Despite pounding, Tom Brady delivers one of his finest performances to beat Texans

FOXBOROUGH — The pounding wasn’t quite to the level that Tom Brady took in the 2015 AFC Championship Game loss to the Broncos but, then again, he didn’t throw the ball 61 times like he did that miserable Sunday afternoon in Denver.

Still, the guts Brady showed under extreme duress on Sunday against the Texans enabled the Patriots to avoid the unthinkable (an 0-2 start at Gillette) with an epic Brady performance in the 36-33 victory.

How much pressure was Brady under against the Texans? After watching the TV copy back of the game again: a lot. Consider:

For the game, Brady threw from a clean pocket 22 times on 44 dropbacks (35 attempts plus five sacks and four penalties that negated plays). He was hit (six times), hurried (11) or sacked (five) on 22 dropbacks as well.

So Brady was pressured on 50 percent of his dropbacks. In his recent career, and that of most pocket passers, that almost always equals a loss.

Making it even more impressive was that Brady was sacked and fumbled three times (one lost for a return touchdown). Most quarterbacks would go into the fetal position for the rest of the game after that kind of punishment.

Not Sunday. Brady wouldn’t allow it.

“He’s always been a great quarterback,” said Texans end Joel Heath, who was part of a frustrated Texans defensive locker room. “He is who he is. He makes big plays.”

When you realize how much pressure Brady was under, you have to consider this game one of his finest in the regular season. Brady completed 25 of 35 passes (71.4 percent) for 378 yards and five touchdowns for a passer rating of 146.2. Also take into account that the Texans hadn’t allowed a 300-yard passer in 31 games (including the postseason) and it had been since Aaron Rodgers threw six that Houston had allowed five passing touchdowns.

Brady’s thrown for more yards, had more touchdown passes and had higher completion percentages. But against that kind of defense, and when the team had to have that kind of performance or else they’d lose? No way.

“He's just a legend,” said rookie Patriots end Deatrich Wise. “It was awesome to watch that from my eyes after being on the team and not from home.”

Some of Brady’s best moments came when he was getting belted, and on third down.

On his first pass attempt of the game, left tackle Nate Solder (three sacks, two hits, three hurries allowed) was beaten by linebacker Benardick McKinney and Brady still completed a 44-yard bomb to Brandin Cooks on third-and-13. Four plays later, the Patriots had a 7-0 lead.

On third-and-10 with 4:26 left in the second quarter on third-and-10, Brady was hit from behind by Watt but still completed a cross-field pass to Danny Amendola for 17 yards. On the next play he hit Chris Hogan for a touchdown to take a 21-20 lead.

In the third quarter, on third-and-6 with 6:01 left, Brady was hurried off his spot but found James White, who broke a tackle for an 11-yard gain.

Then, on the final drive and on one of the game's biggest plays, Brady took a beating to deliver the Patriots a victory.

On third-and-18 with 54 seconds to play, Brady was taken down by Watt from behind just as he released a pass that was completed for 27 yards to Amendola, who made a tremendous leaping contested catch.



Then with the clock still running at 29 seconds and needing a touchdown to win the game, Brady was walloped by Clowney as Brady released the ball, but had just enough on the ball to find Cooks in the front corner of the end zone for the touchdown.

“Tom Brady made a special throw and I was just sitting there catching the ball," Cooks said. "It was a perfect throw with perfect timing, and I expected nothing less from Tom.”

https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/912050350932103168

Brady’s defensive teammates could only marvel from the sidelines, including former Seahawks linebacker Cassius Marsh, who called Brady, “Tommy Ice.”

“I’ve seen it so many times, where there was just, like, no way, against some of the greatest defenses. The Seahawks defense. Atlanta,” said Marsh. “A lot of great defenses, and he just finds a way to make the plays he needs to make and finds the open receiver. ... He is who he is for a reason.”

We won’t even get into how old Brady is (40) because then his performance just becomes silly.

Just know that this Brady, despite being pounded into the brand new Gillette turf repeatedly, was as good as he ever has been.

It doesn’t get much better than that.