Super Bowl LIV: Nick Bosa's brother Joey has some insight on how to stop Patrick Mahomes

MIAMI — A parade of Super Bowl champions and Hall of Famers, some of them among the very greatest players in one-game-shy-of-100 full seasons of NFL football, have made their way to the sport’s annual coronation. The question many of the defensive luminaries are asked most often has to do with facing a player whose skills are unlike anything they saw during their playing days.

How would you attack Patrick Mahomes?

“You can’t let him get outside,” former Giant Lawrence Taylor said this week on Radio Row, offering his bit of advice. “You have to set him in the middle and you have to shadow him and you have to be patient and wait for him . . . It’s hard to put pressure on a guy who is running around like a fool.”

Away from all the hoopla, though, the 49ers aren’t dealing in hypotheticals. They don’t have the luxury of game-planning from a distance. They’re the ones who are charged with containing Mahomes and the explosive Chiefs offense in Super Bowl LIV.

And as far as one of their key players in that pursuit is concerned, it doesn’t matter one lick what LT or any of the other legends say.

Nick Bosa chortled when asked if he pays any attention to the pro bono tidbits that the all-time greats are providing, and he came very close to tossing an “OK, Boomer” at Taylor and friends.

“No,” he said shaking his head. “Definitely not.”

There is, however, one player Bosa is turning to for advice and council on the subject. It just so happens to be the same person he’s relied on for those things most of his life: his older brother Joey, 24, a Pro Bowl defensive end for the Chargers.

Joey Bosa has faced the Chiefs six times in his four seasons and has gone against Mahomes three times in the past two (he is 1-2 in those games against this particular quarterback). In those three games, he has five quarterback hits and six total tackles . . . but no sacks of Mahomes.

His advice: Don’t try to do it alone.

“It’s really important to rush as a unit and keep him in the pocket,” said Nick Bosa, 22. “There were a couple of plays against the Chargers where he got out of the pocket and ran for some first downs. It kills the defense because you have everything covered, you stopped them on first and second and then you let Mahomes get out and run for a quick first down. Then you’re back trying to defend that offense. That’s probably the biggest thing.”

Nick Bosa said his brother also gave him advice on facing the Chiefs’ offensive tackles. Those words of wisdom he kept to himself.

Bosa undoubtedly will be named the NFL’s Defensive Rookie of the Year on Saturday night. He finished this regular season with nine sacks, 25 quarterback hits and two passes batted down. The 49ers as a team were fifth in the NFL with 48 sacks and seventh with 306 quarterback pressures.

“When you have edge rushers, it speeds up the process of the quarterback,” 49ers defensive coordinator Robert Saleh said. “Not that [Mahomes] needs speeding up. He already gets rid of it pretty quick. But it changes the game . . . Having them [Bosa and fellow defensive end Dee Ford] out there, having them at full speed, will do nothing but help.”

If Bosa can get to Mahomes on Sunday, keep him contained and stop him from taking over the Super Bowl the way he did the two postseason games that brought the Chiefs here, maybe the 49ers can win.

And then one day Bosa himself can join the cavalcade of champions who show up each year flashing their rings and offering unsolicited — and largely ignored — advice on the big game and the next great challenge.

By Tom Rock

tom.rock@newsday.com@TomRock_Newsday

Tom Rock began covering sports for Newsday in 1996 and became its NFL columnist in 2022. He previously was Newsday's Giants beat writer beginning in 2008.