As the Dolphins prepare to face the Patriots again, Miami defensive lineman Ndamukong Suh prepares to try to get under the skin of Patriots quarterback Tom Brady.
“I’d love to make him mad,” Suh told reporters on Thursday. “My job is to piss him off and have him yelling at his offensive linemen for not blocking me, his coach and everybody on the sideline. That’s my job.”
On a slightly more serious note, Suh explained that the goal is indeed to make Brady uncomfortable.
“Uncomfortable [and] off his spot,” Suh said. “We know he likes to drop back and throw comfortably and have this nice pocket; but my sole job is to disrupt that at all costs. . . .
“I think the last game we played them, we had some good hits on him and understood what they wanted to do. Personally, I can reach back to some times in Detroit where they actually pulled him from a game. [It was] a preseason game, so maybe it wasn’t that important; but it was important for us just to get a gauge to see where we were at. I’ve had some success against him.”
When the teams last played, the Dolphins managed to hit Brady eight times. It was good but not good enough, given the outcome -- another New England win.
“I think it was good in the pass rush concept but when we look at the run game, we didn’t do so hot there,” Suh said. “I think they stuck with that and we have to eliminate that. I think when we eliminate both of those pieces and they’re not successful on both sides of the running and pass game, that’s when we’ll find ourselves successful.”
Success has been fleeting for the Dolphins this year, but with playoff hopes dwindling, nothing would set the tone better for 2018 than surprising the Patriots in prime time. To make that happen, it will be critical to make Brady as uncomfortable as possible, forcing him to look more at the rush and less at his receivers.
