The Boston Herald's Ian Rapoport recently scored an interview with Romeo Crennel leading up to tonight's match-up on Monday Night Football between the visiting Kansas City Chiefs and the New England Patriots. The match-up might even be summarized by the two quarterbacks involved: future Hall of Famer Tom Brady and the Chiefs Tyler Palko, who is getting his first NFL start tonight.
That's what makes stopping Brady the primary thing for the Chiefs defense to focus on in practice all week. And that's what Rapoport got Crennel to discuss, breaking down two primary ways to get to Brady.
1) Disguise pre-snap: "You try to combat it pre-snap as best you can, but you have to be in position to do your job when the ball is snapped, and Tom does a good job of mixing the snap count. He goes with the quick count, he goes with the hard count, he goes with the double count, so it’s going to be tough, particular if you have young guys. With a veteran secondary, you can disguise a little bit more. But we got young guys that are playing. So, I’m going to have to get my young guys in position to give themselves a chance to defend this passing game."
2) Move Brady off his spot: "You can try to get some pressure on him to try to get him off the spot. Because when he stands back there, and flat-footed, he can deliver the ball pretty good. He knows exactly where he needs to go. If it’s tight coverage, he puts it where the defender can’t really make the play. So, if we can try to get him off the spot so that he has to move and try to deliver the ball on the move, that might throw off the timing a little bit. Then if we’re lucky, we might be able to make a play."
The entire article is worth a read so make sure to check out Rapoport and the rest of the Herald's MNF coverage. There's plenty there to check out.