BY JIM LANG
sportsnet.ca

DETROIT, MI --In the NFL, the difference between really good teams and teams that are still learning how to win is their ability to make key adjustments at half time.

That statement perfectly summed up how the Patriots beat the Lions 45-24 in the 71st annual Thanksgiving Day Classic.

The Lions went into the game with the best of intentions. On the chalkboard in the Lions’ locker room, head coach Jim Schwartz had written the words "Finish" and "Win" in big bold letters. But once again the Lions couldn’t finish and as a result, they fell to 2- 9 on the season and have now lost seven straight Thanksgiving Classics.

The Lions started out like a team that looked like it could finish and had the soldout crowd at Ford Field believing that they might be able to pull off the upset. But during Kid Rock’s halftime concert, Belichick and the Patriots coaching staff came up with a solution to what the Lions were doing to them in the first half.

Frustrated by all of the pressure the Lions’ defence were putting on Brady, Belichick felt the team needed to show more of a commitment to running the ball in order to open up the Patriots’ offence.

"Any time you can be balanced and hit some runs in there, and force them to defend the running game and the passing game, that opened up a few play action opportunities for us," Belichick explained. "We definitely tried to slow down their pass rush down with the running game and a little bit better protection."

The story of the game however was the brilliance of Tom Brady.

Brady’s foot injury prevented the Patriots star quarterback from taking part in practice this week. None of that mattered as Brady shredded the Lions defence in the second half.

In the first half, Ndamukong Suh and the Lions’ defensive line were causing all sorts of problems for the Patriots’ offensive line and subsequently, they were getting a lot of hits on Brady. But making the most of the Patriots’ modified game plan, Brady went an incredible 11-of-14 for 231 yards and four touchdowns in the second half.

By the time all was said and done, Brady had a perfect quarterback rating of 158.3. Ever the perfectionist, Brady feels the Patriots offence is capable of much more.

"We have shown improvement," he said. "I don’t think we are we need to be yet. I think we still haven’t played 60 minutes yet. But this is tough group and we play to the end."

The consummate pro, Patriots’ receiver Wes Welker said nobody was very happy in the Patriots’ locker room during half time.

"The first half was pretty ugly for us," he said. "We knew we had to come out there and play a lot better in the second half. We talked about being resilient and staying on top of it and we were able to do that and come away with a win."

Both Welker and Deion Branch caught two touchdowns in the win.

Afterwards, a smiling Belichick handed Branch his highest compliment. "He’s the best," he said. "Deion’s the best. You can’t get any better than that. He’s always upbeat, does whatever you ask him to do, very team oriented. Just wants to do it right."

The Patriots are now 6- 1 since Branch came over from Seattle and replaced Randy Moss in the offence.

Both Brady and Belichick went to great lengths to point out that rookie cornerback Devin McCourty’s third quarter interception of Shaun Hill was the tipping point in the game.

Down 17-10, McCourty returned the interception 23 yards down to the Detroit 26. Four plays later Brady hit his favourite target, Wes Welker, for a five yard touchdown.

A rookie, McCourty is a big part of a young and very talented Patriots’ secondary.

"Everybody has been talking about how young we are, right now as a secondary, especially the rookies, with the preseason and now playing all these games, that it’s time for us not to think of us as rookies anymore and just go out and start making plays," said McCourty.

With two interceptions Thursday and three in his past two games, McCourty has certainly been making his fair share of plays for the Patriots’ defence.

Belichick said the 9- 2 Patriots will now enjoy some time off for the Thanksgiving holiday weekend before beginning preparations for their Monday night showdown with the Jets Dec. 6 at Gillette Stadium.

One final stat from Detroit: the Patriots have now won at least nine games for 10 straight seasons.