"That play was as important as any in that game," said Childress, the Eagles' former offensive coordinator. "They hit him hard. Sent him a message that they were going to be coming after him.
"You can't let a guy get comfortable back there. You want to get him out of his rhythm. Go back to our Super Bowl against New England where Donovan [McNabb] has to run to the sideline and gets nailed [by Patriots linebacker Roman Phifer] on the first play. Go back and look at that. They knocked him all the way to the wall. That's a bad thing to have happen on the first play of the game.
"I remember Rod Dowhower saying years ago, 'You can tell a quarterback to stand in there and set his feet and not get happy feet. But when you're getting jaw-jacked, for you not to slide or move or move those feet, well, you can say you won't. But after you get pounded on, it's going to happen.' That's what pressure does."
What pressure did to Brady last February was turn one of the two best quarterbacks in the game into just another guy. Led by their three-headed pass-rush monster of defensive linemen Michael Strahan (who has retired), Osi Umenyiora (out for this season with a knee injury) and Justin Tuck, the Giants were in Brady's face the whole game, sacking him five times and upsetting his rhythm just about every time he dropped back.
"They never slowed down," Brady said. "They were relentless for four quarters."
Actually, they were relentless all season. The Giants finished with a league-high 53 sacks, including 32 by Umenyiora (13), Tuck (10) and Strahan (nine). No pass-rushing trio in the league had more.
