Playing with a backup quarterback in the snow, the top-seeded Denver Broncos had a hard time finding the end zone on Sunday, and lost 10-7 to the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship Game. Jarrett Stidham had an early touchdown pass, but then failed to score on 10 straight drives.
DENVER, Colo. — The Denver Broncos spent four months working hard to be the No. 1 seed in the AFC playoffs, and for good reason. They went 14-3, easily won the AFC West and got the perk of a first-round bye that came along with the top seed.
They also got to host Sunday's AFC Championship Game against the No. 2 seeded New England Patriots, and they had their loud and raucous fans roaring behind them.
What they didn't have was their starting quarterback, Bo Nix, who broke his ankle in the final moments of their divisional win against the Buffalo Bills a week earlier. Journeyman Jarrett Stidham got the start at quarterback instead, even though he hadn't thrown a pass in two years.
It all started so well. On Denver's second possession, Stidham hit Marvin Mims Jr. on a 52-yard bomb and then found Courtland Sutton in the end zone to take a 7-0 lead.
But then that was it. The Broncos never scored again, failing on 10 straight possessions. And when the snow started falling in the second half, Stidham and the Denver offense had no chance. New England won 10-7, advancing to the Super Bowl.
And the top-seeded Broncos are headed for home, driving through the snow flakes.
Here's the game story from Broncos Roundtable writer Bob McCullough.
The game swung on a bad turnover by Stidham late in the second quarter. He threw out to the flat, but running back Tyler Badie couldn't corral it. It was ruled a backward pass and New England recovered. They ran it into the end zone, but the play had been stopped by an early whistle. Two plays later, Drake Maye ran it in from 6 yards out and the game was tied.
“Obviously, I can’t put our team in a bad position like that,” Stidham said. “I was trying to throw it away to (Badie). He was in the area, and, yeah, the pressure, (Elliss) just got up on me real fast, and I was just trying to get rid of it.
"That was completely on me. I thought I had thrown it forward, and then obviously the replay, or whatever, said differently. So yeah, like I said, just, probably should have just eaten the sack anyway, and let Jeremy Crawshaw and the punt team punt it down the field and flip the field.”
The other huge play in the game was earlier in the quarter. Despite a 7-0 lead, Denver coach Sean Payton made an odd decision with a fourth-and-1 and the New England 14-yard line. Instead of kicking a field goal and going up two scores, they went for it but Stidham's pass was incomplete.
It was an odd call by Payton, especially playing with a backup QB and bad weather on the way. Granted, hindsight is 20/20, but playing with a 10-point lead might have stressed out the Patriots offense a bit more.
"I just felt like, man, we had momentum, to get up 14 [points], felt like we had a good call,'' Payton said. "I think the feeling was, man, let's be aggressive. You know, to get up 14, I was just watching the way our defense was playing.
"There's always regrets. I felt like here we are fourth-and-1, close enough and it's also a call you make based on the team you're playing and what you're watching on the other side of the ball. So, yeah, there'll always be second thoughts.''
New England will play the Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl XL on Feb. 8.