The biggest storyline for the AFC Championship Game is Jarrett Stidham.\u00a0The Denver Broncos backup quarterback is thrust into action against the New England Patriots due to QB1 Bo Nix suffering an ankle injury.<\/p>\n
Stidham is the great unknown this Sunday, but my Patriots vs. Broncos predictions and NFL picks<\/a> believe it’s business as usual for this Denver passing game.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos prediction<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos Best bet: Jarrett Stidham Over 19.5 completions (-118)<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham<\/a> steps in to run a conservative passing playbook.<\/p>\n The Denver Broncos<\/a> didn\u2019t push the ball beyond the sticks often with Nix, ranking low in air yards, depth of target, and yards per attempt. Simplicity makes it easy to \u201cplug and play\u201d a backup without much drop-off.<\/p>\n The New England Patriots<\/a> will sell out to stop the run and force things onto Stidham\u2019s shoulders.\u00a0Denver’s offense will be pass-heavy while playing from behind.<\/p>\n There are positive injury updates for the Broncos wideouts and centers, and player projections sit as high as 22 completions for Stidham.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos same-game parlay<\/p>\n The Broncos will be forced to pass more, and Stidham\u2019s projections sit north of 200 yards.<\/p>\n Rhamondre\u00a0Stevenson<\/a> is leading the charge for the Patriots\u2019 postseason offense, with projections north of 50 rushing yards.<\/p>\n Drake Maye<\/a> faces one of the stingiest red-zone defenses in Denver, and will sprint for the goal line when plays break down.<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos SGP<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham Over 196.5 passing yards<\/p>\n Rhamondre Stevenson Over 49.5 rushing yards<\/p>\n Drake Maye anytime touchdown<\/p>\n Our big-ticket SGP: \u201cStid-erella Man\u201d<\/p>\n Stidham isn\u2019t afraid to throw it and could have a \u201cmore confident\u201d arm than Bo Nix.\u00a0The Pats plug up the run, leaving Stidham to throw against the 23rd-ranked red zone defense.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Stidham has sneaky wheels. He\u2019s no Nix but can escape when the Pats bring pressure.\u00a0A QB keeper or a broken play in the RZ could see Stidham scrambling for the end zone.<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos SGP<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham Over 196.5 passing yards<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham Over 0.5 passing touchdowns<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham Over 13.5 rushing yards<\/p>\n Jarrett Stidham anytime touchdown<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos odds<\/p>\n Spread: Patriots -4.5 | Broncos +4.5<\/p>\n Moneyline: Patriots -245 | Broncos +200<\/p>\n Over\/Under: Over 42.5 | Under 42.5<\/p>\n More NFL picks and odds from CoversPatriots vs Broncos trend to know<\/p>\n The Broncos are 27-18 ATS (60%) as home underdogs since 2010. Find more\u00a0NFL betting trends<\/a> for Patriots vs. Broncos.<\/p>\n How to watch Patriots vs Broncos<\/p>\n Location<\/p>\n Empower Field at Mile High, Denver, CO<\/p>\n Date<\/p>\n Sunday, January 25, 2026<\/p>\n Kickoff<\/p>\n 3:00 p.m. ET<\/p>\n TV<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n Patriots vs Broncos latest injuriesPatriots vs Broncos weather<\/p>\n Monitor gametime conditions with our live NFL weather info<\/a> and learn how weather impacts NFL betting<\/a>.<\/p>\n Advertisement<\/p>\n Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change. This article originally appeared on Covers.com<\/a>, read the full article here<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The biggest storyline for the AFC Championship Game is Jarrett Stidham.\u00a0The Denver Broncos backup quarterback is thrust into…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704172,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2050],"tags":[423,925,232,231,258,833,7,3872,1167,249,2326,2094,6,208,4120,6746],"class_list":{"0":"post-704171","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-afc-championship-game","9":"tag-bo-nix","10":"tag-broncos","11":"tag-denver","12":"tag-denver-broncos","13":"tag-drake-maye","14":"tag-football","15":"tag-jarrett-stidham","16":"tag-new-england","17":"tag-new-england-patriots","18":"tag-newengland","19":"tag-newenglandpatriots","20":"tag-nfl","21":"tag-patriots","22":"tag-rhamondre-stevenson","23":"tag-rushing-yards"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115956437796484277","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704171","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=704171"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704171\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704172"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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