For Mike Pettine and the Green Bay Packers defense, less time will be spent fooling Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady and more individual execution by doing what they do in the NFC Championship Game.
Think more fastball than curveball.
“We’ve played a good defense this year,” Pettine said on Thursday. ‘That brought us here. It makes no sense to deviate from that. We will be who we are. We’re going to throw our fastball. Our boys have to understand that we are not kidding him, but we can outdo him. “
Pettine said Brady is “detailed” and “doesn’t miss anything.” In the first meeting in October, Bucs’ quarterback completed 17 passes for 166 yards and two touchdowns in the 38-10 win over the Packers.
Pettine’s defense put pressure on him in just five of the 27 dropbacks. And both his touchdown passes came in third.
Even at the age of 43, Brady threw for 4,633 yards and 40 touchdowns in 2020.
“Our boys must be as good as they’ve ever been,” said Pettine. “It’s important for our guys to understand, just the attention to detail and the urgency, how important it is against a quarterback like this.”
Pettine said pre-snap disguise is important, but Brady is going to sort out defense after the snap, and individual execution within matchups is much more important.
Translation: The Packers are not going to try to reinvent the wheel until they face Brady. The players must perform within what Pettine and the defense have already schematically built.
Not only has the six-time Super Bowl winner seen it all in his career, but he’s also throwing in what Pettine described as the deepest receiver group the Packers have dealt with, plus two good tight ends and a pair of capable running backs.
“This whole offensive unit is certainly our biggest challenge yet,” said Pettine.
The Packers held the Rams to just 244 yards and three scoring discs in the NFC Divisional Round. Jared Goff was fired four times and the Rams only had one action of at least 20 yards.
Now the Packers have to pass their final test, and it’s a big one. Sunday will reveal if the defense’s fastball is good enough to get Brady out.
“It’s a huge challenge,” said Pettine. “To go to the Super Bowl, we have to beat Tom Brady. Our guys are excited about the challenge, but we’ve been stressing it all week knowing what to expect. “