FOXBOROUGH — Admit it New England, you were a little scared.

Well, you can thank Dion Lewis and an opportunistic defense for allaying those fears.

The speedy running back scored three touchdowns — one on a 13-yard reception, another on a 98-yard kickoff return, and his final one on a 1-yard run as the Patriots held off the more-than-pesky Texans, 34-16, Saturday night in an AFC divisional round game at Gillette Stadium.

Lewis became the first player in NFL postseason history to hit that particular trifecta in one game as the Patriots advanced to their record-setting sixth straight AFC title game.

Bill Belichick’s club will host the winner of Sunday night’s Steelers-Chiefs game in a week.

Houston trailed, 17-13, at the half and it felt even closer as the Patriots seemed determined to keep the fannies in the seats until the bitter cold end of a game many had begged for a blowout from the get-go.

It was the most productive game of the season for Lewis and it came at a great time as Tom Brady had his worst. Brady completed 18 of 38 for 287 yards and a pair of touchdowns. He also threw a pair of interceptions, matching his regular-season total.

“There was a lot of things,’’ said Brady, who was sacked twice but hit eight times total. “Between what they were doing and what we were doing it created some problems. Just inconsistency by us. They got a good defense.’’

The Texans were consistently getting the jump on the Patriots offensive line, with Whitney Mercilus, normally an outside linebacker, gaining good push up the middle. Additionally, Jadeveon Clowney was a menace off the edge.

Houston defensive end Christian Covington said it was good effort, just not good enough.

“That was the game plan going in, to try to hit him as much as possible,’’ he said. “At the end of the day, it didn’t really count for anything.’’

The one drive where Brady looked like Brady came early in the third quarter when he went 6 for 7 for 94 yards, capped by a 19-yard scoring toss to James White.

Brady hit Edelman four times for 64 yards on the drive.

Fortunately for Brady and the Patriots, Brock Osweiler was worse. He finished 23 for 40 for 198 yards and three interceptions. Though he completed 57 percent of his passes, he was woefully wild on a ton of throws.

He wasn’t helped by several key drops and a virtual no-show from DeAndre Hopkins (six catches, 65 yards). The most costly drop came from Will Fuller, who dropped Osweiler’s best throw of the night in the end zone. A touchdown there would have cut the Houston deficit to 24-20 late in the third. Instead, Houston was forced to punt.

It wasn’t all happy times for Lewis, who committed a pair of fumbles — losing one on a kickoff return.

Osweiler did hit C.J. Fiedorowicz on a 10-yard scoring strike to capitalize on that turnover, but he could never get the Texans back to end zone. It was the same old story for an offense that scored just 25 touchdowns on the season.

The Patriots’ defense was outstanding, particularly in the second half, holding Houston to 3 points.

Logan Ryan was exceptional, blanketing his assignments all night and showing his versatility as a defender. The cornerback registered seven tackles, a sack, and an interception.

Dont’a Hightower chipped in with a game-high eight tackles in one of his most active games of the season.

“We’ve been playing good defense and keeping the points down,’’ said Ryan. “In our zones we wanted to play fundamentally sound and in our mans we wanted to get on Hopkins and kind of smell those guys and make Osweiler make great throws and anything he [threw] high or behind take advantage of which were able to do, so that was pretty good.’’

All three of the Patriots interceptions came from the Rutgers contingent.

“I knew once [Devin McCourty] got one and I got one and Duron always closes it out,’’ said proud alum Ryan. “So, big day for Rutgers, just like we planned, it’s good to get those, those are big this time of year . . . Bill [Belichick] gave us a shoutout. So, if you’re a DB come to Piscataway, that’s how we feel.’’

The Texans stumbled out of the gate and were on their way to their third straight three-and-out when a Patriots penalty gave them some life.

After an Osweiler third-down pass to Hopkins failed to gain a first down, Hopkins and Malcolm Butler got into it and a scrum ensued. New England corner Eric Rowe was hit with an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for dragging an opponent off the pile and the drive stayed alive and the Texans eventually trimmed their deficit to 7-3 on Nick Novak’s 33-yard field goal.

“Malcolm made the tackle and one of their guys kind of speared him in the back and, you know, I didn’t like that,’’ said Rowe. “You have to stick up for your team. I was just trying to get him off because he was doing a lot of extra stuff in the pile.’’

Rowe said he got an earful from Belichick on the sideline

“Just can’t get stupid penalties and I totally understand that,’’ he said. “They got 3 points out of that drive and I felt like [crap] . . . I definitely won’t be doing that again. That was totally on me.’’

Jim McBride can be reached at james.mcbride@globe.com. Follow him on Twitter @globejimmcbride.