Why Pressure Is Broncos' Key to Slowing Tom Brady in AFC Championship Game

On Sunday afternoon, the Denver Broncos will host the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.

For lovers of NFL history, this game will be a special one. It will be the 17th—and likely the last—time we see Tom Brady and Peyton Manning square off on the football field. 

Of course, this game isn't just going to be Brady vs. Manning (and we're really hoping that Jesse Eisenberg has no part in the pregame introductions). If it were only the two quarterbacks out there, we'd have 76,000 fans watching a slow-man footrace or a cadence competition with Manning and Brady each trying to draw the other offsides. 

No, this will be a game featuring the two best teams the AFC has to offer this season, though the quarterbacks will undoubtedly play a significant role. For the Broncos especially, it will be imperative to contain the opposing signal-caller.

We recently took a look at New England's surprising run to its fifth consecutive AFC title game. The biggest constant during that run—and for much, much longer—was Brady. The Michigan product is heading into his 10th conference championship with the Patriots and is unquestionably the team's biggest key to success.

"It's beyond what I'd ever imagined in my wildest dreams," Brady recently said, per Phil Perry of CSN New England. "I remember the first one I ever participated in, which was in Pittsburgh. … Fifteen years later, to be a part of 10 of those, I never imagined that any of this was ever even possible."

Much of New England's winning ways over the years can be attributed to Brady's ability to consistently perform at a high level, and he's as good this year (4,770 passing yards, 36 touchdowns, seven interceptions) as he's ever been.

This is precisely why the Broncos have to find a way to slow Brady if they hope to best the Patriots for the second time this season. Denver has shown it can win with a poor performance from Manning or even without him altogether (remember when it looked like this was Brock Osweiler's team?). New England cannot really say the same.

The Patriots are 1-3 this season when Brady posts a passer rating below 90. 

Limiting Brady's impact in the game isn't going to be easy, especially now that receiver Julian Edelman is back in the picture. He and tight end Rob Gronkowski provide Brady with a one-two punch that few defenses can withstand.

The only way the Broncos are likely to limit Brady is by preventing him from delivering an accurate ball altogether. To do that, Denver will need to rely on its pass rush.

Fortunately, the Broncos have a good one.

The Denver defense produced a whopping 52 sacks during the regular season, and it added three more during last week's win over the Pittsburgh Steelers. The unit is rated second in the NFL in terms of pass rush by Pro Football Focus.

The Broncos have the weapons on defense to create mismatches and to pressure the quarterback in multiple ways. Though DeMarcus Ware and Von Miller (18.5 sacks combined in the regular season) headline the group, they aren't the only guys who can bring the heat. The defense had five different players who logged at least 5.5 sacks in the regular season, and rookie Shane Ray added 4.0 sacks while playing on a limited basis.

As good as that Denver pass rush has been, though, it will have to be even better on Sunday. This is because Brady is a difficult quarterback to rattle. Hitting him probably won't be enough. The defense will have to produce actual sacks and throwaways to derail New England's game plan.

Broncos defensive end Antonio Smith recently explained, via Paul Klee of the Colorado Springs Gazette:

"

He's not going to rattle just because you hit him hard. I've tried over the years. That's what D-linemen think: 'The harder you hit the quarterback, the better it will make it on the secondary.' 

With Brady, he's a great competitor. You know it's coming. He's going to cry about getting hit, but he's going to take the hit and keep going.

"

If simply hitting Brady won't make things easier on the Denver secondary, then the guys up front will have to find other ways. It doesn't appear that the secondary will be 100 percent healthy. According to NFL Network's James Palmer, starting corner Chris Harris' shoulder injury may force him to yield snaps to second-year defensive back Bradley Roby moving forward:

Of course, the secondary will still have its hands full no matter how well the pass rush performs. The guys in the defensive backfield will have to figure out a way to prevent Gronkowski, Edelman and Co. from getting off the line and open quickly. When Brady has an open target, his quick release allows him to beat even the best of blitzes. 

This is how the Patriots were able to negate the pass rush against the Kansas City Chiefs in last weekend's matchup. The Kansas City pass rush produced 47 sacks during the regular season and three more on Wild Card Weekend. Against the Patriots, however, it produced a mere seven pressures, one throwaway and zero sacks, according to Pro Football Focus.

According to Mark Daniels of the Worcester Telegram, "Brady averaged 2.12 seconds between snap and throw" against the Chiefs. As a result, Kansas City's pass rush was basically nonexistent.

Obviously, the Broncos will have to do a better job limiting that quick release. As long as Edelman remains well enough to play, though, it's going to be a major challenge. On a recent appearance on The Dan Patrick Show, NFL analyst Mark Schlereth explained that with both Gronkowski and Edelman on the field, Brady's release is an average of 0.3-0.4 seconds quicker than without them.

This is significant because it is easier for an offensive line to prevent a strong pass rush from hitting home. The Patriots, by the way, have a line that is light years away from the best Brady has played behind.

In fact, this line performed pretty darn poorly over the course of the year. Pro Football Focus rates it the second-worst in the league in terms of pass protection. Sure, the line is healthier than it was at points late in the regular season, but there's no getting around the fact that starting left tackle Nate Solder and guard Ryan Wendell are both sitting on injured reserve.

This is a line the Denver pass rush can exploit. Again, though, it can only do it if Brady is forced to hold the ball for a fair amount of time. If the ball is out by the time defenders hit home, it won't matter who the Patriots have in pass protection. 

Therefore, the Broncos' defensive game plan has to be one that forges a symbiotic relationship between the team's pass-rushers and its pass-defenders. Giving New England receivers a free release has to be entirely out of the question, too.

If either piece of the defensive puzzle fails to hold up its end of the bargain, the Broncos will have virtually no chance of preventing Tommy Torch'em from doing his thing. Brady is absolutely lethal with a clean pocket, and the Broncos pass rush will be worthless if he's only holding empty air when it hits home. 

If the Broncos defense can come together and put legitimate pressure on Brady, it will have a good chance of thrilling home fans with a victory and a showing in Super Bowl 50. 

Naturally, Manning and the Denver offense will have to do something in the game, too. However, the Broncos proved just a week ago that they are good enough to win with some sloppy offense, so long as the defense makes enough big plays to keep the game close. 

Manning probably doesn't have enough left in the tank to win a shootout with the Patriots, but if the defense can handle Brady, he might have enough left to finish this final chapter of the rivalry on top.