Knock down Wade Phillips once, and he’ll fire right back.

No, Martavis Bryant’s running over the Denver Broncos defensive coordinator on the sideline was not enough to knock the 68-year-old out of last Sunday’s AFC divisional playoff at Mile High. Phillips kept on ticking after the lick, and the Broncos came away with another clutch victory.

“I’m fine,” Phillips said from his home Monday night. “I just hope [Bryant is] OK.”

That’s Southeast Texas-tough for y’all.

It takes a really special team to shut down a Tom Brady-led offense, and the Broncos have been that team this season.

Actually, defenses under Phillips — whether he’s been defensive coordinator or head coach — have won two of seven games against the soon-to-be Hall of Famer, but as Phillips was quick to say in a phone conversation Monday: “That’s probably better than anyone else.”

“We had some close games,” Phillips, the former Port Neches-Groves quarterback, said. “We had some good games. Obviously, he’s one of the best quarterbacks of all time.”

Phillips, who has an 83-69 overall head coaching record (including a 1-5 playoff mark), is also one of the best defensive coordinators ever.

In 33 seasons (of the last 35) as a DC or HC, this guy has led a defense to a top-five ranking in the NFL five times and top-10 mark 17 times. In his first season back in Denver since he was head coach in 1994, Phillips may have had a career year; his team ranked first in total defense, third in rushing yards, first in yards per attempt, passing yards and passing touchdowns.

In that Nov. 29 Sunday night thriller, the Brady-led New England Patriots were held to 39 yards rushing on 16 attempts and 301 total yards. Flash forward to last Sunday, and the Broncos limited Pittsburgh to 85 yards on 19 carries (396 total yards).

Yes, Brady and Ben Roethlisberger, both of whom avoided interceptions and threw for more than 300 yards against the Broncos, played fantastic games through the air. But it was clutch play that kept Denver in both meetings, highlighting Phillips’ defensive wizardry.

Roethlisberger had completed 4 of 5 fourth-quarter passes until Bradley Roby forced a fumble recovered by DeMarcus Ware with 10 minutes left. Denver capitalized on that with a touchdown and two-point conversion to go ahead 20-13. Big Ben came back to complete three more passes, but on fourth-and-5 with 1:56 left, Ware sacked him for a 13-yard loss.

Aside from taking away the Steelers’ rush, numbers won’t do any justice in backing up this statistic: Nine of 13 Pittsburgh drives ended in punts or turnovers (two on downs, one fumble). Denver slowed down, if not shut down, a playoff franchise in a playoff game.

“We play really well under pressure,” Phillips said. “We had a lot of close games. We won, what, three overtime games. In the fourth quarter, we seem to make a play.”

The performances against New England and Pittsburgh this season may indicate Denver has a chance to win again by making big stops and taking away the run. Before looking at the stats, I asked Wade if it’s safe to say this game will largely depend on how well the Broncos defend against Brady.

“To an extent, certainly,” he said. “We beat them once this year. They’re going to try to come with some different things.”

With all-world players like Ware and Miller backing the line and Aqib Talib haunting receivers, Phillips has the personnel ready for anything Brady will (literally0 throw at them.

Near the month of February, Phillips has laid claim to a very high achievement in the football coaching profession — with another very high achievement at stake. The Pro Football Writers of America just named him co-assistant coach of the year, an honor he shares with former Bengals offensive coordinator Hue Jackson. (Carolina’s Ron Rivera was named coach of the year and the New York Jets’ Mike Maccagnan earned executive of the year.)

There’s another very high achievement that still eludes Phillips after all his years in the NFL — a Super Bowl ring. He went to the Big Game as the Broncos’ DC after the 1989 season, and that defense got rocked, 55-10.

His desire for a return trip still burns 26 seasons later.

“How about 38 years?” he said, mentioning his total length of duty in the league. “It’s about winning. We won a lot of games. We have an opportunity this time around. Hopefully, we’ll get it done.”

I.C. Murrell can be reached at 721-2435 or ic.murrell@panews.com. On Twitter: @ICMurrellPANews