Brady, who hadn't thrown fewer than three touchdowns in a game this season, managed to find the end zone just once last night. That was on a 19-yard pass to ex-Eagle Jabar Gaffney at the end of the first half.
Brady, who had thrown just 88 incompletions in the Patriots' first 10 games, had 20 of them last night. He completed 34 of 54 passes as the Eagles pressured him more than he's been pressured all season. They also did a good job of taking away his favorite receiver, Randy Moss, holding Moss to five catches for 43 yards.
"We had a lot of different guys giving pressure [on Brady]," Johnson said. "We blitzed quite a bit and we thought we had it covered. At times, we covered well, and other times, we didn't cover as well as we would have liked to.
"At least we were getting pressure. We mixed things up and they went to a lot of four wide [receiver sets]. We felt
any time they did, we would pressure them. Basically, that was our game plan. Every chance we had, we had to bring pressure."
The Eagles, who came into the game with just one sack in their previous three games, sacked Brady three times, which was as many times as he's been dragged down this season. They also pressured him enough the rest of the time to hurry many of his throws.
When the Patriots opened the game in a four-wide receiver set, Johnson countered with a 3-3-5 alignment that frequently had strongside linebacker Chris Gocong line up at end and rush Brady.
Gocong, a college defensive end, had one of the Eagles' three sacks. It was the first sack by a linebacker this season.
"We felt we had to pressure him," Johnson said. "If we didn't get to him, we had to throw off his timing and move him around the pocket a little bit. And at times, we did. He's a smart quarterback and he got away from a couple of blitzes and still made his throws."
