Tom Brady Padding His Stats in a Deflating Loss Means Absolutely Nothing

You had to be there.

If you were there, you're already well aware that the Boston propaganda campaign that began in earnest the second one final onside kick bounced off Brandon Bolden's paw is full of garbage-time malarkey.

No one is saying Tom Brady should retire. But if you're fooled into believing he's clicking at an elite level because of a notch-above-50 completion percentage and 326 yards, the majority of which were accrued starting with 9:53 remaining in a 28-9 game, then you didn't show up for Sunday Night Football, either.

The reality is, Brady saw his top (only?) target in Julian Edelman wisely doubled by a weak pass defense that wouldn't have the personnel to contain him otherwise. He struggled to find James White underneath for whatever reason. He ignored N'Keal Harry like he was a girlfriend who just got two Sizzler coupons for her birthday after Harry got out-worked for a game-swinging pick late in the first. On 4th-and-inches, long an easily-convertable staple of a Brady offense, Josh McDaniels declined to call an automatic QB sneak instead opting to see exactly what he had in Mohamed Sanu.

Sanu dropped the pass, and the Brady Trust Tree was pruned a little bit further.

No, that is not a penalty. It's just regression. It's a man dropping a ball.

Those who watched Sunday night's contest know what really happened here. It wasn't Brady being his usual consistent self, let down by bad breaks and trick plays. It wasn't Brady leading a feverish late-game comeback, felled only by the sands of time (temporarily).

It was Brady with no safety valve and no rapport with his weapons, tossing fecklessly into the night until the Texans turned the controller off a little early. And if this offense is going to compete with the Ravens and Chiefs when the lights are on, they need a better game plan than "Hope the Other Team Quits."