Brent Yarina, BTN.com Senior Editor, November 26, 2012

Every week during the NFL season, Brent Yarina singles out the best offensive, defensive and special teams performances by Big Ten products and links to their NFL.com highlights. View all the former Big Ten players on NFL active rosters. See Brent's Week 12 winners in this post.

OFFENSE: Tom Brady, QB, New England: The Michigan product gets the honor for the second consecutive week, this after carving up the New York Jets for 323 yards and three scoring strikes (Watch Brady's Week 12 highlights) in a 49-19 blowout Thanksgiving night. What's more, Brady completed 64 percent of his passes and didn't commit a turnover.

CO-DEFENSE: James Laurinaitis, LB, St. Louis: The former Ohio State star racked up a game-high 14 tackles and picked off a pass (Watch INT) to help St. Louis tally a 31-17 victory at Arizona.

J.J. Watt, DE, Houston: Nobody, perhaps, had a better Thanksgiving than the ex-Badger walk-on. Watt terrorized Detroit and QB Matthew Stafford all day long, to the tune of five tackles, four tackles for loss and three sacks (Watch first sack), in a 34-31 overtime road win.

Donte Whitner, S, San Francisco: Going up against a hot New Orleans offense, Whitner registered eight tackles and returned an interception of Drew Brees 42 yards for a touchdown (Watch pick-6).

SPECIAL TEAMS: Keshawn Martin, WR/R, Houston: Martin racked up 165 total yards, including 121 kickoff return yards, in Houston's overtime win at Detroit. The former Spartan also contributed 17 yards through the air and on the ground.