The New England Patriots are back in familiar territory - the AFC Championship Game - after dispatching the Houston Texans on Sunday. But their path to the Super Bowl won’t be a cakewalk, especially with a resilient Denver Broncos squad standing in their way.
Denver, fresh off a gutsy win over the Buffalo Bills, will be without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who suffered a broken ankle that will sideline him for the remainder of the postseason. That’s a brutal blow for a team that had been riding Nix’s steady hand and poise all season. But even without their rookie QB, the Broncos are still very much alive - and that’s where things start to get interesting.
Enter Jarrett Stidham.
The 27-year-old quarterback is suddenly at the center of Denver’s playoff hopes. While Stidham’s résumé doesn’t exactly scream “postseason hero” - just over 1,400 career passing yards and eight touchdowns to his name - he does have one intriguing wrinkle going for him: he used to wear a Patriots uniform.
Stidham spent two seasons in New England, learning under Bill Belichick and backing up Cam Newton and Mac Jones. He never truly got his shot in Foxborough, but now he’ll get a chance to show what he’s made of - against his former team, no less, with a trip to the Super Bowl on the line.
And just in case Patriots fans were feeling too confident, Nick Foles chimed in with a timely reminder.
The former Super Bowl MVP - and the man who famously torched New England in Super Bowl LII - took to social media to offer some words of encouragement for the Broncos and their fans in the wake of Nix’s injury.
“I know it has been an emotional 24 hours,” Foles said. “I feel for Bo and the team, and I'm sending prayers for a strong recovery. A positive note going into the game versus the Patriots is that they struggle against backup QBs in championship-type games.”
Foles, of course, is speaking from experience. Back in 2018, he stepped in for an injured Carson Wentz and went on a magical playoff run that ended with a 373-yard, three-touchdown performance in the Eagles’ Super Bowl win over the Patriots. That game gave us the now-iconic “Philly Special” and handed New England one of the most memorable losses in the Belichick-Brady era.
But let’s pump the brakes before drawing too many parallels.
Foles, even as a backup, was a seasoned veteran with a Pro Bowl nod on his résumé. He’d been a starter in the league, he’d seen playoff action, and he had the kind of calm under pressure that’s tough to teach.
Stidham, by contrast, is still a relative unknown. He’s never started a playoff game, and while he’s flashed potential in limited action, he’s never been asked to carry a team on this kind of stage.
That said, this is the NFL - and if there’s one thing we’ve learned, it’s to expect the unexpected. Championship games have a way of turning unlikely players into postseason legends. And with the Patriots now preparing for a quarterback they didn’t expect to face, the chess match just got a little more complicated.
For New England, the challenge is clear: don’t overlook the backup. Because if history tells us anything, it’s that underestimating the guy under center - especially in January - can come back to haunt you.