One of the most important matchups of Super Bowl LIII is a mind-game between one of the best players in NFL history and one of the league's best coaches. Tom Brady, arguably the greatest quarterback of all time, and Wade Phillips, arguably the greatest defensive coordinator of all time, will engage in a head-to-head chess match throughout the Super Bowl that will undoubtedly have a great effect on the outcome.
While Brady and Josh McDaniels scheme themselves up for how to attack Wade's Rams defense, Phillips has another plan for how he's going to stop Brady. It involves one of our employees here at CBS.
I asked Wade Phillips about planning for Tom Brady in the postseason and what’s the plan this time around. He told me his plan is to get an earpiece with Tony Romo in it to tell him what’s going to happen before each play.
— James Palmer (@JamesPalmerTV) January 29, 2019
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If you watched the AFC title game, you may have noticed Tony Romo (who was Wade's former quarterback when he was the coach of the Cowboys) predicting just about everything the Patriots were going to do offensively based on their alignment and pre-snap motion, and even predicting their motion and where the ball would be thrown based on defensive looks.
.@TonyRomo was calling plays before they happened! 🔮 pic.twitter.com/4jdm9I8Pl5
— NFL (@NFL) January 22, 2019
So, sure, he could probably help his old coach out if he really did have an earpiece connecting his thoughts to Wade on the sideline. (Serious interjection for a minute: This obviously will not happen. Please do not interpret this as my thinking it will actually happen.) But does Wade really need one? He's coordinated a defense against a Tom Brady-led offense nine teams in his coaching career, and after a mid-career speed bump, his teams have actually fared pretty well against Brady.
Check this out:
| Year | Team | Comp | Att | Comp% | Yds | YPA | TD | INT | Rtg |
| 2005 | SD | 19 | 32 | 59.4% | 224 | 7.0 | 1 | 1 | 78.1 |
| 2006* | SD | 27 | 51 | 52.9% | 280 | 5.5 | 2 | 3 | 57.6 |
| 2007** | DAL | 31 | 46 | 67.4% | 388 | 8.4 | 5 | 0 | 129.6 |
| 2012 | HOU | 21 | 35 | 60.0% | 296 | 8.5 | 4 | 0 | 125.4 |
| 2012* | HOU | 25 | 40 | 62.5% | 344 | 8.6 | 3 | 0 | 115.0 |
| 2013 | HOU | 29 | 41 | 70.7% | 371 | 9.0 | 2 | 1 | 104.8 |
| 2015 | DEN | 23 | 42 | 54.8% | 280 | 6.7 | 3 | 0 | 99.3 |
| 2015* | DEN | 27 | 56 | 48.2% | 310 | 5.5 | 1 | 2 | 56.4 |
| 2016 | DEN | 16 | 32 | 50.0% | 188 | 5.9 | 0 | 0 | 68.2 |
| 01-18 | Wade | 218 | 375 | 58.1% | 2681 | 7.1 | 21 | 7 | 91.2 |
Wade's defenses have held Brady far below his averages in completion percentage, yards per attempt, and passer rating during these nine matchups, and in the most recent playoff game where they squared off, Phillips' Broncos held Brady to one of the worst games of his career. (That's 2015* DEN in the chart above.) They key to that game was getting immense pressure on Brady from the edge and up the middle, with players like Von Miller, DeMarcus Ware, Derek Wolfe, and Malik Jackson playing a major role. This time around, Phillips has Aaron Donald, Ndamukong Suh, Michael Brockers, and Dante Fowler at his disposal. It's going to be fascinating to see if he can do it again.
Super Bowl LIII is Sunday, Feb. 3, in Atlanta and it will air on CBS and streamed here on CBSSports.com and the CBS Sports App for free on most connected devices.
