ATLANTA _ The Patriots have seen some of the NFL's fiercest pass rushers in the playoffs _ from Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram of the Chargers to Dee Ford and Justin Houston of the Chiefs. Total sacks from all of them: zero.
Tom Brady has barely been touched in the Patriots' two playoff games, having been pressured on only 11 of his 90 drop-backs _ an insanely low ratio, especially considering the quality of the pass rush.
Credit part of it to the Patriots' line, coordinated so seamlessly by Dante Scarnecchia, one of the very best assistants ever. But the other part of it is coordinator Josh McDaniels' scheme. Unlike previous years, when Brady dropped back and waited for plays to develop and receivers to get down the field, this is a quick-strike offense designed as much to keep linemen off Brady as it is to move the ball.
Good luck with that, Aaron Donald.
The Rams' premier tackle, coming off a season in which he produced a career-high 20 { sacks and approached Michael Strahan's record of 22 {, faces the nearly impossible task of getting to Brady when no one else has. The Patriots will pay close attention to Donald and apply a regular dose of double-teams. But it's Brady's willingness to get the ball out of his hands so quickly that could be Donald's biggest challenge.
"Just a great quarterback making a lot of great decisions," said the Rams' All-Pro tackle, who signed a six-year, $135-million contract extension before the season. "Gets the ball out of his hands and doesn't let him get sacked and make a lot of bad decisions. He has a lot of experience to make all the right decisions, all the right moves. We've got to make his job harder."
The best and quickest way to get to Brady is through Donald, who lines up across the interior of the Patriots' line and has the most direct path to the quarterback. In both of the Giants' Super Bowl victories over the Patriots, it was a strong pass rush up the middle that produced repeated pressure and held Brady's offense under 20 points each time.
The combination of scheme and blocking has alleviated some of that pressure on Brady, but if there's a player who could break through, it's Donald, the NFL's best defensive lineman and the leading contender for Defensive Player of the Year.
"Got to get him off the spot," Donald said, referring to the launching area for Brady's passes. "He's a great quarterback, but you can pressure him, just like anybody else. Make it tough for him."
Donald has found the going tough personally in the playoffs, with no sacks against the Cowboys and Saints. Not to worry.
"It's not only just sacks," he said. "The pressures have to be there. Making him move and making him throw the ball before he wants to do it. We just have to do our job. It can be frustrating, but you've got to keep working, keep playing. It's going to come eventually. There are going to be ups and downs, good plays and bad plays. Just got to keep going, and eventually, it's going to happen."
Two keys for the Rams: Provide solid coverage against the Patriots' receivers and find balance with the pass rush.
"We'll get to him. We'll get to him eventually," Donald said. "Just can't get frustrated. We've got a great secondary, and they're going to do their job and lock people down. That will give us opportunities. They're going to make (Brady) hold the ball, and we're going to have opportunities to get after him. We just got to get him down."
And if Donald doesn't get his shot at Brady?
"You get a lot of double-teams, a lot of slide protection, a lot of ways to slow you down," Donald said. "But that gives other guys opportunities to get after it, and we've been doing that. You got myself, Dante (Fowler), you've got Michael Brockers, got (Ndamukong) Suh. That's a lot of people. We're going to do our job."
It may be the key to whether the Rams pull off the win over a perennial Super Bowl contender, or whether Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy one more time.
