert Mathis.
Mathis led the league with 19.5 sacks. The Colts move him around on defense, so it’s not like the Patriots can simply make it the left tackle’s responsibility to slow him down.
More likely, the Patriots will have a number of blocking schemes set up where the line and a back make sure to anticipate and slow Mathis’ moves.
It will be up to the Colts to find ways to allow Mathis to reach Brady, or else have linebacker Erik Walden or end Cory Redding take advantage of the emphasis on slowing Mathis.
“You try to put guys around him and double-team him, but he still seems to be making all the plays,” Brady said of Mathis. “I just know I don’t have a lot of time back there in the pocket to sort things out. We’ve got to
try to get the ball to our guys as quickly as we can.”
game.
Brady is one of the best — if not the best — in the NFL at his job. His numbers this season aren’t “Peyton Manning-like” in terms of yards or touchdowns, but circumstances have dictated that. Brady has had the challenge of playing with a relatively new group of receivers, having lost tight end Rob Gronkowski to injury and favorite receiver Wes Welker to the Broncos in offseason free agency.
Early in the season, Brady garnered some attention for yelling at his young receivers, reacting to their drops and generally showing frustration. Guess what? The chemistry between Brady and his receivers developed.
He has found a Welker replacement in Julian Edelman (105 receptions, 1,056 yards, 6 touchdowns) and also uses Danny Amendola, Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins. Those might not be household names, but Brady’s confidence in them has increased this season. Dobson is banged up and might not play, so Thompkins could be more pivotal.
Brady will seek to take advantage of a Colts secondary that has been hobbled and didn’t play especially well against the Chiefs. Safety LaRon Landry is still awaiting clearance to come back from a concussion, but is listed as probable.
monster running game.
Ridley and Blount combined for 1,554 yards rushing this season and third-down back Vereen can churn out yardage, too. They’re all also threats in the short passing game.
The Patriots running game developed a bit out of necessity, with the depletion of Brady’s receiving options, but now it’s a great way to set up Brady’s playaction and vice versa.
Blount rushed for 189 yards and two scores against Buffalo two weeks ago after churning out 76 on Baltimore a week earlier. The Patriots’ ability to hit a defense with three backs can produce a wear-down factor.
“Some of our best playmakers are in the backfield and our offensive line has really taken a lot of pride in establishing a certain level of physical play,”
Brady said. “All the backs we have are capable and they all run hard. Really smart. They know how to set up blocks. They know what they’re looking for in the run game, so it’s been a great strength of our team.”
There’s three major tasks for the Colts defense, all interwoven in pressuring Brady, knocking his receivers off their game and slowing the three-headed rushing attack.
Expect the Patriots to include some strategic moves and plays that didn’t appear on the film the Colts studied. The Colts aren’t in Indianapolis anymore, and they aren’t facing Alex Smith.