FOXBOROUGH — The end result was the desired one for Tom Brady and the Patriots, but the performance left something to be desired. The latter is what lingered in the singularly focused mind of Brady.

The Patriots scored enough points to make the folks in Las Vegas look prescient with their 16-point spread, but their AFC divisional-round playoff win over the Houston Texans on Saturday night at Gillette Stadium didn’t come with any style points for Brady and the offense. The scoreboard told a story of a fait accompli outcome, a 34-16 Patriots victory. The reality of the game told another tale for TB12 and the Patriots, one that didn’t meet their lofty expectations. That was evident by Brady’s downcast demeanor in his postgame press conference.

This was good enough to win, but it wasn’t good enough for Brady and the sterling-silver standard known as the Lombardi Trophy he lives by. He knows that. What a luxury it is for Brady and the Patriots to be able to self-flagellate and self-deprecate after a win that puts them in the AFC Championship game for a record sixth straight season. It was also a luxury to be facing the offensively-challenged Texans. The Patriots won’t be so fortunate in the AFC title game.

The statistic that has always defined Brady is wins. He got his 23rd playoff victory in 32 tries. That was the good. The bad was that Brady registered the lowest completion percentage of his playoff career (47.4) and matched his regular-season interception total of two in 12 games in just three quarters against the Texans’ top-ranked defense. Brady was 18 of 38 for 287 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions.

“That [stinks],’’ said Brady.

Granted, one of the interceptions was the fault of Bill Belichick pet project Michael Floyd, who let a second-quarter pass go through his hands and into the arms of A.J. Bouye. But this wasn’t Brady at his best. He was hit, harassed, and forced to hold the ball more than he would like.

In the second half, he was 10 of 23 for 142 yards with a TD and another deflected pass-turned-interception that was his fault.

Brady was in no mood to celebrate making it to his record 11th AFC title game, breaking a tie with Raiders legends George Blanda and Gene Upshaw for the most conference title game appearances.

“I think we’ve just got to learn from it. I think this team did a good job playing against us. That’s a good team,’’ said Brady. “They had some good rushers, and they have some good guys in coverage. They had a pretty good plan. . . . You add our poor execution on top of that and add our turnovers on top of that.

“You know it just doesn’t feel great because we work pretty hard to play a lot better than we played. I give them a lot of credit, but we’re going to have to play better on offense. I expect us to go out and have a good week, and fix the things that we saw tonight. And try to play better next week.’’

It turned out the Texans were not quite the willing Foxborough Foil for Brady and Co. that was expected.

Belichick disciples Bill O’Brien, Houston’s head coach, and Romeo Crennel, the Texans’ defensive coordinator, acquitted themselves quite well, much better than in the 27-0 beatdown the Patriots gave them with third-string rookie quarterback Jacoby Brissett at the controls back in September. The Texans kept their streak of not allowing a 300-yard passer all season intact.

If only they had competent and capable quarterback play to complement their defensive effort, this might have been a playoff thriller. Instead, they had Brock Osweiler (23 of 40 for 198 yards with a touchdown and three interceptions), which is like bringing a rock to a gunfight.

As it was, it was an uncomfortable evening for the Patriots for too long.

It was 24-16 with 14:51 left in the fourth quarter after Nick Novak drilled a 46-yard field goal. The Houston score was set up by Brady’s second interception.

He tried to whip a pass into Julian Edelman, who had a big night with eight catches for 137 yards, but it was deflected and intercepted by Houston safety Andre Hal at the Patriots 40 with 41 seconds left in the third quarter.

It marked the ninth time in Brady’s postseason career that he tossed two or more interceptions in a game. The Patriots were 4-4 in the previous eight instances.

But after the Patriots were forced to punt when Brady threw behind an open Edelman on third and 7, Robert Pattinson-look-alike Osweiler ushered in the twilight of the Texans’ season by throwing an interception Logan Ryan at the Houston 29.

Two plays later, Dion Lewis bounced in from the 1 for his third touchdown of the game with 12:16 to go, and the Patriots were safe from the ignominy of one of the worst playoff losses of the Belichick-Brady era.

It wasn’t all bad for Brady. He connected on six pass plays of 20 yards or more, his most in a playoff game.

TB12 appeared to seize control of the game on the Patriots’ second drive of the third quarter, marching 90 yards in nine plays to take a 24-13 lead. Brady hit 6 of 7 passes on the drive, the last of which was a 19-yard score to running back James White.

But the offense went punt, interception, punt after that until Logan Ryan rolled out the red carpet to the end zone with his interception.

“It was just one of those nights where we just never got into a rhythm on offense,’’ said Brady.

It was hard to watch the Patriots and not feel that they were playing with the burden of expectation weighing them down.

The danger now for Brady at age 39 is that he wants to win that fifth Lombardi Trophy so badly that he is pressing instead of peaking. It could be pure coincidence and great defense that Brady’s two worst postseason completion percentages have come in back-to-back playoff games.

Prior to Saturday night, his lowest completion percentage in a postseason game came in last season’s AFC title game against Denver, 27 of 56 (48.2 percent).

I asked Brady at his locker if there was a line between being focused and being fixated, if he and the Patriots were too tight.

“I don’t think we were tight. I don’t think we were tight,’’ said Brady. “We just didn’t execute very well.’’

They executed well enough to win, but not well enough to feel good about it.