AFC Conference Championship Preview
The Denver Broncos may have defeated the Buffalo Bills, but it came at the great cost of Bo Nix being out for the rest of the season. Now the Broncos have to face a New England Patriots team whose defense smacked around the Texans in the divisional round.
But how does the matchup stack up, and can Jarrett Stidham take reigns of the likes of Nick Foles and other backup quarterbacks who saved seasons after the starter went down?
New England Patriots
Firstly though, let’s start with the Patriots. Drake Maye has had an excellent year throwing for 4,394 passing yards and 31 touchdowns with just eight interceptions. Against the Texans, he threw just one interception while having 179 passing yards. His favorite target was Kayshon Boutte, who had three receptions for 75 yards and a touchdown. His other target was Stefon Diggs, who had four receptions for 40 yards and a touchdown. The Texans also struggled to stop Rhamondre Stevenson, who had 70 rushing yards.
The Broncos defense struggled to contain James Cook III against the Bills, but they were able to force Josh Allen to have some turnovers with two interceptions and two lost fumbles. If the Broncos want to have a shot, they are going to have to contain Stevenson and get pressure on Maye. This Broncos team is certainly capable of doing that, but time will tell if the Broncos offense being weaker will mean that the defense gets worn down enough that they can’t keep up with the Patriots. One weakside for the Patriots is that Maye was sacked five times by the Texans, so there are some gaps in the Patriots o-line that the Broncos could exploit.
The Patriots defense was able to force four interceptions against the Texans. Which, it will be hard to tell whether the Broncos are in trouble in this area since Nix is not playing and Stidham has not thrown a pass this season, or last season. The last time Stidham had some playing time was in 2023 for the Broncos. He finished the year with 496 passing yards, two touchdowns, and one interception. It’s hard to tell how ready Stidham is, but there is certainly pressure and the Patriots defense has momentum after causing C.J. Stroud to make many mistakes in the divisional round contest.
Denver Broncos
Onto the Broncos. The obvious glaring hole is the absence of Nix, but there are other issues that paint to the Broncos having a tough time in this game.
One of those issues is the lack of a running game against the Bills. In fact, Nix had the most rushing yards with 29. Jaleel McLaughlin and RJ Harvey only had a combined total of 10 carries. Without Nix, it seems likely that the run game will have to be more involved which is probably right where the Patriots want it since they shut down the Texans run game which is not a bad run game by any measure. They kept Woody Marks and Nick Chubb to just 31 rushing yards together. It’ll also be interesting to see who Stidham leans on for the passing game. Nix connected with Marvin Mims Jr., Courtland Sutton, and RJ Harvey the most. Odds are, Stidham will do the same as both Mims and Sutton tore up the Bills defense and Harvey is an excellent target out of the backfield.
As I said before, the Broncos defense was able to make Allen have some mistakes throughout the divisional round game, but they struggled against Cook. There will be tons of pressure on this defense as the Patriots defense will be aggressive against Stidham. If the Broncos offense struggles, the game will largely depend on the whether the Broncos defense can force turnovers like they did against Allen to give good field position for Stidham.
Either way, the Broncos are at a disadvantage, but crazy things happen in the NFL and Stidham could still pull out an incredible game. Nick Foles comes to mind in recent memory.
Prediction: I still take the Patriots but I won’t completely count out the Broncos.
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