Baltimore Ravens DC: Only Tonya Harding Can Stop Tom Brady
By Josh Hill
The Baltimore Ravens are primed to take on the New England Patriots for a second straight season in the AFC Championship game, and they’re looking to reverse their fortunes from last season. Ravens defensive coordinator Dean Pees is very familiar with Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, having coached around him during his days in New England and now having to defend against him with the Ravens.
So it’s fair to say Pees has had plenty of time to figure out how to stop Brady, and he offered up that answer to NESN.com, and while it was (hopefully) made in a joking manner, some more hard lined Patriots fans might not appreciate Pees sense of humor.
“Hire Tonya Harding,” Pees said, via NESN.com, when asked how Brady can be stopped . “If they were getting off the bus, I’d spray water outside the bus and hope it freezes.”
It’s worth pointing out that it a bum leg that ended the season of not the Patriots, but the Ravens last season in the AFC title game. We don’t expect to see Tom Brady in a knee brace come Sunday, but even if he was, it’s hard to imagine the Ravens would have the advantage over even a one-legged Brady.
Pees does have a blueprint to beating Brady, the only thing is executing it properly. The Ravens and Patriots met in the regular season with Baltimore winning 31-30. One of the reasons the Ravens won, was because they were able to render the Patriots running game virtually useless, limiting New England to 77 rushing yards.
The Ravens were merely a field goal away from possibly earning their first Super Bowl berth since 2001, and if they want to avoid falling into the same hole they stumbled into last season, Pees is going to have to make sure the game doesn’t again come down to a field goal.