Brady leads Pats past Broncos into AFC title game

FOXBORO -- No one really thought the Broncos had a chance to beat the Patriots Saturday night, and some believed the one-sided New England rout that unfolded was entirely possible.
No one, however, could have foreseen the stunning gap in the performances between NFL's flavor of the month, Tim Tebow, and its reigning master, Tom Brady.
While Tebow was being flummoxed by a Patriot defense that hasn't exactly been a mystery to most NFL quarterbacks, Brady was throwing his way into the record books. He tied the NFL mark for most TD passes in a postseason game (6) and set a franchise record for passing yards in a playoff game (363) as he led the Pats into next weekend's AFC championship with a 45-10 humbling of the Broncos.
Summary, scoring, statistics
Brady ended the night with 26 completions in 34 attempts. Tebow? He was 9-for-26 for 136 yards.
Coach Bill Belichick passed out plenty of praise afterward . . . though, knowing Brady's numbers will naturally attract the spotlight, didn't give a whole lot of it to his quarterback.
"Tom's done a good job for us for a long time," was about as far as he'd go, later adding: "We want to give all the credit to the guy's who throwing and a couple of guys catching, but . . . it's not just one guy out there . . .
"Tom was one of the Patriots who played well, but he got a lot of help."
Belichick was right. The Pats' performance was dominating across the board, so much so that, really, the Broncos' only victory of the evening came before the game started: They won the coin toss.
The downturn started immediately afterward, when they chose to kick off - reason: unknown -- and put the ball in Brady's hands.
Five plays, 80 yards, and 1 minute and 51 seconds later, the Patriots were in the end zone on a seven-yard pass from Brady to Wes Welker.
A strip-sack of Tebow by Rob Ninkovich on Denver's first possession gave New England the ball on its own 41. Seven plays, 59 yards, and 3 minutes and 25 seconds later, the Pats were in the end zone again, this time on a 10-yard pass to Rob Gronkowski -- who made an acrobatic reception that Brady called "one of the best catches I've ever seen" -- for a 14-0 lead.
The Broncos were now in the one position every pundit said they absolutely had to avoid: In a deep hole and having to rely on Tebow to generate a comeback. They caught a break, however, when Quinton Carter picked off an overthrown Brady pass and returned it 17 yards to the Pats' 24, and Tebow capitalized by engineering a four-play TD drive -- capped by a five-yard Willie McGahee scoring run -- that cut the lead to 14-7 early in the second quarter.
But offensive lineman Zane Beadles was called for unnecessary roughness during an end-zone scrum after the TD, resulting in a 15-yard penalty that was assessed on the kickoff. Given a short field -- Danny Woodhead returned the kick to the New England 40 -- Brady had them in the end zone again in eight plays and 3 minutes and 35 secodnds, this time on a 12-yard pass to Gronkowski.
And from there, it just snowballed:
Next possession: A 61-yard TD pass to Deion Branch with 2:06 to go in the half made it 28-7.
Possession after that: Pats got the ball on their 42 with 1:09 left after forcing a three-and-out, and Brady threw a 19-yard scoring pass to Gronkowski with five seconds to play, making it 35-7.
"That was huge to get those points . . . before halftime," said Belichick. "That kind of sequence was big for us. Really well executed by our football team, especially offensively."
Then, on their first possession of the second half, Brady hit Aaron Hernandez with his sixth touchdown pass of the night, a 17-yarder that put New England in front, 42-7.
The Pats called off the dogs after that, and the only other scoring of the night was a swap of field goals by Denver's Matt Prater and New England's Stephen Gostkowski.
"As a team, we were looking for this all year," said defensive lineman Vince Wilfork. "And what a time to put it all together."
Next up: Either the Ravens or Texans next Sunday at Gillette Stadium at 3 p.m. for the AFC championship.
And Belichick was happiest for his players.
"They worked hard," he said. "They put up with me. They deserved it."