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Dolphins pass rush needs to hit Tom Brady

If the Fins want a ghost of a chance against New England this Sunday, they have to slow down the Patriots' quarterback and prolific aerial attack.

By Ben Gellman-Chomsky
Joe Camporeale-US PRESSWIRE

The Miami Dolphins will look to break New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady's composure this Sunday, and they know the best way to down the division leaders is to hurry and fluster the signal-caller.

Omar Kelly of the Miami Sun Sentinel writes that Dolphins defensive linemen from end Cameron Wake to tackle Randy Starks understand their task is to get to Brady and disrupt his timing. Head coach Joe Philbin complimented the Patriots' pass blocking, noting that Brady "doesn't get hit a ton."

That is selling New England's protection a little short. In 11 games, Brady has only taken 15 sacks. Among quarterbacks with at least 200 passing attempts, only Eli Manning and Matt Hasselbeck have been brought down for fewer sacks.

It's especially imperative that Miami messes up Brady in light of the aerial mismatch between the two clubs. The Patriots are averaging 292.1 yards per game through the air, fourth-best in the league. By contrast, the Dolphins have given up 261.7 passing yards on average this season, 26th-best in the NFL.


Photographs by cstreet.us, thelastminute, turtlemom nancy , fesek, kthypryn, justinwright, sue_elias, pointnshoot, and scrapstothefuture used in background montage under Creative Commons. Thank you.