Running back J.K. Dobbins returned to practice for the Broncos this week, but he won’t be playing against the Patriots in the AFC Championship Game.
The Broncos ruled Dobbins out on Friday. Dobbins has been on injured reserve due to a foot injury since November.
Wide receiver Pat Bryant (concussion) will be playing this weekend. He has no injury designation on the team’s final injury report.
Center Alex Forsyth (ankle), wide receiver Troy Franklin (hamstring), safety JL Skinner (quad), and center Luke Wattenberg (shoulder) are listed as questionable. Tight end Lucas Krull (foot), linebacker Drew Sanders (ankle), and quarterback Bo Nix (ankle) have been ruled out.
Thirty-six hours ago, the Broncos were 5.5-point underdogs in the AFC Championship Game, an unprecedented spread for the home team in a conference title game. But as the game approaches, bettors are backing the Broncos.
The point spread has shifted to the point that multiple sports books now have the Patriots favored by only 3.5 points. That’s a significant shift late in the week.
The betting line may be particularly volatile for this game because no one knows what to expect from Broncos backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who will start in place of the injured Bo Nix. After Nix was injured at the end of the Broncos’ divisional round win, opinions have been all over the map about whether Stidham is prepared to step in for Denver. Stidham hasn’t thrown a pass in an NFL game in two years, so it’s impossible to say how he’s going to look when he gets the opportunity. The Broncos were expected to be one-point favorites if Nix had been healthy.
The Broncos are the first home team to be an underdog in a conference championship game since January of 2018, when the Eagles, led by backup quarterback Nick Foles, were two-point underdogs against the Vikings. The Eagles won, 38-7, and then won the Super Bowl two weeks later.
The annual spinning of the coaching carousel during the NFL postseason creates real distractions for assistant coaches on playoff teams who are in line for promotions. At a time when every waking moment should be devoted to preparing for the next game, precious hours, minutes, and seconds are siphoned away.
A conflict arises. Finishing the current job versus trying to get the next one. The bigger one. The life-altering one.
Then there’s the reality that success in the current position will delay, if not derail, other opportunities.
Consider the candidates who are coaching this weekend: Broncos defensive coordinator Vance Joseph, Broncos quarterback coach/passing game coordinator Davis Webb, Rams defensive coordinator Chris Shula, Rams offensive coordinator Mike LaFleur, Rams passing game coordinator Nate Scheelhaase, Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak, and Seahawks defensive coordinator Aden Durde. None has been available to be hired, as five of 10 openings have been filled.
Sometimes, a team will wait through the Super Bowl to make its hire. (And, on at least one occasion, an unofficial deal fell apart.) If it’s close between a candidate who can be hired now and a candidate who may not be available for 17 more days, how can that not be a factor?
Consider Vance Joseph. Unlike the others listed above, he has head-coaching experience. And he has done an excellent job with the Denver defense, finishing second in the NFL in yards allowed (only only yard per game behind the Texans) and third in points per game for the top-seeded Broncos.
This week alone, three defensive coordinators were hired — Robert Saleh with the Titans, Jeff Hafley with the Dolphins, Jesse Minter with the Ravens. It’s unknown whether Joseph may have gotten any of those jobs, if the Broncos had lost last weekend to the Bills. It is known that no one can hire him until the Denver season ends.
There’s no simple solution, unless the league is willing to pause the interview and hiring process until after the Super Bowl. And while that may be the best outcome, the clock starts ticking loudly on the offseason, by the time the confetti falls. The Scouting Combine, free agency, the draft. Teams need time to get coaches in place, and coaches need time to get staffs hired.
Still, the current approach is flawed, in multiple ways. Coaches and their teams pay for success, by having the candidates’ time and attention diluted. And the coaches who are in line to get hired potentially lose, with every playoff win.
The Patriots will not have their regular season leader in sacks in the lineup as they try to advance to the Super Bowl.
Head coach Mike Vrabel said at a Friday press conference that edge rusher Harold Landry has been ruled out of Sunday’s game in Denver because of a knee injury. Landry was out of practice this week.
Vrabel also said that three players have been listed as questionable to face the Broncos. Wide receiver Mack Hollins (abdomen), cornerback Carlton Davis III (concussion protocol), and linebacker Marte Mapu (hip) make up that group.
Hollins remains on injured reserve and the Patriots will have to make a roster move by Saturday afternoon in order to have him available this weekend.
As the Broncos prepare to play the Patriots on Sunday, quarterback Jarrett Stidham is getting set to make his first start — and throw his first in-game passes — since 2023.
Denver offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi told reporters on Thursday that Stidham should be ready for the moment given the way he’s prepared for it.
“I thought if you watched training camp, if you watched certainly the preseason games, he was outstanding. He had one of the better training camps of any quarterback,” Lombardi said, via transcript from the team. “If you’re watching it, I’m not sure he had a bad day. Just seeing him perform very well, and you wish you had a couple of warm-up games that he wasn’t coming off of running the practice squad, but he’s a vet, he’s a professional and he’s right.
“The way he does prepare, which is hard to do for 18 straight weeks, 18 straight games when you’re the backup, but when he’s running plays, calling our plays in a walkthrough period, every week there’s never hesitation. He knows it cold, so no concerns there. I’m excited to watch him play.”
How Stidham plays will be one of the biggest sources of intrigue on Sunday as the Broncos and Patriots match up for the right to represent the AFC in Super Bowl LX.
