If the Philadelphia Eagles want to go after Tom Brady to stop him from torching them in Super Bowl LII the effort must start with their front seven led by Fletcher Cox.
If the Eagles want to win this game they must keep Brady in the pocket and apply pressure on him constantly, in other words, they must play a defensively sound football game.
For the Eagles defense, it all starts with their front seven putting pass pressure on Brady by manhandling the New England Patriots offensive line. By doing that they can get a great push on Brady, limit his time to react and hope that leads to sacks, interceptions, and fumbles.
The Eagles have an advantage against the Patriots because unlike any other teams that New England has faced this season they are capable of coming off the edge and apply pressure up the middle to attack Brady even if they don’t blitz frequently.
The Eagles according to Pro Football Focus blitz only 23 percent of the time (ranked 10th lowest in the NFL), despite that they manage to apply pressure on opposing quarterbacks on 44.9 percent of the passing snaps in the playoffs (most in the NFL).
That’s a key stat for the Eagles because this year’s Patriots allow a total of 11.6 pressures per game (which ranks as 8th most in the NFL) and in the two Super Bowls that New England lost to the New York Giants during the Brady-Bill Belichick era Brady was pressured over 40 percent of the game.
The Eagles defensively have the tools to do to the Patriots what the Giants did in Super Bowls XLII and XLVI, but on offense, they also need quarterback Nick Foles to play opportunistic sound football and raise his level of play like Eli Manning did against the Pats in both those Super Bowls.
And last, but not least, head coach Doug Pederson needs to mimic then Giants head coach Tom Coughlin by making aggressive calls on offense but mostly on defense to constantly pressure Brady and make him uncomfortable, limiting his long passes and opportunities to find open receivers that will allow him to convert on third downs.
If they do that, the Eagles will keep Brady and the rest of the Patriots explosive offense off the field. That would help them control time of possession and field position on their way to winning their first Lombardi Trophy and become the second NFC East team to defeat Brady and Belichick in the Super Bowl.
