NFL Playoffs: Former Tennessee Vols DT Malik Jackson has experience beating Patriots

Former Tennessee Volunteers defensive tackle Malik Jackson is 2-0 vs. the New England Patriots and Tom Brady in the NFL Playoffs. Can he carry the Jaguars?

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For over a decade, the NFL Playoffs storyline was about Peyton Manning and Tom Brady. Brady won the first two, but Manning finished his career with a winning record against Brady in the postseason.

Now, another former Tennessee Vols player is making a name for himself for what he does against Tom Brady. That guy is Malik Jackson.

Jackson is 2-0 as a starting defensive tackle against the New England Patriots and Tom Brady in the NFL Playoffs. Both times were with the Denver Broncos, as Manning’s teammate, ironically. And both times were in the AFC Championship game en route to the Super Bowl.

In the second game, Jackson was a force. He picked up two tackles, but the real story was the way he could generate a push in Wade Phillips’s 3-4 defense to allow the outside linebackers to make big plays. That’s how he and the Broncos were able to carry Manning to that Super Bowl.

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Now, he’s in a different system with the Jacksonville Jaguars and hoping to carry Blake Bortles to the Super Bowl. It sounds hilarious just saying that out loud, but don’t forget that Jackson carried a worse Manning in 2015.

This game actually gives Jackson a chance to make more plays. He doesn’t pick up as many tackles as he did in Denver. But he picks up more big plays.

Jackson had a career high in sacks last year at six and a half. That number went up to eight this year with four forced fumbles. Meanwhile, he already has a sack and seven combined tackles this postseason.

And there’s another element to this game. Tom Brady has looked oddly ordinary the last few weeks.

Yes, he had a career day against the Tennessee Titans. But it took horrible officiating to keep one drive alive, and kill two Titans drives. Brady got on a roll only AFTER those calls put the momentum in the Patriots’ favor.

Before that, he was struggling. In the past five games of the regular season, he completed 61 percent of his passes six touchdowns and five interceptions. Now, he’s been efficient when needed and hasn’t looked awful. But he’s had trouble recovering from hits, and any minor injury has magnified on him.

Those things give Jackson a great chance to wreak havoc on Brady Sunday. Now, there is one caveat that works in Brady’s favor, unlike the last two times Jackson faced him in the NFL Playoffs. And no, we’re not just talking about the advantage of having Manning.

Brady is indeed playing this game in Foxboro. The story of the Brady/Manning saga in the postseason is incomplete because although Manning had the winning record, neither quarterback beat the other one on the road.

Meanwhile, this’ll be Jackson’s first playoff game in New England. How he handles it is a huge question.

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However, the high is 47 with sunny weather in the forecast Sunday. That could be enough to give the Jaguars a decent chance. And if Jackson can get to Tom Brady, he will officially have taken Peyton Manning’s torch as the former Vol to cause Tom Brady trouble in the NFL Playoffs.