Eagles' daunting task: Trying to stop Brady

Just talking about Tom Brady's draft story still stings Marty Mornhinweg.

The Eagles offensive coordinator, who will have the difficult task of outscoring Brady's Patriots Sunday, had once hoped to coach the quarterback, not face him.

In the weeks leading up to the 2000 NFL draft, Mornhinweg, then the 49ers offensive coordinator, checked out Brady on film and in person. He was so impressed that when a Sega video game developer called looking for a quarterback whose throwing motion could be used as a model for a game, Mornhinweg referred him to Brady.

Mornhinweg thought that highly of the young passer, and hoped the nod might encourage Brady to sign with the 49ers if he slipped through the draft and became a free agent. Brady, after all, grew up in San Mateo, Calif. as a Joe Montana fan.

(Others with the 49ers fixated on Hofstra's Giovanni Carmazzi, whom they drafted in the third round.)

But the Patriots grabbed Brady in the sixth round, 199th overall.

"I'm still mad," Mornhinweg said.

He doesn't know if Brady ever took the Sega gig, but things have worked out fine for him regardless. Brady now puts up video game numbers in the real world, and the Eagles have the daunting challenge of trying to stop him this week.

Mornhinweg can help, if his offense can control the ball and keep Brady off the field. But most of the pressure will fall on Juan Castillo's defense.

Brady ranks second in the NFL in passing yards, is tied for second in touchdowns with 23, and has completed 66 percent of his throws. At his current rate, Brady would throw for more than 5,200 yards this year, which would top the NFL mark of 5,084, though the Saints' Drew Brees might break the record by even more.

He has thrown nine touchdowns against two interceptions in the last four weeks, and the Patriots are averaging 29.3 points per game overall, fourth in the league.

On Sunday, Brady faces an Eagles defense that has been shaky for much of the year and might be missing its biggest cornerback, Nnamdi Asomugha.

Expect Castillo to throw a variety of schemes and unusual looks at Brady.

"He understands what defenses are trying to do to him. He knows how to put his guys in the right positions to make the plays and he's able to put it on point," said safety Kurt Coleman. "You've got to give him different types of looks in all different types of downs."

When the Eagles hosted Peyton Manning last year, the team used a shifting defensive game plan that changed by the series to keep the Colts off balance.

The problem for the Eagles is that Brady excels at reading defenses and finding holes. In Castillo, he faces a coordinator whose inexperience has been exploited late in many games.

This will be only Brady's fourth game against the Eagles, and second at Lincoln Financial Field, but he has never lost to the Birds. He has thrown six touchdowns in his previous three games against them, including two in Super Bowl XXXIX. The Eagles are one of only two teams to never intercept Brady (Jacksonville is the other).

But every quarterback is susceptible to pressure, and hitting Brady has become the blueprint for stopping him ever since the Giants' five sacks sparked their Super Bowl XLII upset.

"We've got to put the pressure on him and get to him, get our hands on him," said defensive end Trent Cole. "If we don't do that, he can be deadly."

The rush and focus have to be consistent, said defensive tackle Cullen Jenkins. The Chiefs, he noted, held Brady to just 10 first-half points Monday. But the Patriots put up 24 in the final two quarters.

"You can't relax," Jenkins said. "You can't take a series off or a quarter off because he'll get you."

Indeed, Brady has thrown nine fourth-quarter touchdowns, second most in the NFL.

With Cole, Jenkins, and Jason Babin, the Eagles have the pass rushers to cause havoc, but it will take complementary play from the back seven to reach a quarterback who makes quick decisions.

"If you can get to Tom Brady, get him to hold the ball for a split second, our front four should be able to get some sacks," Coleman said. "If our coverage isn't as tight as it needs to be, he's going to be able to fit it into any type of window."

Brady's rise from sixth-round pick to surefire Hall of Famer is an old story by now, but it remains stunning.

He had to fight for playing time at Michigan, sharing his job with Drew Henson. When he was drafted, Boston newspapers predicted he would compete for a spot on the practice squad. He had run a glacial 5.2 40-yard dash at the NFL combine and was seen as too scrawny.

But in Brady's second year he was a Super Bowl champion. By the end of his fifth he had two more rings, his last one coming at the Eagles' expense. He married a supermodel, poses in fashion magazines, and is one of the NFL's most recognizable faces. It's a plot that would get laughed out of a movie theater.

"One of the very best to ever play, hands down," said Mornhinweg, who has coached five quarterbacks to the Pro Bowl, including Steve Young and Brett Favre.

Brady's athletic talents don't pop off the screen like those of Young or Favre. It's his accuracy and instincts that stand out, Mornhinweg said. Brady moves well in the pocket to avoid the pass rush and buy time to exploit defensive breakdowns.

His success comes from preparation, said Patriots defensive tackle Vince Wilfork.

"He works the hardest through the week, not on Sunday," Wilfork said. "You don't have to say much, you just see that guy work and you can just tell why he's been so successful at this level."

You can expect, then, that Brady is well aware of the Eagles injury report and potential liabilities. He'll know that linebacker Keenan Clayton, only recently handed more playing time, will spend time on dangerous tight end Rob Gronkowski.

He'll know that cornerback Brandon Hughes could make his first career start if Asomugha's hyperextended knee keeps him out of the game.

"I'm quite sure that they're going to test me at some point," Hughes said Friday. "You just have to wait, prepare for it, and be ready."

Brady and the Patriots, winners of their last two games by a combined score of 71-19, have that merciless late-season look that has long terrorized the NFL.

"We can execute a lot better than we've been executing, there's no question about that," Brady told Boston-area reporters last week.

When it comes to slowing Brady, Mornhinweg can help.

With the league's leading running back on their side, the Eagles rank third in the NFL in time of possession, holding the ball for an average of 32 minutes, 36 seconds each game.

The longer the offense stays on the field, the less damage Brady can do. It's something running back Ronnie Brown saw firsthand when he played the Patriots twice a year with the Miami Dolphins.

"The best thing we could say was the best defense is our offense," Brown said. "Trying to keep those guys off the field and not giving him extra opportunities."

That might be a change for the Eagles, who love big strikes, but it's one they used to great success last week, when the offense ate up nearly nine minutes of the fourth quarter with an 18-play drive. The result: The Giants had just two possessions in the fourth quarter, which had been the Eagles' weakest period.

In New England's worst offensive showing of the year, they had only 20:38 with the ball. The Steelers limited Brady to 17 points that day.

Offenses can move the ball on the Patriots. They have allowed more yards than any team in the league and rank 28th in stopping opponents on third down.

That can translate into extended drives and fewer chances for Brady.

"Our mind-set is taking care of the ball and trying to keep Brady off the field," said quarterback Vince Young.

Mornhinweg once loved what he saw from a young Brady. This week, against a fully developed superstar, he hopes to see as little of him as possible.