' star quarterback doesn't like it when opposing defenses utilize—and have success with—a pass-rush that disrupts his timing.
Couple that with tight man coverage in the secondary, and you have the consensus recipe for stopping No. 12.
Sounds simple, right?
The problem is, since 2003, Brady has only been on the losing side just 30 times (including postseason games). Whilst a Patriots defeat is hardly a collector's item, statistics like that show how consistently he has performed over a prolonged period.
It also explains why everyone fromNFLhead coaches, through to humble Internet bloggers, are engaged in the ongoing pursuit of drawing up, and explaining, the perfect game plan for derailing Brady and his prolific passing attack.
Many defensive coordinators have tried, but only a few have succeeded. Fewer still have done it regularly, or in important games.
Here, we take you through the top five defensive coordinators who have cracked the code.
Dick LeBeau is considered one of the great defensive minds in NFL history, yet he has tasted more defeat than success against the Patriots during his tenure as thePittsburgh Steelersdefensive coordinator.
Since 2004, LeBeau is 2-4 against Brady, who has also racked up three 300-yard games in that period. It hasn't all been one-way traffic though; the man who popularized the zone blitz has found ways to drop Brady in the dirt.
The fire zone blitz is a Pittsburgh trademark, and relies on confusion over identifying the rushers in the scheme. The general concept involves sending five defenders at the quarterback, with one lineman or linebacker dropping into coverage, swapping with a defensive back and overloading pressure to one side of the formation.
Brady has impressed over the years by detecting the Steelers' blitz on the pre-snap, and exploiting the mismatches created by dropping linemen into coverage or checking out of plays to run the ball.
But the victories over New England in 2004 and 2011—with a combined seven sacks and two picks on Brady—show that LeBeau's exotic playbook can be a match for the very best quarterbacks in the league on its day.
Kudos to Rob Ryan for giving the Patriots serious problems with two different teams. He gains bonus marks for both examples coming in the past two seasons, when Brady has played at an MVP level almost throughout.
First, his game plan as theCleveland Browns' defensive coordinator in 2010. That day, the Browns emerged as 34-14 victors, never allowing the Patriots' offense to get going despite Brady throwing no picks and taking zero sacks.
New England fumbled the ball twice as the Browns employed tight coverage in the secondary, mixed with a physical brand of football at the line of scrimmage to knock receivers off their routes and disrupt Brady's timing.
With theCowboysin Week 6 this season, Ryan suffered a narrow defeat whilst getting after Brady on what seemed like every down.
Having taken a copy from brother Rex's playbook, Rob's Cowboys scheme on the day created havoc with a standard four-man rush, both through the interior over Dan Connolly, but on the edges with the peerless DeMarcus Ware, forcing two interceptions, three sacks and eight quarterback hits.
Steve Spagnuolo makes the list for perhaps the single biggest contribution to the legacy of victories over a Tom Brady-led offense.
Whilst others have shown the way multiple times, Spagnuolo has just one success to his name. That came in Super Bowl XLII, where the 12-point underdogGiantsgave the New England offensive line nightmares, crashing Brady to the turf five times en route to a shock 17-14 victory.
The sack totals only tell half of the picture. We are talking about a Patriots offense that set multiple offensive records throughout the 2007 regular season, scoring an average of 36.8 points per game.
Sure, there were some close shaves on the road to 16-0. But most teams were dispatched with authority—including the Giants in Week 17—with a Brady-to-Moss connection that produced 23 touchdowns.
For Spagnuolo and the Giants to regroup just a few weeks later to deliver one of the great defensive game plans in NFL history is nothing short of remarkable.
In a style mimicked by Giants defenses and coordinators since, the front four rushed the passer with venom, introducing Justin Tuck to the wider world.
That night, Brady was flushed out of the pocket and hit repeatedly with a barrage of pressure, who was never afforded the time to develop the downfield plays that typified the 2007 Patriots offense.
HoldingRandy Mossto 62 yards and one score meant that Brady had to rely on short outs and slants toWes Welker(103 yards), in a style unaccustomed to the team that year. With no success on the ground to fall back on, Brady was made to look human on the night he appeared destined for immortality.
Larry Coyer checking in at the No. 2 spot will surprise anyone who has watched theIndianapolis Coltsthis season.
Unrecognizable withoutPeyton Manning, the Colts conceded 62 points against theNew Orleans Saints, and have found out that their speed defense is exposed when their offense cannot jump out to an early lead.
Patriots fans will remember Coyer differently, however. Between 2000 and 2006, as theDenver Broncos' defensive coordinator, he had a 5-1 record against Brady, restricting the Patriots to 17.7 points per game and dumping them out of the 2005 divisional playoffs.
Under Coyer, the Broncos were a top-four defense in total yards allowed for two straight seasons (2003-2004) and a perennial playoff team. Led by Champ Bailey, John Lynch and Al Wilson, they employed a very similar scheme to Dick LeBeau's "Blitzburgh," sending defensive backs on pass-rushing duties and overloading formations to confuse the offensive line's responsibilities.
The emphasis on turnovers enabled the Broncos to control the clock and wear down the opposition through running backs such asClinton Portisor Tatum Bell.
Add in a further win over Brady with the Colts in 2009, and you have one of the most successful defensive coordinators against any quarterback in recent times.
The double-header ofRex Ryanand Mike Pettine take the top spot for a series of game plans that have downed the Patriots' aerial attacks at various points in the past four seasons, all during the prime of Brady's career.
Starting in 2007, Ryan as theRavens' defensive coordinator—with his right hand man Pettine as linebackers coach—concocted a scheme that, in relative terms, slowed Brady down as the Patriots achieved the perfect regular season.
By applying interior pressure to move Brady off his spot in the the pocket, the Ravens not only produced three sacks and a pick, but held the Patriots to 257 yards through the air.
In the context of the 2007 season, keeping Brady from posting video game numbers was impressive, and gave the Ravens a chance through the ground attack with Willis McGahee, losing narrowly 27-24.
Fast-forward to 2009, where over the next two seasons, Ryan and Pettine tasted success over the Patriots three times as the Jets' head coach and defensive coordinator respectively.
In each victory, the blueprint for success was remarkably similar. The "rush four, drop seven" concept has been applied so effectively by the Jets that the consensus model for getting after Brady looks like the plan drawn up by Ryan and Pettine.
However, pulling off such a scheme requires defensive talent across the board. You have to mix up pre-snap looks to disguise formations, win the one-on-one matchups up front to generate pressure with a standard four-man rush, whilst giving Brady no mismatches in the secondary to exploit.
This requires tight, disciplined man coverage, made all the easier when you can count on players such as Darrelle Revis to lock down Brady's favourite targets.
The most impressive example of the Ryan philosopy came in the 2010 Wild Card game at Gillette Stadium, where the 14-2 Patriots entered the game with the league's most potent offense and home-field advantage throughout the playoffs.
Brady was left battered and bruised, taking five sacks and seven hits as time after time, he held on to the ball for the open receiver that never came.
Creating a shorlist of five meant that some notable exceptions were missed from the final reckoning.
Starting with the most recent example, Perry Fewell put together a replica of the Giants' Super Bowl game plan for New York's 24-20 defeat of the Patriots this season, which snapped a regular season winning streak in Gillette Stadium for Tom Brady that stretched back to 2006.
His five winless years with theBuffalo Billscount against him, however. An absence of talent on the roster during that period can be used as an excuse, but no wins in 10 attempts against a divisional rival leaves a black mark on Fewell's record.
Gregg Williams also deserves credit for assembling a Saints defense that dominated the Patriots in the 2009 regular season, but with this being the sole success on Williams' record versus Brady, he was overlooked by the men who accomplished more.
Finally, currentPackersdefensive coordinator Dom Capers—an ex-Patriot coach himself—designed a Ryan-esque interior blitz scheme with B.J. Raji in 2010 that restricted Brady to 167 yards in Week 15.
However, with his two attempts at knocking Brady off his stride—with the previous coming in 2007 with the 1-15Dolphins—ending in defeat, Capers had to be ruled out for the final cut.
Are there any other defensive coordinators you feel deserve consideration? Let us know in the comments section below.
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