For Brady, his elation trumps past deflation
FOXBOROUGH, Mass. — The Tom Brady redemption tour is headed to the Super Bowl.
After beginning the 2016 season with a fourgame suspension for his role in the “Deflategate” scandal, the New England quarterback carried the Patriots to a ninth appearance in the title game.
Brady threw for a franchise-playoff-best 384 yards and three touchdowns in a 36-17 rout of the Pittsburgh Steelers on Sunday in New England’s sixth consecutive AFC Championship Game.
The Patriots, who have won nine in a row, will face Atlanta on Feb. 5 in Houston as they seek their fifth NFL title with Brady at quarterback and Bill Belichick as head coach. New England was installed as a 3-point favorite.
New England started 3-1 without Brady, and since his return in Week 5, has lost only once.
“This is my motivation right here, all these fellas in front of me, these guys,” Brady said, pointing to his teammates and ignoring mentions of Deflategate. “The boys showed up to play today.”
Brady’s main playmaker Sunday was Chris Hogan, an unheralded receiver who caught nine passes for 180 yards and two scores.
“It’s been a long journey, but I’ve worked really hard to get to this point,” Hogan said. “I couldn’t be happier to get to be a part of this thing, this team — this whole thing.”
Top wideout Julian Edelman added eight receptions for 118 yards and a touchdown as Brady tied Joe Montana’s playoff record with nine three-TD passing performances. Brady also had his 11th 300-yard postseason game, extending his NFL record, by completing 32 of 42 throws.
“We won a lot of different ways under a lot of different circumstances,” Brady said. “Mental toughness is what it is all about, and this team has got it. We’ll see if we can write the perfect ending.”
The ending for Pittsburgh was anything but perfect. It lost running back Le’Veon Bell late in the first quarter to a groin injury and made mistakes in every facet of game as its winning streak ended at nine.
The franchise that has won the most Super Bowls (six) and the most postseason games (36) was not able to keep pace with the Patriots.
“We’ve got to be capable of overcoming those things,” Pittsburgh head coach Mike Tomlin said. “Injuries and so forth are part of the game. The reality is we didn’t make enough plays in any of the three phases. The game kind of unfolded in the way they would like it to, as opposed to the way we would like it to. Not only in score, but in style of play and so forth. We didn’t get a lot accomplished tonight.”
By the end, the proNew England crowd was chanting “Where is Roger?” in reference to Commissioner Roger Goodell.
“For a number of reasons, all of you in this stadium understand how big this win was,” Patriots owner Robert Kraft said. “And we have to go to Houston and win one more.”