HOUSTON -- Daniel Graham can make the difficult catches with ease. It's the easy ones that he makes look difficult.
After dropping two balls in the first half he should have caught easily, Graham made two dazzling catches as the Patriots drove 80 yards in the final three minutes of regulation, including a 4-yard touchdown grab on fourth down that sent the game into overtime.
"Those were crucial plays I dropped," said Graham, who has been plagued by inconsistency in his pass-catching all season.
They weren't anywhere near as crucial as the two passes he caught in New England's final drive with time running out.
Trailing by a touchdown, the Patriots were facing a third-and-10 situation when quarterback Tom Brady, after twice eluding would-be tacklers, found Graham open deep down the middle for a 33-yard gain to the Houston 34.
"It was like on the sandlot," Brady said. "I was running for my life, trying to buy some time. The first couple of guys I looked to weren't open. I was trying to see if somebody could shake loose late. I saw David lose his guy, and threw it."
Graham jumped for the ball and came down with it, holding on when he was hit by free safety Matt Stevens.
After running back Kevin Faulk turned a short toss into a 21-yard gain, giving New England a first down at the 13 with 1:49 remaining, the Patriots found themselves in fourth-and-1 at the 4.
Rather than go for just the first down, they decided to go for the touchdown.
Brady, after faking a handoff, rolled right on a bootleg, looking for Graham, who at first was covered by strong safety Eric Brown.
"I thought David would be standing in the end zone by himself," Brady said. "But the guy didn't bite on the fake."
Brady, pressured by a blitzing linebacker, had no choice but to keep running toward the right sideline. Graham, however, stopped abruptly.
"We practice that," Pats coach Bill Belichick said. "On fourth down, the quarterback has to throw the ball. If there's a guy covering you, you have to make eye contact with the quarterback so he knows whether you're going to stop, or keep running."
"If I'd kept running," Graham said, "it would have been a harder throw for Tom. When I stopped, I got open for a second."
That's when Brady delivered the ball.
"Those were really great plays," Brady said of Graham's two clutch catches. "He made the one down the field that really changed the position for us. On the last one, he did a great job of running and then losing his defender to give me a place to throw it. I put it up there and he made a great catch."
Great things were expected of Graham when he was drafted in the first round last year out of Colorado. But injuries hampered him last year, when he had just 15 receptions, for 150 yards, and one touchdown.
He's already surpassed those totals this season, with 25 catches now for 311 yards and 2 TDs.
He knows, however, that he should have had at least two more receptions yesterday.
"I think it was a lack of concentration," he said. "I worked hard last week in practice but, after having two more drops, I'm going to have to work even harder."
Instead of being shaken by his early problems, Graham became more determined.
"I had to put those drops behind me," he said, "and keep my head in the game."
He hasn't lost his confidence, and is glad Brady hasn't lost confidence in him, either.
"With so many of our wide receivers injured, the tight ends probably have more experience with Tom than anybody else we have catching the ball. I'm real comfortable with him. I just have to make big plays when he throws it to me."
