Tae Crowder's next task as Giants' defensive organizer: Outwit Tom Brady

They could almost be kindred spirits. Both were drafted into the NFL with a remarkably late pick, and both were elevated to starting roles in their second season when the veteran ahead of them succumbed to a serious injury.

That may be where the similarities end for now. While Tom Brady has 22 years of professional football experience, Tae Crowder has played in 20 games. Brady has as many Super Bowl wins as games Crowder has played as his team’s every-down linebacker: Seven.

On Monday night, though, the undisputed greatest quarterback of all time and the last selection in the 2020 draft will be eyeball-to-eyeball, staring each other down across the line of scrimmage in the cat-and-mouse contest that will take place inside the bigger game between the Bucs and Giants.

"It’s a crazy experience," Crowder told Newsday. "I grew up watching him as a kid."

Is Crowder ready to take on Brady?

He could only laugh.

"We’ll see," he said.

The Giants think he is. Ever since Blake Martinez, their captain and pilot of the defense, left the field early in Week 3 with a torn ACL, Crowder has become the de facto centerpiece of the unit. He has played every snap since that injury. Everything the Giants' defense does, from the calls in the huddles to the pre-snap adjustments to the complicated disguises that have baffled opposing quarterbacks, flows through him. They have veteran Reggie Ragland and even former Pro Bowler Benardrick McKinney capable of wearing the "green dot" helmet, but they’ve stuck with Crowder to handle the responsibility.

"It’s tough being kind of new in the league and also having a lot thrown on your plate," cornerback James Bradberry said of Crowder. "I think he’s handled it well. I think the biggest thing for us is just being able to communicate and that’s what we always harp on every time we’re out there on the field. Just communicate."

Strangely enough, that’s the part of the job Crowder enjoys the least.

"I’m not really a big talk guy," Crowder said. "I had to work on that and put that first. You just have to do it. I have to get out of my comfort zone and be more vocal."

Defensive coordinator Patrick Graham said Crowder reminds him of Patriots linebacker Jamie Collins in that way.

"I don’t know if he’s the most boisterous or vocal guy, but he’s got leadership skills," Graham said of Crowder.

Crowder ran the defensive huddle when he was at the University of Georgia, but back then the plays were sent in from the sideline via hand signals and placards. Crowder translated those messages, but really everyone on the field saw them and knew what they meant so there was no true responsibility. He was mostly just confirming what his 10 teammates had seen.

In the NFL, the plays come in through the radio in Crowder’s helmet. Only he can hear them (sometimes, due to loud, raucous stadiums and, as Joe Judge has noted in the past, occasional spotty audio clarity) and he is then tasked with relaying the information to everyone else.

"Tae is a quiet dude, but he’s doing a good job," said rookie linebacker Azeez Ojulari, a teammate of Crowder’s at Georgia before they were reconnected with the Giants. "I knew he had it in him. He was always confident."

That confidence will be tested like never before on Monday. A year ago, the Giants managed to befuddle Brady a bit in the first half of their game against the Bucs with quick-shifting coverages that mimicked one thing before evolving into another. They did it with wily veterans such as Martinez and safety Logan Ryan controlling the shape-shifting. This time it will be Crowder in the middle of the mind games.

It will be him matching wits with Brady.

Crowder may have laughed at the absurdity of that matchup, but the Giants certainly aren’t.

Said Graham: "I have a lot of faith in Tae."

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.