When players take on the offseason television junket in preparation for their post-football careers, it can lead to some down-the-road bulletin-board material.

On Monday, Pittsburgh Steelers safety Ryan Clark was asked on ESPN's "NFL Live" to dissect the New England Patriots, who play the Steelers in Week 9.

Clark broke down the post-Wes Welker era, questioning "fragile" replacement Danny Amendola and injury concerns for the Patriots' tight-end duo of Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez. He also discussed the best way to beat Tom Brady:

"When Tom Brady gets pressure and when you're man-to-man and bumping those guys and making it hard for him to throw, he sees ghosts," Clark said, via CSNNE.com. "Even when guys aren't around him, even when he's not about to be sacked, when his clock goes off in his head that the ball should be out, we'll see him duck, we'll see him flinch. When you get Tom Brady doing that, the whole New England Patriots mystique goes away."

None of what Clark said was exactly revolutionary. Brady himself in the past has discussed his propensity to avoid tacklers who don't exist.

That doesn't mean that in the week leading up to the Steelers-Patriots matchup at Gillete Stadium, Clark's words won't be dredged back up, thumbtacked to cork board and dissected by every media member.

Those are the breaks for a guy playing analyst while still donning a helmet.

Follow Kevin Patra on Twitter @kpatra.
[url]http://www.nfl.com/news/story/0ap1000000167620/article/ryan-clark-tom-brady-flinches-under-pressure[/url]


This should make the week 9 match-up a little more exciting.