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<\/p>\nDENVER \u2014 If any opponent is familiar with Denver Broncos fill-in quarterback Jarrett Stidham, it’s the New England Patriots, who drafted him in 2019 to serve as Tom Brady’s backup.<\/p>\n
When Josh McDaniels took the Las Vegas Raiders’ head coaching job, he traded for Stidham, who backed up Derek Carr for two years before signing with Denver, where he served as Russell Wilson’s No. 2, then as Bo Nix’s right-hand man.<\/p>\n
After McDaniels returned to New England for his third stint as offensive coordinator last offseason, the Patriots were interested in a reunion with Stidham, but he chose to stay in Denver.<\/p>\n
With Nix recovering from surgery after breaking his right ankle on Denver’s game-winning drive in overtime against Buffalo last weekend, Stidham steps in Sunday when the Broncos (15-3) host Drake Maye and the Patriots (16-3) in the AFC championship game.<\/p>\n
Although Nix was integral to Denver’s success this season \u2014 he engineered six comebacks in the fourth quarter or overtime and and led Denver to an NFL-best 12-2 record in one-score games \u2014 his coaches and teammates insist they’re equally confident Stidham can lead them to the Super Bowl.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re lucky to have him,\u201d right tackle Mike McGlinchey said, \u201cbecause not everybody has a quarterback waiting in the wings as talented as Jarrett.\u201d<\/p>\n
Although the Patriots brass knows Stidham well, defensive tackle Milton Williams didn’t mince his words when asked what he knew about the sixth-year QB who hasn’t thrown a pass in two years.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye (10) walks off the field after an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: AP\/Robert F. Bukaty<\/p>\n
\u201cNothing. I ain\u2019t going to lie,” he said. “Nothing. We\u2019re going to watch the tape on him and figure out what he likes to do. But they didn\u2019t like him over Bo, so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Of course, no team likes their backup QB more than their starter, but Broncos coach Sean Payton insists Stidham could start for any number of other NFL teams.<\/p>\n
Stidham may not have quite the resume of Nix, but he’s no slouch, said Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s in the NFL for a reason,” Gonzalez said. “They believe in him, they brought him up, so we\u2019ve got to prepare and be ready for him. They\u2019re in this game for a reason, too. They\u2019ve got a lot of weapons on the offensive side.\u201d<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n
New England Patriots quarterback Drake Maye speaks at a news conference after an NFL divisional playoff football game against the Houston Texans, Sunday, Jan. 18, 2026, in Foxborough, Mass. Credit: AP\/Steven Senne<\/p>\n
And they might get running back J.K. Dobbins back from foot surgery. The Broncos’ backfield has averaged one fewer yard per carry and 29 fewer yards per game since Dobbins got hurt Nov. 6. His return could take a big load off Stidham’s shoulders.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s been a great back in this league for a long time,” Patriots linebacker Robert Spillane said. \u201cHe\u2019s a physical downhill runner who breaks tackles and makes big, explosive runs for them. If he\u2019s out there, we\u2019re just going to have to do great at building a wall and swarming to the tackle.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maye had an MVP-caliber season in his second year in the league and first one under McDaniels’ tutelage. But he’s had an puzzling postseason, getting sacked 10 times, throwing two interceptions, fumbling six times and losing half of them but still beating the Chargers and Texans handily.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally impressive,\u201d Payton said. \u201cHe\u2019s extremely fast and those come from obviously pocket scrambles, but he can run. We had that challenge a week ago. It seems like every third week you have that challenge of someone that you have to make sure your pocket rushes are on point.\u201d<\/p>\n
Denver’s defense led the league in sacks with 68 but they had a dearth of takeaways until collecting five against the Bills last week. <\/p>\n
That defense and a good ground game could make a world of difference for Stidham as he faces his former team in the biggest game of a career that features just four starts and one victory, on Dec. 31, 2023, against the Chargers. <\/p>\n
\u201cI’m very appreciative of New England for giving me a shot in this league, drafting me,\u201d said Stidham, whose only play-callers in his NFL career have been McDaniels and Payton.<\/p>\n
But it wasn’t a hard choice last spring when he re-signed with Denver for $12 million over two years. He said he believes in Payton \u2014 \u201cIt’s pretty obvious that he has the train rolling in the right direction\u201d \u2014 QBs coach Davis Webb, offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi and that he really enjoys working with Nix.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt like over the last two years that I was here that I got a lot better,\u201d said Stidham, who gets the chance to show it this weekend. <\/p>\n
Biggest home underdog<\/p>\n
The Broncos without Nix are the biggest home underdog ever in a conference championship game. Oddsmakers installed the Patriots, who went 8-0 on the road, as five-point favorites.<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody\u2019s been doubting us\u201d all along, McGlinchey said. \u201cWe won 14 games and people are saying we\u2019re the worst 1 seed in the history of the playoffs. So, that\u2019s nothing new. … Certainly we are a team that\u2019s been battle-tested. We\u2019ve handled adversity every step of the way and we\u2019re incredibly confident moving forward in our team.\u201d <\/p>\n
Family ties <\/p>\n
Patriots linebacker Christian Elliss will face one of his brothers for the second time this season with Broncos linebacker Jonah Elliss on the opposing sideline. <\/p>\n
Christian faced their brother Kaden, who plays for the Atlanta Falcons, on Nov. 2. This will be the first meeting between Christian and Jonah, and the sixth time Elliss brothers have played against each other. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a huge blessing for our family,\u201d Christian said. \u201cOne of us is going to the Super Bowl one way or the other. So we\u2019re very excited. For me, it\u2019s a little bit of smack talking … and we\u2019ll have a little side bet, and the loser will be reminded forever.\u201d<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
AP Sports Writer Kyle Hightower contributed from Foxborough, Massachusetts. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"DENVER \u2014 If any opponent is familiar with Denver Broncos fill-in quarterback Jarrett Stidham, it’s the New England…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":697435,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2062],"tags":[232,231,258,2426,7,249,6,2309],"class_list":{"0":"post-697434","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-denver-broncos","8":"tag-broncos","9":"tag-denver","10":"tag-denver-broncos","11":"tag-denverbroncos","12":"tag-football","13":"tag-new-england-patriots","14":"tag-nfl","15":"tag-wires-bot"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115941241135122026","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697434","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=697434"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/697434\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/697435"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=697434"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=697434"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=697434"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}