One week after picking up his first victory as a (interim) head coach in the NFL, Todd Bowles gets the luxury of trying to figure out how to beat Tom Brady for win No. 2.
The Miami Dolphins' head guy's solution: Hope the New England Patriots' signal-caller "gets the flu and doesn't show up for the game."
“Seriously, there is no one key,” Bowles told MiamiDolphins.com Friday after joking about a Brady illness. “You have to play sound, solid defense. Your guys have to make plays and they can’t let up for a second. You also have to hope he’s having an off day.”
Despite a strong performance by now-injured quarterback Chad Henne and the Miami offense, Brady went off the deep end against the Dolphins in Week 1, completing 67 percent of his passes en route to a four-touchdown, 500-yard performance, which turned out to be the fifth-highest passing performance in NFL history.
“Everything went wrong,” Bowles said of the defensive effort. “We tried everything and it didn’t work. Emotions were high going into that game and we just didn’t play well.”
Bowles said at this point of the season, a win in Foxborough Saturday would show him a lot about the character of his team. He added that although putting pressure on Brady is the first step to rendering him ineffective, it ultimately takes play-making on the back end of the defense to shut down the Patriots' versatile passing game.
“You can hit him and throw him off key some, but your guys are going to have to make some plays,” Bowles said. “That’s no guarantee because Brady can make a lot of plays. You just have to come in clicking on all cylinders and hope for the best.”
Miami would like nothing better than to play spoiler its last two weeks of the season, as the Dolphins will face the New York Jets, another potential playoff contender, Week 17.
“Seriously, there is no one key,” Bowles told MiamiDolphins.com Friday after joking about a Brady illness. “You have to play sound, solid defense. Your guys have to make plays and they can’t let up for a second. You also have to hope he’s having an off day.”
Despite a strong performance by now-injured quarterback Chad Henne and the Miami offense, Brady went off the deep end against the Dolphins in Week 1, completing 67 percent of his passes en route to a four-touchdown, 500-yard performance, which turned out to be the fifth-highest passing performance in NFL history.
“Everything went wrong,” Bowles said of the defensive effort. “We tried everything and it didn’t work. Emotions were high going into that game and we just didn’t play well.”
Bowles said at this point of the season, a win in Foxborough Saturday would show him a lot about the character of his team. He added that although putting pressure on Brady is the first step to rendering him ineffective, it ultimately takes play-making on the back end of the defense to shut down the Patriots' versatile passing game.
“You can hit him and throw him off key some, but your guys are going to have to make some plays,” Bowles said. “That’s no guarantee because Brady can make a lot of plays. You just have to come in clicking on all cylinders and hope for the best.”
Miami would like nothing better than to play spoiler its last two weeks of the season, as the Dolphins will face the New York Jets, another potential playoff contender, Week 17.
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