Patriots vs. Broncos: Betting line shifts as Jarrett Stidham replaces injured Bo Nix<\/a><\/p>\nPatriots player to watch
\nDrake Maye<\/p>\n
Drake Maye continues to elevate his postseason profile. The MVP finalist threw three touchdown passes in New England’s divisional-round win over the Houston Texans, marking the 13th time in franchise history a Patriots quarterback has thrown at least three TDs in a playoff game. It was also the most by a New England QB since Tom Brady’s three-touchdown performance in Super Bowl LII against Philadelphia.<\/p>\n
Maye’s poise and playmaking have fueled the Patriots’ deep postseason run, placing him firmly at the center of the AFC Championship spotlight.<\/p>\n
Broncos player to watch
\nJarrett Stidham<\/p>\n
With Bo Nix sidelined, all eyes turn to Jarrett Stidham. Denver’s backup quarterback has not attempted a pass in two full seasons, and his only snap in 2025 came on a kneel-down to close out a blowout win over the Dallas Cowboys.<\/p>\n
Stidham has appeared in 20 NFL games with four starts across six seasons. Notably, the Patriots explored signing him last spring before he re-signed with Denver on a two-year, $12 million deal, making this matchup particularly intriguing given his near-return to Foxborough.<\/p>\n
Key matchup
\nDrake Maye vs. the Broncos defense<\/p>\n
This game may hinge on Maye’s ability to withstand pressure from Denver’s relentless defense. The Broncos led the NFL with a franchise-record 68 sacks during the regular season and sacked Josh Allen three times in the divisional round. They also forced four turnovers, snapping Allen’s streak of six straight playoff games without a giveaway.<\/p>\n
Maye enters the AFC Championship having been sacked 10 times, throwing two interceptions, and fumbling six times, losing three of them. Protecting the football against one of the league’s most aggressive pass rushes will be critical.<\/p>\n
Key injuries
\nPatriots<\/p>\n
LB Harold Landry III (knee) — out<\/p>\n
CB Carlton Davis III (concussion) — questionable<\/p>\n
LB Marte Mapu (hip) — questionable<\/p>\n
WR Mack Hollins (abdomen) — activated from IR after missing time since Dec. 27. Hollins played the first 15 games, totaling 46 catches, 550 yards, and two TDs.<\/p>\n
Broncos<\/p>\n
RB J.K. Dobbins (foot) — out<\/p>\n
WR Troy Franklin (hamstring) — practiced<\/p>\n
WR Pat Bryant (concussion) — practiced<\/p>\n
C Luke Wattenberg — activated from IR (shoulder)<\/p>\n
QB Bo Nix — placed on IR following ankle surgery<\/p>\n
WRs Michael Bandy and Elijah Moore — promoted from practice squad<\/p>\n
Series notes<\/p>\n
Denver holds a 4-1 advantage over New England in playoff meetings<\/p>\n
All four Broncos playoff wins came at home<\/p>\n
The most recent matchups were AFC Championship Games in 2013 and 2015, both won by Denver<\/p>\n
The 2015 AFC title game marked the final postseason meeting between Peyton Manning and Tom Brady<\/p>\n
Stats and storylines<\/p>\n
This is the Patriots’ 13th AFC Championship appearance in the last 25 seasons<\/p>\n
New England and the 1989 San Francisco 49ers are the only teams to go undefeated on the road with a new head coach<\/p>\n
Mike Vrabel is attempting to become the eighth coach in NFL history to reach the Super Bowl in his first season with a team<\/p>\n
Maye has completed 3 of 10 deep passes (20+ yards) this postseason<\/p>\n
Denver allowed zero completions and intercepted Josh Allen twice on nine deep attempts last week<\/p>\n
With a win, Maye would become the first QB ever to defeat three top-five defenses in a single postseason<\/p>\n
Maye has been strip-sacked 11 times this season, including the playoffs<\/p>\n
WR Stefon Diggs needs 35 yards to reach 1,000 postseason receiving yards, a mark only Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski have reached among Patriots players<\/p>\n
Broncos OLB Nik Bonitto forced two fumbles last week, joining Von Miller and Tom Jackson in team playoff history<\/p>\n
Denver is 18-5 all-time in home playoff games<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drake Maye durante una campa\u00f1a de aut\u00e9ntico MVP visita a los Denver Broncos en busca de un lugar…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":704928,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[2050],"tags":[7794,7116,102548,83566,102547,7,1167,249,34998,2326,2094,6,7114,73505,208],"class_list":{"0":"post-704927","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-england-patriots","8":"tag-afc-east-english","9":"tag-afc-west-english","10":"tag-afc-championship-game-english","11":"tag-denver-broncos-english","12":"tag-drake-maye-english","13":"tag-football","14":"tag-new-england","15":"tag-new-england-patriots","16":"tag-new-england-patriots-english","17":"tag-newengland","18":"tag-newenglandpatriots","19":"tag-nfl","20":"tag-nfl-english","21":"tag-nfl-playoffs-english","22":"tag-patriots"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/115958144859437348","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704927","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=704927"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/704927\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/704928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=704927"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=704927"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=704927"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}