Tom Brady lifted the New England Patriots to a 41-28 win over the Houston Texans to clinch a record 17th postseason victory as a quarterback Sunday.
"I love playing, I love competing, I love being a part of this organization," Brady said. "I think I've just been fortunate to play on some great teams over the years. I never take it for granted."
The Patriots will face the Baltimore Ravens in AFC Championship game. They are only one win away from their second straight trip to the Super Bowl.
"I think the two best teams are in the final," Brady said. "Baltimore certainly deserves to be here and so do we."
Houston got off to a good start as Shayne Graham hit a 27-yard field goal to give the Texans a 3-0 lead at the beginning of the first quarter. But Shane Vereen put the Patriots ahead 7-3 with a touchdown when he rushed to the left for a 1-yard gain with 1.28 left in the first period.
Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 37-yard field goal to extend New England's lead to 10-3 in the second quarter.
Brady threw a TD to further extend the Patriot's lead to 17-3 with 3.38 remaining in the second quarter.
In less than three minutes, Houston's Arian Foster rushed to the left for a 1-yard touchdown to cut the New England's lead to 17-10. Graham further cut the Patriot's lead to 17-13 by hitting a 55-yard field goal in the final second of the second quarter.
The Patriots had two TDs in the third quarter to firm their grip on the game. First, Stevan Ridley rushed to the right for and 8-yard TD to extend New England's lead to 24-13 with 11.30 left in the third quarter. Then, Brady threw for his second touchdown of the game to take the Patriots' lead to 31-13.
New England extended their lead to 38-13 with Brady's third TD with 13.07 left in the game. After that Houston fought fiercely until the end to avoid defeat.
Houston's Matt Schaub passed to DeVier Posey to the right for a 25-yard TD to cut the Patriot's lead to 38-20 with 11.35 remaining. Then Schaub threw another touchdown to further reduce the gap to ten points with 5.11 left.
But the Texans could not score after that and with the help of Gostkowski's 38-yard field goal with just 1.14 left the Patriots extended their lead to 41-28.
"Whenever the season ends, no matter when, it's really hard," Owen Daniels said. "The farther along you get, the harder it is to take. It's one we wanted to win really bad. It's tough to swallow ... but one team gets to have a smile on their face at the end of the season, and it's not us this year."
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