Tom Brady received the honor of being voted the top player in the NFL by his peers, according to NFL Network’s Top 100 Players of 2011 list. Two of the top defensive players in the game, Ray Lewis and Darrelle Revis, presented him by providing commentary. Both players were extremely complimentary of Brady, but the line that stood out was when Revis said Brady was a genius.
“The guy’s calling out the coverage we’re doing, he’s calling out blitzes. Not to knock any other quarterbacks, but some of them don’t do that,” Revis said. “He’s pointing here, he’s pointing there — to me I think he’s a genius how he controls the offense.”
Lewis went on to praise Brady’s ability to find and exploit mismatches. He described a play in the Super Bowl against the Panthers that stood out to him. Facing a cover-2 defense, Brady threw to running back Kevin Faulk for short yardage rather than taking a shot deep or trying to force a throw, because that was the most optimal match up.
Both players also agreed on the way to stop the Patriots: pressure Brady.
“You’ve gotta get to Tom. If you don’t get to Tom, the Patriots roll,” Ray Lewis said.
“When they protect him, and he has time, [he’s the] best. Best ever, best in the game,” said Revis.
Those guys are dead on, because if you look at Brady’s notable losses recently (Jets, Ravens, and Giants in the playoffs), all of them were to teams that pressured him. If you don’t get to Brady, the genius will pick you apart.
