FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — It took two comebacks and some trick plays on a cold night at Gillette Stadium, but New England Patriots coach Bill Belichick and quarterback Tom Brady are headed for their ninth AFC championship game together.
“No quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady,” Belichick said after the Patriots advanced to the title for the fourth straight season with a 35-31 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday night.
Brady overcame a shaky start and finished with three touchdown passes to become the NFL’s all-time leader in the postseason — the last a 23-yarder to wide receiver Brandon LaFell with 5:13 left to give the Patriots their first lead of the game.
“We fought hard,” Brady said. “It wasn’t a perfect execution game — but it was great to win.”
The top-seeded Patriots, who trailed 14-0 and 28-14 in the Divisional Round playoff game, will host the Indianapolis Colts game in the AFC Championship at 6:40 p.m. Sunday.
“It was a wild game,” said Belichick. “I’m just thankful our players hung in there and made the plays they needed to make to get a victory.”
Down 28-14, the Patriots fooled the Baltimore defense on three straight plays by declaring a receiver ineligible and employing four offensive linemen instead of the standard five. The move confused the defense and left tight end Michael Hoomanwanui open on two plays and running back Shane Vereen on another for completions. The Ravens were even penalized for having too many men on the field and coach John Harbaugh drew a 5-yard penalty for unsportsmanlike conduct.
Two plays later, Brady found tight end Rob Gronkowski for a touchdown.
“Yeah, a substitution type of trick,” Harbaugh said. “Normally, you get an opportunity to, (the officials will) give you a chance to make the proper substitutions and things like that. It’s not something that anybody’s ever done before. So maybe the league will look at that type of thing and I’m sure that they’ll make some adjustments and things like that.”
On Sunday, a spokesman for the NFL told ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that the substitutions were legal from a formation and reporting standpoint.
With the Patriots down seven with the ball at their own 49, Brady threw a backward pass to receiver Julian Edelman, who found a wide-open Danny Amendola down the left sideline for the tying score. It was Amendola’s second touchdown of the game.
Edelman, a versatile athlete, played quarterback at Woodside High (Calif), College of San Mateo and Kent State.
Belichick said the play was one his team used in 2001.
“It’s a play we’ve been working on all year,” Amendola said. “Testament to Julian; has a great arm and (is) a great athlete. He put it on the money, that’s for sure.”
The win was the first in Patriots postseason history that saw them erase a deficit of at least 12 points. They had been 0-11 previously in those situations.
The Ravens, the No. 6 seed who won at Pittsburgh in the wild-card game last Saturday, went ahead when Justin Tucker kicked a 20-yard field goal with 10:17 remaining.
Quarterback Joe Flacco, who had thrown four touchdown passes, fumbled the ball away at his own 2 after a sack, only to be saved by a holding penalty against cornerback Darrelle Revis. He then took his team down the field to the go-ahead kick.
After the LaFell touchdown, Baltimore, 2-1 in its last three postseason games at New England, moved from its 11 to the New England 36, but safety Duron Harmon picked Flacco off in the end zone with 1:39 left.
It was the second interception of Flacco, who earlier ran a streak of passes without an interception to 197, the second longest in postseason history.
New England then had to punt the ball away with 14 seconds remaining but the Ravens could do nothing with the ball.
“They made one more play than we did,” said Ravens linebacker Terrell Suggs. “You have to tip your hat to them, they won a tough game on their home field. We came up here to win and there was no hesitation on our part.”
Brady, 33 of 50 for 367 yards (the 33 completions and yardage both franchise records) also ran for a touchdown in a game that saw the Patriots run for just 14 yards.
It was Brady’s seventh career 300-yard passing postseason game, good for second all-time. It was also his 19th career postseason win.
Flacco was 28 of 45 for 292 yards with four touchdowns, but he was also intercepted twice.
Running back Justin Forsett ran for 129 yards on 24 carries in the loss.
Gronkowski caught seven passes for 108 yards, his second career postseason 100-yard game. He was also in the end zone for the game-ending Hail Mary attempt by Flacco.
NOTES: The win was the 20th in the postseason of Patriots coach Bill Belichick’s coaching career, moving him into a tie with Tom Landry for the all-time lead. … Ravens WR Steve Smith Sr. went over the 1,000-yard career postseason yardage mark. … Patriots QB Tom Brady tied Curtis Martin’s franchise record with his fifth postseason rushing touchdown. … With his 15th playoff start, Ravens QB Joe Flacco set an NFL record for postseason starts by a quarterback in his first seven years. … Patriots C Bryan Stork left the game in the second quarter with a knee injury and RG Ryan Wendell moved over. … The Ravens set a franchise record with 409 points in the regular season before scoring 30 in their wild card win over the Pittsburgh Steelers.