FOXBOROUGH, MASS. — Tom Brady and the New England Patriots showed why they scare the rest of the AFC during the playoffs.

Brady capped long scoring drives with short touchdown passes to Daniel Graham and Kevin Faulk, and Asante Samuel sealed it with a 36-yard interception return for a score with 4:54 left in the game as the three-time Super Bowl champions beat the Jets 37–16 yesterday.

New England (13–4), the only team to win a playoff game in each of the last four seasons, will play at top-seeded San Diego (14–2) next Sunday. The Patriots are going for their fourth Super Bowl title in six seasons.

Brady improved to 10–2 against the Jets (10–7), and played much better than in the teams’ last meeting, when New York frustrated the quarterback and won 17–14. This time, Brady was in control right from the start.

With the Patriots leading 23–16, Brady engineered the type of drive that has made him so deadly in big games. New England took over at its 37 and with a series of short passes and runs got to the Jets 7.

Brady then found Kevin Faulk with a short pass and the running back zipped into the end zone with 5:16 left as the Patriots quarterback put up both hands and pointed skyward.

Brady finished 22-of-34 for 212 yards and two touchdowns, while Jabbar Gaffney had eight catches for 104 yards. The Patriots also outrushed the Jets 148–70.

New England also took advantage of a big mistake by the Jets late in the third quarter.

Chad Pennington’s pass was knocked down by Rosevelt Colvin and picked up by Vince Wilfork, who rumbled 31 yards to the Jets 15 before being tackled by Cotchery. The play was ruled a backward pass and a fumble, and the ruling was upheld after a challenge by Mangini.

Four plays later, Stephen Gostkowski kicked a 28-yard field goal to give New England a 23–13 lead. Mike Nugent’s 37-yard field goal 3:21 into the fourth quarter made it 23–16.

The Patriots got things started early on Corey Dillon’s 11-yard touchdown run 3:07 in.

It was an efficient drive conducted without a huddle by Brady, who completed three of his four passes to Gaffney. On third-and-12 from the Jets 27, Brady hit Troy Brown with a 16-yard pass. Dillon then took a handoff, ran into a crowd in the middle before bouncing to the right side and high-stepping into the end zone.

The Jets took advantage of a turnover when Dewayne Robertson knocked the ball out of Dillon’s hands and Hank Poteat recovered. Nugent kicked a 28-yard field goal to make it 7–3.

Cotchery put the Jets ahead 10–7 with his 77-yard touchdown score, the longest in team postseason history. Pennington found Cotchery open with James Sanders, in for the injured Rodney Harrison, back in zone coverage. Sanders took a bad angle on the receiver before Cotchery blew past him and down the right sideline untouched with a trail of Patriots behind him.

Gostkowski kicked a 20-yard field goal to tie it at 10.