QUARTERBACK D+
Tom Brady played the way most quarterbacks play when the defense is allowed to hit them. For one of the few times all season, the officials decided this game would not be touch football and would be more like the nasty games of yesteryear. Houston's tough defense took advantage, and Brady was knocked around, throwing as many picks in one night (two) as he had all regular season. He completed 18-of-38 passes (47.4 percent) and converted only 5-of-14 third downs (35.7). But he also did what great QBs did back in the violent days of pro football. He made big plays and made his opponent pay for mistakes, which is why he also threw two TD passes and had completions of 48, 45, 26 (twice) and 25 yards. He saw a blitz coming and knew Chris Hogan would be one-on-one against backup safety Corey Moore and burned him for 45 yards with a wobbly duck. When he got great protection, he calmly waved Julian Edelman to take a crossing route deeper and hit him for 48. Brady torched linebacker Benardrick McKinney when he was one-on-one with James White for a 19yard TD catch, but he also bounced a pass off McKinney for a bad interception while under pressure from linebacker Whitney Mercilus. His first interception came on a ball too far ahead of Michael Floyd, and he could have had at least two others. Brady was sacked twice, whined numerous times about being hit and got lucky on two balls he threw up for grabs. Sometimes it's better to be lucky than good.