The Curse of Randall Gay is dead.

All is right with the world. The New England Patriots are back in the AFC Championship game after destroying the Tebow Tebows Saturday night.

The Flawed Squad has already outperformed the mighty Pittsburgh Steelers, the blusterous New York Jets, the supremely talented San Diego Chargers and everyone else that had supposedly overtaken them as the class of the American Football Conference.

Tom Brady’s record-setting performance and Bill Belichick’s virtually flawless game plan Saturday night sent a strong message to everyone who questioned their resume. And that includes some of their most ardent supporters.

If one listened to the pundits, not just this past week but all season, the Patriots were mired in a Red Sox-like postseason slump. Some made a three-game losing streak seem like a 1918 yoke around the necks of Belichick and Brady.

Well, few will admit it now, but New England was nervous this week. Back-to-back home losses in the division round will make anyone wonder if their team is the second-coming of Marty Schottenheimer’s Kansas City Chiefs or San Diego Chargers.

And even with a mediocre opponent led by a mediocre quarterback and a mediocre defense on the other side, the fear that New England, which hadn’t beaten a team over .500 all year, would play down to the competition was a legitimate one.

It doesn’t help that Patriots fans can hear Brady’s biological clock ticking, either.

Brady is 34 years old and has only a few seasons left as a championship-caliber quarterback in a quarterback-driven league. Every season that doesn’t end with him embracing the Lombardi Trophy is a wasted opportunity.

Belichick has made Patriots fans even more uncomfortable of late by drafting with Methuselah’s sense of urgency, trading down for future picks, ignoring obvious needs such as a pass rusher and whiffing badly on early-round picks.

So Brady’s prime has coincided with the steady decline of what was once a formidable defense.

First, it aged before our eyes, as evidenced by injuries and late-game collapses in the 2006 AFC Championship and Super Bowl XLII. Countless free agents and draft picks brought in to replace Tedy Bruschi, Rodney Harrison, Willie McGinest, Ty Law, Mike Vrabel, et al, ended up being busts, leaving Belichick to piece together the unit with undrafted, bargain basement free agents and converted wide receivers and leaving his critics to question how the defensive genius could let it go from mediocre to bad to statistically laughable in three years.

No one in orange, blue and white was laughing Saturday night. The defense was superbly coached, rendering Denver’s Tebow-tailored option game moot, blanketing receivers downfield and, led by possible Vrabel-in-waiting Rob Ninkovich, collapsing the pocket seemingly at will.

Skeptics will scoff, claiming that Tebow reverted to form after using up a month’s worth of big plays in last week’s win over Pittsburgh. They have 16 so-so-to-horrible performances this year to point to, while the less skeptical (it’s premature to be a true believer) can only point to last night as a complete 60-minute game by the defense.

But facts are facts, and the fact is, had it not been for Brady’s second quarter brain cramp interception, the New England Patriots would have thrown a shutout in the first half.

Brady, meanwhile, played like a man possessed (albeit possessed briefly by Drew Bledsoe on the turnover). We heard reports all week that the two-time MVP was sick of losing in the playoffs and was letting everybody know it. He probably went Bill O’Brien on anyone who mentioned Tebow’s name around him, too.

He may be more resolute than ever, but Brady couldn’t have put on one of his most impressive playoff displays ever without the offensive line and his tight ends.

Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez may be headed for legendary duo status in New England, joining a surprisingly short list (Orr/Esposito, Lynn/Rice, Belichick/Brady, of  course, and then who?) For all of Belichick’s draft mistakes, the two tight ends have changed the offense and just may end up extending Brady’s career. Josh McDaniels, who was saddled with the underachieving Daniel Graham and Ben Watson in his first stint as offensive coordinator, must think he died and went to heaven (as if he didn’t already have a free pass after drafting Tim Tebow).

New England’s downfall in each of the last three playoff losses was not the defense. It was the offensive line. The Giants, Ravens and Jets all pressured Brady relentlessly. The Patriots gave up 13 sacks and, not coincidentally, the normally unstoppable offense averaged just over 16 points in those three games.

Brady stayed upright Saturday night. If the line can make that happen again against a much more formidable rush, be it Houston or Baltimore, the Patriots will be trying to win a fourth Super Bowl in Peyton’s Place.

Randy Whitehouse is a staff writer. His email is [email protected].