Pass rush vital against Brady

New England quarterback Tom Brady has been sacked only 17 times in the 12 regular-season games he played this season. That follows a year in which the offensive line allowed 34 sacks.
New England quarterback Tom Brady has been sacked only 17 times in the 12 regular-season games he played this season. That follows a year in which the offensive line allowed 34 sacks.

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Take it from Wade Phillips, slowing down Tom Brady is a goal often sought, but seldom achieved.

"Good luck," the new defensive coordinator of the Los Angeles Rams said this week when asked about the difficulty of taking the Patriots quarterback out of his comfort zone. "He's good no matter what."

And that's coming from a guy who's had at least some recent success bothering Brady.

Brady enters Sunday's matchup against the Pittsburgh Steelers with a 6-4 record in AFC championship games, including 4-1 at home.

The common denominator in each of his losses has been the opposing defenses have managed to apply pressure up front and force him into quick decisions in the pocket.

The Broncos, with Phillips serving as defensive coordinator, did it during last season's 20-18 AFC title game victory in Denver. Led by Von Miller, the Broncos, sacked Brady four times and registered another 17 quarterback hits.

"Before we played them they said I couldn't stop him," Phillips said. "It's a combination of things but you've just got to play great defense. Yeah, you've got to put pressure on him, but you've got to be able to cover. ... The pressure you get you have to get it 1 on 1.

"You're not going to fool him and get a free runner on him. You know, you don't see anybody just come and hit him in the back. He sees everybody. He's special that way, too."

Pittsburgh has sacked Brady 21 times in 11 previous meetings, but Brady hasn't thrown an interception against the Steelers since 2005, while throwing 19 touchdown passes.

Brady and the Patriots beat the Steelers 27-16 in Week 7 at Pittsburgh, but that was with linebacker Ryan Shazier returning from a knee injury; linebacker James Harrison played less 50 percent of the snaps and Bud Dupree was on injured reserve with a groin injury.

Improved health has been a boost to Pittsburgh in its nine-game win streak. The Steelers had 13 sacks over their first nine games, and have 31 during the past nine.

"I think just getting after him in general is going to be big," Shazier said. "Every team wants to get after the quarterback, when you get the quarterback rattled or just out of position, it definitely helps out the defense, helps out the team.

"If we can make him feel uncomfortable and make him play a game he's not accustomed to, it's going to help out our defense and play the way we want to."

It may be good timing for Pittsburgh.

The Patriots allowed Brady to be sacked 17 times in the 12 games he played after yielding 38 in 2015.

But New England's offensive line showed some cracks in last week's divisional-round win over the Texans, allowing Brady to be sacked twice and hit eight times. Houston had two interceptions.

Brady said the change in the Steelers' defense from Week 7 is evident.

"They've been dominant," he said. "They've been great just rushing the quarterback, making plays for their team, strip sacks, forced interceptions, a lot of big plays. ... It's a big challenge for us."

Left tackle Nate Solder said the vulnerabilities that were exposed last week by the Texans isn't always a bad thing. It certainly won't rattle them, he said.

"The things that you didn't do right sometimes can be a gift. If you can get them right it can help you for the next game," Solder said. "One quarterback hit is too many. ... (But) you can't worry about every little thing that goes wrong."

Dupree, who had his first career sack during the Steelers' season-opening 28-21 loss to the Patriots in 2015, said he isn't expecting Brady to stand around waiting to get hit this time around.

"Tom Brady is on a different level," Dupree said. "Even though he's older he's still doing a great job. We've got to continue to trust our game plan, trust our training and be the best team on the field."

NFL playoffs

SUNDAY’S GAMES All times Central NFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Green Bay at Atlanta, 2 p.m. (Fox)

AFC CHAMPIONSHIP

Pittsburgh at New England, 5:30 p.m. (CBS)

SUPER BOWL

SUNDAY, FEB. 5 At Houston

Green Bay/Atlanta winner vs. Pittsburgh/New England winner, 5:30 p.m. (Fox)

Sports on 01/21/2017

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