Saints defense focuses on affecting Tom Brady

METAIRIE, La. (WAFB) - It may be his birthday but it won’t be much of a birthday weekend celebration for Drew Brees if the Saints defense doesn’t do its part and get after Tom Brady.

The defense was able to do just that in the two previous regular season meetings. And while the playoffs are a different animal, the veteran leader of the Saints defensive front says holding up their end of the bargain can be the difference between returning to an NFC Championship game or packing up the gear and going home on Sunday night.

“The defensive line, anytime they take the field, has the ability to take over a game,” said defensive end Cam Jordan. Whether that’s containing a quarterback that’s able to scramble or getting after Tom Brady, who has one of the fastest releases in the game and has 17 different weapons on his offense. So, if we take away the run, then we eliminate something that we’re able to control. If it comes out, if the outcome comes out like any of the last two games, we’ll be fine. But we know they have one of the greatest quarterbacks ever and we need to be able to have a gameplan that affects him. So, we’re going to focus every day, every play, on what we can.”

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Team sack leader Trey Hendrickson will be available to help, while Latavius Murray and Taysom Hill are listed as questionable.

The Saints will host the Bucs in the Mercedes-Benz Superdome on Sunday, Jan. 17. Kickoff is scheduled for 5:40 p.m. The game can be seen on FOX.

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