Through four games, Patriots QB Jacoby Brissett hasn’t exactly been lighting up the stat sheet with his passing numbers.
But in Sunday’s loss to the San Francisco 49ers, the veteran quarterback showcased an underrated ability that has the potential to drive opposing players crazy.
The 6-foot-4, 235-pound Brissett is a tank of a quarterback, a quality that led 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan to make a lofty comparison.
“Jacoby, he’s a big man. We compare him to Ben Roethlisberger. If you don’t get your body on him, he doesn’t go down,” Shanahan said. “You can’t just grab that guy and pull him down. You’ve got to hit him dead square.”
That’s some high praise for Brissett. Roethlisberger was one of the most accomplished quarterbacks of his generation during his 18 seasons with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Weighing in at 6-foot-5, 240 pounds, Roethlisberger was famously tough for opposing players to bring down.
Brissett has been getting clobbered all season behind a patchwork offensive line. However, the veteran has also shown a savvy knack for slipping out of pressure and turning potential sacks into incompletions.
San Francisco’s Nick Bosa learned that the hard way Sunday as he repeatedly got into the backfield to pressure Brissett. At one point, the FOX broadcast team noted how Bosa was going a little crazy on the field as he repeatedly came close to getting a sack.
“Yeah, it was looking bleak,” Bosa said, laughing when asked about his apparent frustrations at coming up short. “But you just have to be ready. You have to be ready for your (opportunity) and I had a few, missed plenty. But I think we had a great day as a D-line and we got a win, so that’s all that matters.”
ESPN Next Gen Stats had Bosa with nine pressures on the day. It wasn’t until that ninth pressure that Bosa notched a sack, clubbing Brissett’s arm to force a fumble.
As Shanahan noted, stripping the ball is about the only way one guy can bring Brissett down.
“You’ve got to hit him square. That’s why he’s one of the more competitive guys I’ve seen play that position. It usually takes two to take him down,” Shanahan said.
