SAN DIEGO -- It's hard to come out of a game in which your secondary surrendered 353 passing yards saying that you found some ways to stop Tom Brady, but the Chargers did Sunday.

Brady has been unstoppable this season. Patriots offensive coordinator Charlie Weis comes up with different ways to get receivers free for short routes, and Brady finds ways to complete passes to them.

The Chargers devised an interesting game plan to hold the Patriots to 14 points in a 21-14 victory. First, the secondary knew that they had caught a break when it was announced that Troy Brown, who caught 16 passes last week, would not play because of a knee injury. But that advantage was lessened on the opening kickoff when Tay Cody, a valuable Chargers backup cornerback, suffered a toe injury on the opening kickoff that might keep him out several weeks.

"We noticed on film that nobody hits their receivers," Chargers cornerback Ryan McNeil said. "We tried to get our hands on them and throw them off their routes."

	“	The coaches told us to be patient and be poised this week because they knew we were going to be frustrated trying to get to Brady. I had some of my best rushes in history and I didn't get close. But we knew what gets him out of sync is if his first read isn't there, he starts to pat the ball. When he pats the ball, that starts to affect his accuracy. ”
		— Marcellus Wiley, Chargers defensive end

Timing is everything for Brady, and he came out smoking. He completed five of six passes for 39 yards in an opening 67-yard touchdown drive. After that drive, the Chargers defense settled down and started playing some games with Brady.

First, they figured that David Patten would be Brady's first option as a receiver and they made sure he was covered, which forced Brady to look for his second read. That turned out be rookie Deion Branch, who caught 13 passes for 128 yards but nothing longer than 18 yards.

Starting with the second offensive possession, linebacker Junior Seau tried to get into Brady's head by faking blitzes or actually busting through the offensive line to pressure him.

"What you try to do is get him uncomfortable," Seau said. "You try to get his attention. Once we get his attention, obviously it's taking away from what he wants to do."

This was classic Seau. He was playing on an ankle injury that should have sidelined him. After the game, he needed a boot for protection. Despite the pain, Seau led the Chargers with nine tackles, keeping Brady off guard with blitzes and fake blitzes.

As the game progressed, Brady made some throws that were too far to the sideline or off the mark. Brady had a good game, completing 36 of 53 passes for 353 yards. But he also threw two key interceptions.

"Sometimes, you won't even get blocked and you can't get to him," defensive end Marcellus Wiley said. "I don't want to take anything away from his offensive line, but it's all Brady. He has that knack in the pocket. He has the peripheral vision. He has confidence in the system. Obviously, he knows if his reads aren't open, but he gets the ball to a spot or throws it away."

Wiley said Brady gets rid of the ball so fast that once they rushed from center, and the center didn't block anyone. Brady still released the ball.

But slowly the Chargers defense was getting to the quick draw quarterback. He tried only three long passes (a pass thrown longer than 20 yards). One was a 26-yard completion in the fourth quarter. Another was intercepted by McNeil. A third may have cost the Patriots talented rookie tight end Daniel Graham, who suffered what could be a bad arm injury hitting the ground after failing to catch a pass.

"The coaches told us to be patient and be poised this week because they knew we were going to be frustrated trying to get to Brady," Wiley said. "I had some of my best rushes in history and I didn't get close. But we knew what gets him out of sync is if his first read isn't there, he starts to pat the ball. When he pats the ball, that starts to affect his accuracy."

It will be interesting to see what other teams learn from tapes of the Chargers game. One of those teams will be the Dolphins, who play host to the Patriots next week.

John Clayton is a senior writer for ESPN.com.