Ray Lewis knows a thing or two about beating the Patriots in the playoffs, and it's not about coaching or scheme. He has some advice for the Eagles leading into Super Bowl LII: attack the only player that matters.
"You cannot beat New England unless you get to the head and the head is Tom Brady," Lewis told the Boston Herald's Ron Borges recently on the Talk of Fame Network. "So I think Philly is going to have a tough task on how do they dial up blitzes without letting him know what coverages you're in or doing. That's one of the successes we had against Tom over the years."
Lewis went 2-1 against Brady in the playoffs, his only loss a 23-20 defeat in the 2011 AFC title game when receiver Lee Evans dropped the winning touchdown and then kicker Billy Cundiff shanked the tying field goal.
"I've been trying to think about why they are so successful," Lewis told Borges. "They are a player-driven offense. What does that mean? Tom Brady does not look to the sidelines to get the plays he's going to call. Tom Brady knows exactly what he's going to do. When I had my defense in Baltimore for so many years we didn't have to look to the sidelines to get the next defensive call to make a call.
"You have to play the game on the field. You have to be an on-field general. That's why a bunch of these young, talented defenses struggle so much."
Brady threw three touchdowns and seven interceptions in playoff games against Lewis, with quarterback ratings of 62.3, 57.5, and 49.1. The Ravens featured veterans like Lewis, Ed Reed, Terrell Suggs, and Haloti Ngata who could think on their feet along with Brady. The Falcons, with mostly rookies and second-year defenders in last year's Super Bowl, ultimately could not.
"Listen to this — the concept Tom Brady is running, he has not changed his concepts one time," Lewis told Borges. "You know what that tells me? Nobody is studying his concept. It took people like myself, and it took people like the Giants and people who've had success against Tom Brady, who had a veteran-run group that can make adjustments on the fly, on the field."
Whether the Eagles are one of those teams or not remains to be seen. Every member of its defensive front seven has at least four years of experience, and six of them have at least six, with reserve Chris Long a 10-year vet and Super Bowl champ with the Pats. Safety Malcolm Jenkins lists Lewis as his favorite player growing up and has made the Pro Bowl in two of the last three seasons. Maybe it will start there.
All Lewis knows is the game won't be decided by what the coaches call on the sideline. Rattling Brady must happen on the field.