Rob Ryan's Sunday stars: Sean Lee, Tom Brady, Julio Jones among ones to watch
'Sean Lee is the smartest player I’ve ever coached. He knows players on other teams better than he knows himself'
Friday 10 November 2017 20:24, UK
Well, you voted in your thousands - more than 56,000 of you to be precise - for our Week 10 live action, and you didn't disappoint...
We have the high-flying New Orleans Saints' trip to Buffalo to take on the Bills kicking us off live on Sky Sports Action from 5.30pm, followed by the Atlanta Falcons hosting the Dallas Cowboys. Ending the evening is the Sunday Night Football clash between the Broncos and New England Patriots in Denver.
As luck would have it, our very special studio guest for the month of November is Rob Ryan, a former defensive coach with four of the teams - Patriots, Cowboys, Saints and Bills - and, with his expert knowledge of the teams in action, he has picked six star names to watch out for...
Drew Brees (Saints)
"I'm such a huge fan. He is an exceptional quarterback. No one works harder on the team than Drew does, which is amazing for such a veteran. He's in that weight room tirelessly working, he studies more tape than anybody - the first guy in and that last one to leave, I'm not just saying it, that's the truth.
"Football is so important to him, his team-mates. He has all the passing records, but the numbers, they don't mean anything to him. He wants to win; he wants to win another Super Bowl. He is the ultimate competitor.
"A good comparison to make is with Tom Brady. Once you get to their elite level, it's almost like they can have success with anybody. Getting Willie Snead back helps Drew and Michael Thomas was a great pick-up last year, but he hasn't got the weapons in the passing game he once did.
"He doesn't overthrow the ball now, as a result, he's protecting the team, and playing behind a good defense certainly helps. He's still the main guy in New Orleans though and, in this a contract year, I can see him - like Brady - playing for another four years in the NFL."
LeSean McCoy (Bills)
"Everything in Buffalo goes through 'Shady'. He is an exceptional running back; he has got great vision, he catches the ball really well, he's tough, he can block. New Orleans are going to have their hands full, because this guy is the ultimate Swiss Army knife. He can do it all, so he has got to be the focal point for the Saints and they have got to try to stop him.
"His vision is exceptional. He's got eyes all around his head so if there is any crack at all in the armour, he'll find it and go through it. He is almost like a kick returner at running back - he can go anywhere on the field; he starts one way but can then end up all the way over the other side.
"Buffalo are not exceptionally talented on the outside, at receiver, so I think Marshon Lattimore and the Saints cover guys are going to match-up really well there. Tyrod Taylor is going to have a hard time finding people open, but the great equaliser for the Bills is the running game.
"For Buffalo to win on Sunday, they need to continue to get the turnovers, but they've also got to feature Shady heavily, and he will need to have a great game."
Sean Lee (Cowboys)
"Sean is the smartest player I've ever coached. And I've been on Super Bowl teams, I've coached Pro Bowlers and Hall of Famers. If you have a Sean Lee on your team, everything is easy. You can challenge him more than anyone else - he wants more!
"Every time he's healthy, he will lead the league in tackles. We were third in the league on defense with Sean when I was there, but then we lost him and the tyres, wheels, the whole car fell apart. When he is healthy, the Cowboys are a legitimate Super Bowl contender.
"He has the unique ability to get into a block, get off of it and still make the tackle. In practice, he'll make every single tackle. But the thing people don't see is Sean's intelligence - his preparation. He knows players on other teams better than he knows himself! He is almost autistic in terms of his memory retention, photographic memory. The game is in slow-motion for him.
"He is not the biggest guy in the world, but he is an ultimate leader - he can whisper and everyone on the field will hear it! He has got a voice people hear, because he is right. Against the run, pass, everything - for me, he is ultimate defensive player."
Julio Jones (Falcons)
"He is a nightmare. Their whole system is a nightmare, because they're very effective running the football - well, certainly when Kyle Shanahan was offensive coordinator there. Right now, Steve Sarkisian is struggling a bit, but they've got the same players and just need to get that running game going again. That then makes Julio that much more effective!
"He is one of the toughest guys I've ever had to game-plan for as a defensive coach. You have to double-cover Julio - very few people demand being doubled, but Julio, Antonio Brown, Odell Beckham Jr are the guys that do. If you don't, you're making a big mistake.
"You need to jam Julio at the line of scrimmage. If you're playing off, he is going to build up that full speed, and you can't adjust your body like Julio can. At the beginning of the game last week, that's what Carolina were doing, and they were getting lit up! Then they finally came up and starting jamming him and they ultimately come away with the win.
"His only flaw is as a runner with the football, he will fumble some. That's something, as a coach, you go after. If you can just get one off of him, that can turn the game around."
Tom Brady (Patriots)
"I was there when he got drafted, at his workout. We had absolutely no idea what he'd go on to become. He was competitive, but he wasn't very good. Dick Rehbein, quarterbacks coach at the time, loved his leadership though, came back and recommended him to Bill Belichick, and then the rest is history.
"He got his training with Belichick. People say Belichick is a defensive coach, but no - he is a head coach, and he coached Brady on offense, how to read a defense. Now he does it better than any other quarterback in the league. It's the perfect combination - there has never been a better one in the NFL - and both give everything they have to each other, and to the team.
"The leadership with Tom was always obvious - like with Sean, you could see the intelligence. But, talent-wise, he grew so much in the first year. The weirdest thing was, we used to practise the young guys against each other all the time and wherever Tom would go, they'd all follow. That's unique.
"He got bigger, stronger, faster. Then, he came out the next year, had the greatest preseason and we thought "man this guy is really good". When Drew Bledsoe got hurt, Tom took over and he has since been the greatest quarterback that has ever played. It's an unbelievable story."
Von Miller (Broncos)
"If you're going to beat Brady, you've got to lie to him. If you're not lying, you're not trying. You've got to make him read you post-snap, and you've got to speed his clock up, hurry him. You've got to do everything you can to get him out of his flow. If not, you're dead.
"You've also got to 'buzz the tower', make him feel you, bump him, hit him. There's nobody better at that than Von. Right now, with DeMarcus Ware now retired, he is comfortably the premier pass rusher in football, head and shoulders above the rest.
"His first step is lightning quick. He can beat you inside, outside, all over the place. As a defensive coach, to have someone like that on your team is so great! When I had Ware, at the Cowboys, he rushed 92 per cent of the time, and he had 19.5 sacks. He is someone your opponent has to game plan for - have two guys blocking him - which then frees up other guys for one-on-one match-ups.
"He makes everybody better - their coverage, their corners. It's a whole lot tougher to complete a pass when he's rushing the passer. The Denver 'no fly zone' defense exists because of Von. People put it on the secondary - Aqib Talib, Chris Harris - but he is the No 1 member."
Join Rob Ryan and Neil Reynolds, as well as Shaun Gayle, on Sky Sports Action from 5.30pm this Sunday, with the New Orleans Saints @ Buffalo Bills kicking-off our triple-header of live NFL action.
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