Super Bowl LIII: Rams' pass rush must get to Tom Brady

Aaron Donald #99 of the Los Angeles Rams talks to the media during Super Bowl LIII Opening Night at State Farm Arena on January 28, 2019 in Atlanta, Georgia. Credit: Getty Images/Rob Carr
ATLANTA
The Patriots have seen some of the NFL’s fiercest pass rushers in the playoffs — Joey Bosa and Melvin Ingram of the Chargers, Dee Ford and Justin Houston of the Chiefs.
Total sacks from all of them: zero.
Tom Brady has barely been touched in two playoff games. He was pressured on only 11 of 90 dropbacks — an insanely low ratio, especially considering the quality of the pass rushers.
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 had a career-high 20½ sacks and approached Michael Strahan’s record of 22½, faces the nearly impossible task of getting to Brady when no one else has.
The Patriots will pay close attention to him and apply a regular dose of double-teams. But Brady’s ability to get the ball out of his hands so quickly could be Donald’s biggest challenge.
“Just a great quarterback making a lot of great decisions,” the All-Pro tackle said. “Gets the ball out of his hands and doesn’t let himself 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 inside and has the most direct path to the quarterback. In the Giants’ two Super Bowl wins over the Patriots, a strong pass rush up the middle produced repeated pressure and held the Pats to 14 and 17 points.
The combination of scheme and blocking has alleviated pressure on Brady, but if anyone can 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 Brady’s launching area. “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. Just got to keep going and eventually it’s going to happen.”
Two keys for the Rams: Provide solid pass coverage 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. They’re going to make him 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,” he said. “But that gives other guys opportunities to get after it, and we’ve been doing that. You got myself, Dante [Fowler], 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 beat a perennial Super Bowl contender or whether Brady hoists the Lombardi Trophy one more time.
WRECKING BALL
Aaron Donald was a menace to quarterbacks and running backs during the 2018 season. His numbers:
20.5
QB sacks (No. 1 in NFL)
25
Tackles for loss (No. 1 in NFL)
41
QB hits and solo tackles
4
Forced fumbles