Brady rallies Patriots past Ravens and into AFC Championship Game

FOXBOROUGH, Mass. – One big comeback, then another.

And now another game for Tom Brady and the New England Patriots.

The quarterback who treats deficits as distractions dug the Patriots out of two 14-point holes — the first team to do that in NFL playoff history — to reach the AFC Championship Game for the fourth consecutive year with a 35-31 victory over the Baltimore Ravens on Saturday.

"Behind twice by 14 wasn't necessarily in the plan," Brady said. "It took a lot of execution to overcome it."

Thanks to three touchdown passes by Brady and one by college quarterback turned receiver Julian Edelman, the resilient Patriots kept their season alive.

"Right now, it's all about giving us a chance to come to work again," said safety Devin McCourty, who batted down Joe Flacco's desperation pass into the end zone on the last play.

Brady led a masterful march — completing eight of nine passes and running for a first down — to the decisive 23-yard touchdown completion to Brandon LaFell with just more than five minutes left to give the Patriots their first lead.

"We came to their home field and fought them to the end, and we just came up short," said Kamar Aiken, who caught one of Flacco's four touchdown passes.

Brady completed 33 of 50 passes for 367 yards for an offense that picked up only 14 yards on the ground, the second fewest in team playoff history. His 46 career playoff touchdown passes surpassed Joe Montana's 45 for most in NFL history.

Flacco was 28-for-45 for 292 yards with two interceptions. Justin Forsett gained 129 yards on 24 carries.

It was a thrilling game of shifting momentum — two touchdowns by the Ravens, the next two by the Patriots, two more by the Ravens and another two by the Patriots.

"We had two separate 14-point leads. Those guys did a good job getting it back to seven as quickly as they could," Flacco said. "They don't panic."

Flacco capitalized on a Brady interception with an 11-yard scoring pass to Owen Daniels with 10 seconds left for a 21-14 halftime lead.

Flacco's fourth TD pass made it 28-14 early in the third.

Then fortunes turned again.

Brady threw a 5-yard TDs pass to Rob Gronkowski, and the Patriots got the ball back after a punt. This time, another strong arm lifted the Patriots into a tie.

With the ball at the New England 49, Brady threw behind the line of scrimmage to Edelman on the left side. The former Kent State quarterback then lofted a deep pass to a wide-open Amendola.

After Justin Tucker's 25-yard field goal gave the Ravens a 31-28 lead, Brady hit LaFell with the go-ahead TD pass.

"It was a wild game," Patriots coach Bill Belichick said, "but I'm just thankful our players hung in there and made the plays they needed to make."