DENVER —
Denver has not been a friendly place for the New England Patriots to play in the playoffs.
In five playoff meetings between the two franchises, the Patriots have lost all four times they played in Denver.
New England is facing the Denver Broncos on Sunday in the AFC Championship Game.
In 1987, before he was a Super Bowl champion, Denver quarterback John Elway beat Tony Eason and the Pats in the divisional round, 22-17. That was the year after New England lost to the Bears in Super Bowl XX.
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It would be 19 years before the Patriots returned to the Mile High City in January. In the 2005 season, the Patriots were going for a three-peat, but Jake Plummer and the Broncos had other ideas.
Denver was up 24-6 in the fourth quarter. Patriots quarterback Tom Brady tried to engineer a miraculous comeback but lost 27-13.
The next meeting was at a different stadium and had a different result. At home in 2012, the Patriots had a rude awakening for Tim Tebow and the Broncos. Rob Gronkowski had 145 receiving yards and three scores, and Brady threw six touchdown passes as the Pats made sure there would be no Tebow time, winning 45-10.
The stakes were higher two years later in the AFC Championship back in Denver. The Broncos defense dominated, holding New England to 3 points until the fourth quarter. The Peyton Manning-led Broncos won 26-16.
On the same stage two years after that, a missed extra point by Stephen Gostkowski would prove to be crucial as Brady and Gronk linked up for a touchdown with 12 seconds left. But because of the missed PAT, they had to go for two for the tie.
Instead, the Broncos won 20-18 and went on to win Super Bowl 50.