Revenge is a dish best served cold. And Pete Carroll, who was fired by the Patriots after the 1999 season, managed to get a measure of vengeance that has complicated significantly New England’s path to its next Super Bowl appearance.
It happened in Week 1. The Raiders, who otherwise went 2-14, upset the Patriots in New England — just weeks after the Patriots unveiled a statue of one of the Raiders’ current owners.
In the moment, Week 1 wins and losses mean nothing. Sixteen games remain. But those outcomes from the opening weekend can echo into January. As the Las Vegas 20-13 win has done.
If (and it’s no small if) the rest of the season had played out the same way, the Patriots would be hosting the Broncos in the AFC Championship. And the Patriots wouldn’t be playing Denver, where they are 0-4 all time in the playoffs.
That said, the Patriots would have had to beat the Bills, not the Texans, last weekend; Buffalo won during the regular season at Gillette Stadium. And the Broncos would have had to beat the Chargers in the wild-card round and the Texans in the divisional round. Regardless, New England’s season-opening loss became the difference between securing the top seed and landing in the No. 2 spot.
And if the Patriots were hosting today’s game, it would have been played in a full-blown snowstorm.
The Patriots have experience when it comes to kooky Week 1 outcomes that complicate the playoff picture. In 2024, New England upended the Bengals in Cincinnati to start the season. The Patriots otherwise went 3-13. And the Bengals, who with five straight wins were one of the hottest teams in the league at the end of the regular season, missed the playoffs by one game. Flip the outcome against New England, and the Bengals would have qualified.
So remember that when September rolls around. Week 1 generally means nothing. Specifically, there’s a chance it will mean everything.
On Sunday, quarterback Jarrett Stidham will throw his first pass in a game that counts in more than two years. Whether Stidham can get it done for the Broncos against the Patriots with a spot in the Super Bowl on the line comes down to one word.
Confidence.
Stidham’s confidence in himself. And the confidence the coaching staff and teammates have in Stidham.
Former Colts and Panthers coach Frank Reich, who won two playoff games at quarterback for the Bills in January 1993 despite having no regular-season starts, explained this week on PFT Live that his ability to win those games (41-38 against the Oilers, overcoming a 35-3 second-half deficit, and 24-7 over the Steelers in Pittsburgh) flowed directly from the confidence he had in himself, and the confidence he sensed from those around him.
Coach Sean Payton signed Stidham only weeks after becoming the Broncos’ head coach, three years ago. Stidham has one more year on the team, and in the offense, than starter Bo Nix, who suffered a broken ankle eight days ago.
In his final two years with the Saints, quarterback Drew Brees missed nine games due to injury. In 2019, the Saints went 5-0 without Brees. In 2020, they won three of four without Brees. All victories came with the quarterbacks Payton acquired and coached to be ready to run the offense, if the starter was out.
Payton made it clear this week that he has full faith in Stidham.
“I told the team this,” Payton said. “I said, ‘I’m not worried about ‘Stiddy’ in this game. I’m worried about everyone else, alright, and how we play.’ That really is the truth.”
Payton also made it clear that the Patriots’ access to game film involving Stidham doesn’t matter.
“They’re going to defend the offense,” Payton said. “Maybe there are certain things, but you don’t go to this whole different playbook.”
That’s the right way to fill out a quarterback depth chart. You sign, draft, and/or trade for quarterbacks who can run the offense. Too many teams (and one is too many) have a backup quarterback whose skillset doesn’t match the starter’s. So when the backup has to play, the other 10 players have to adapt to a dramatic change in the approach — like the Broncos did 14 years ago, when Tim Tebow became the starter during the season.
It’s little things, too. Payton discussed this week the importance of emulating the starter’s cadence, and that Stidham proved during practice he can do that.
The key will be emulating Nix during the game. The more that Stidham can sound and move and play like Nix, the more seamless it will be for the other players to do their job as they have through 18 prior games in the 2025 season.
Broncos quarterback Bo Nix will be ready to go in about 12 weeks after the injury he suffered at the end of the divisional round playoff win over the Bills.
Nix had surgery last week on his broken right ankle and can return to activity in 12 weeks, according to ESPN.
That would put Nix on track to be ready when the offseason program starts, which is typically in late April.
Although Nix’s injury late in overtime didn’t look bad in the moment and Nix stayed in the game for the last couple plays, Broncos coach Sean Payton announced almost immediately after the win that Nix could not play in the AFC Championship Game or, if the Broncos make it, Super Bowl LX.
Nix previously suffered a season-ending broken ankle when he was in high school, and another season-ending broken ankle at Auburn in 2021. But reports indicate that the Broncos’ medical team thinks the repeated injuries are more a matter of bad luck than anything about Nix’s physiology that would suggest he’ll be susceptible to the same injury again.
Jarrett Stidham takes Nix’s place as the Broncos’ starting quarterback today.
Bo Nix’s season ended on a run for a 2-yard loss in overtime against the Bills. He stayed in the game for two more plays despite a fractured ankle.
Nix, though, will not play again this season.
The Broncos placed Nix on injured reserve on Saturday, making official the premature end of his season. Jarrett Stidham will start the AFC Championship Game on Sunday.
The Broncos used the roster spot to activate starting center Luke Wattenberg from injured reserve. He is expected to start against the Patriots.
Wattenberg went on injured reserve on Christmas Day with a shoulder injury and missed three games and the required four weeks. He had started the first 15 games, playing every snap, before his injury.
The Broncos also elevated receivers Elijah Moore and Michael Bandy from the practice squad for Sunday’s game. It is an indication that Troy Franklin, the team’s second-leading receiver, won’t play.
Franklin is listed as questionable with a hamstring injury.
The Patriots activated wide receiver Mack Hollins from injured reserve on Saturday, the team announced.
Hollins returned to practice on Thursday as a limited participant before being a full participant on Friday. He was listed as questionable but will return after missing the past four games with an abdominal injury.
The Patriots placed defensive tackle Eric Gregory on injured reserve in a corresponding move, ending Gregory’s season.
Running back Terrell Jennings (concussion protocol) and defensive tackle Joshua Farmer (hamstring) will remain on injured reserve. But the Patriots did elevate running back D’Ernest Johnson and defensive end Leonard Taylor III from the practice squad for Sunday’s game against the Broncos.
Hollins caught 46 passes for 550 yards and two touchdowns in the regular season and is a strong run blocker.
