FOXBOROUGH — Peyton Manning failed to live up to his end of the bargain, but Tom Brady has the Patriots back where everyone expected — in the AFC Championship Game.
The Patriots quarterback was his usual brilliant self, throwing for 344 yards and three touchdowns in a 41-28 victory over the Texans in an AFC Divisional playoff game at Gillette Stadium. It was Brady’s 17th playoff win, passing Joe Montana for the most in NFL history by a quarterback.
Brady will see a familiar foe next week — no, not Manning, but Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco, whom he will face for the third time in four years in the playoffs. The Patriots beat the Ravens in last year’s AFC title game 23-20 when Ravens kicker Billy Cundiff missed a 32-yard field goal with 11 seconds left.
Football fans won’t get another duel between Brady and Manning — the two best quarterbacks of the last 15 years. Instead, they’ll have to settle for another meeting between two of the best AFC teams over the last 15 years.
“I think the two best teams are in the finals,” Brady said. “Baltimore certainly deserves to be here and so do we, so it’s very fitting.”
It is the first rematch in the AFC Championship Game since 1986 and ’87 when the Broncos and Browns played each other in consecutive years. Brady and coach Bill Belichick are now one game away from their sixth Super Bowl.
The Ravens beat the Patriots in September, 31-30, on Justin Tucker’s last second field goal, which Belichick argued was wide right. The two teams know each other well.
“It’s like they’re in our division,” Pats linebacker Jerod Mayo said. “We play those guys every year. It’s always a good game. Those guys are physical, a great team. It’s always a good time when you’re playing against another good team.”
The Patriots dominated the first half yesterday, but only had a 17-13 lead at halftime after the Texans scored 10 points in the final 1:20 of the half.
New England put the game away in the third quarter. It took the opening drive of the second half 69 yards on seven plays, capped by an 8-yard touchdown from running back Stevan Ridley. The big play on the drive was a 40-yard pass from Brady to tight end Aaron Hernandez. Ridley’s score put the Patriots up 24-13.
The Texans looked as if they might pull closer on their second drive of the quarter. They marched to midfield before quarterback Matt Schaub threw a brutal interception to Patriots linebacker Rob Ninkovich. Brady took over from there and marched the Patriots 63 yards for another touchdown, this one a 5-yard completion to Brandon Lloyd that made the score 31-13.
Brady tacked on another touchdown for good measure, throwing a beautiful 33-yard touchdown pass to Shane Vereen, the running back’s third touchdown of the game.
The Patriots ended up needing it when the Texans scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to make the score more respectable.
Brady was unstoppable in advancing to his seventh AFC Championship Game, where he is 6-1.
“He’s our leader and we all follow him, we all respect him and he led the team today, along with a lot of other guys but he certainly did his job, as he’s done many times before,” Belichick said. “There’s no quarterback I’d rather have than Tom Brady.”
New England rolled to 457 yards on offense, even without star tight end Rob Gronkowski, who broke his left forearm — the same injury that cost him five games in the regular season — on the Patriots’ second series. Multiple reports said Gronkowski will be out for the remainder of the postseason.
For Houston, it’s the second straight year it has been bounced in the divisional round of the playoffs. The Texans will look back on their late-season fade, when they lost three of their final four games, that cost them home-field advantage in the playoffs.
“It’s frustrating,” said Texans wide receiver Andre Johnson, who finished with eight catches for 95 yards. “For it to end like this, it’s painful, man. We want to win; we want to keep playing. Unfortunately, it just didn’t work out today.”
brian.costello@nypost.com