The Denver Broncos had a great start to the AFC Championship but it quickly went awry for several reasons and the New England Patriots punched their ticket to Super Bowl 60.
A game that couldn’t have started better for quarterback Jarrett Stidham and the Denver Broncos finished as a total nightmare.
The New England Patriots defeated the Broncos 10-7 to win the American Football Conference Championship and will take on the Seattle Seahawks in the Super Bowl.
After both teams went three-and-out, the Broncos threw the first successful punch, with Sitdham throwing a beautiful 52-yard pass to receiver Marvin Mims Jr. That pass set up a six-yard touchdown pass to receiver Courtland Sutton, which ended up being the only points Denver scored.
What went wrong over the final 55 minutes? Well, Stidham not playing well after the scripted plays were completed during the first couple of drives certainly didn’t help. The offense couldn’t get much going against the tough Patriots defense after the second drive and their best chance to score more points ended in a turnover on downs deep in New England territory.
Had Coach Sean Payton not agreed with the analytics to go for it and instead taken the field goal, the Broncos likely would have gone up 10-0 during the second quarter. Considering how well the Broncos’ defense was playing and played throughout the whole game, they should have won this game.
Patriots quarterback Drake Maye threw for just 86 yards on the day and didn’t play a great game by any means. The biggest turning point in the game, besides the weather in the second half, was Stidham’s turnover in Denver territory near the end of the first half.
Stidham didn’t face pressure well at all and retreated 10+ yards and tried shoveling a pass on third-and-4 that went behind him for a fumble. This set up the Patriots for a six-yard touchdown run from Maye to tie the game.
Another thing that went wrong for both teams was kicking, but it affected Wil Lutz and the Broncos more than Andy Borregales and the Patriots. Borregales kicked a 23-yard field goal to end a lengthy opening drive in the second half, which proved to be the difference in the game, but both kickers combined to hit just one of five field goals. Lutz missed both of his field goal opportunities.
Heavy snow was a huge deciding factor in the second half of the game and it definitely impacted both teams. During the second play of Denver’s final drive with just over three minutes to go in the fourth quarter, Stidham tried to throw a deep ball to Mims yet again but this time was intercepted by star cornerback Christian Gonzalez.
The Broncos failed to stop Maye on a third-and-6 rush and watched the Patriots celebrate on their own field. If the Broncos’ starting QB Bo Nix played this game, the outcome probably would’ve been different. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, that’s a painful if to consider.