The Patriots have an MVP candidate in quarterback Drake Maye and his rise in his second NFL season has been a dominant storyline of the team’s run to the AFC title game.
Sunday’s win over the Texans offered a reminder that Maye has had plenty of company in getting the team to this point. The Patriots defense forced five turnovers while sacking C.J. Stroud three times and holding Houston to 48 rushing yards in a 28-16 win that featured three Maye turnovers.
After the game, defensive tackle Milton Williams said he feels that people have not paid enough attention to the team’s defensive performance.
“It definitely fueled the whole defense. Nobody has been talking about our defense all year. We’ll see what they say today,” Williams said, via Mike Reiss of ESPN.com. “Every week, we’re trying to come out and dominate, knowing that they do have a great defense, but in our minds, it was our defense versus their defense. See who could make more plays, create more turnovers, stop the run and get the ball back to our offense.”
With Jarrett Stidham set to start at quarterback for the Broncos in the AFC title game, there will be plenty of focus on the Patriots defense’s opportunity to propel the team into the Super Bowl by stifling Denver’s offensive hopes on January 25.
The Broncos won’t have quarterback Bo Nix next weekend or, if they beat the Patriots in the AFC Championship, the Super Bowl.
Although they seem to be fully content to ride with Jarrett Stidham, who has four career starts, many have asked about various potential free-agent options.
The key is that the player has to be a true free agent, right now. Any player who finished his season with an expiring contract remains under contract until the first day of the league year, in March. That prevents the Broncos from pursuing someone like Aaron Rodgers or Philip Rivers.
If, of course, the Colts had released Rivers after Week 17 (he was the emergency third-string quarterback for a meaningless Week 18 game against the Texans), he would have been available — if he had cleared waivers. Any quarterback that finished his team’s season on the roster is not available.
Also not available is any quarterback on his team’s reserve/retired list, like Saints quarterback Derek Carr. And Tom Brady isn’t an option, because he owns a piece of the Raiders.
That leaves a small universe of true free agents. Taylor Heinicke is one of them. Ryan Tannehill, who last played during the 2023 season, also is available. Others who could be signed immediately include Nick Foles and Robert Griffin III. Ditto for Cam Newton, who wasn’t pleased when the Colts signed Rivers in December without calling Newton.
Then there’s Drew Brees. Like Rivers (before he unretired to rejoin the Colts), Brees last played in 2020. Unlike Rivers, Brees spent more than a decade with Broncos coach Sean Payton.
Still, Stidham has been on the Denver roster since Payton arrived in 2023. Stidham knows the offense. He’s ready to go.
That said, who would have dreamed that the Colts would sign Rivers? Brees is in play, if he’s ready and willing to play — and if the Broncos are willing to pivot to the imminent Hall of Famer, who’d reset the clock on his five-year waiting period if he would return to play.
The Patriots will be road favorites in Denver in next weekend’s AFC Championship Game.
The point spread has been released, and the Patriots are 4.5-point favorites at the Broncos.
That’s a reflection of the injury suffered by Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix, who has been ruled out for the playoffs and will be replaced by Jarrett Stidham. Prior to this weekend’s action, when it was assumed that Nix would start if the Broncos reached the AFC Championship Game, the Broncos were one-point favorites over the Patriots in the look-ahead line.
The over-under is set at 41.5 points.
A day after losing Bo Nix for the rest of the playoffs, the Broncos are bringing in another quarterback.
Ben DiNucci is signing with the Broncos’ practice squad, according to multiple reports.
DiNucci makes sense as an immediate addition because he can get up to speed quickly, having previously spent a year with the Broncos in 2023. DiNucci knows what Sean Payton expects of his quarterbacks, and Payton knows what he can expect of DiNucci.
Jarrett Stidham will start for the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game with Nix out. Sam Ehlinger will back Stidham up, and DiNucci is now No. 3.
Broncos coach Sean Payton stunned the football-following world on Saturday night, when he announced during his post-game press conference that quarterback Bo Nix had suffered a broken ankle during the playoff win over the Bills.
On Sunday, Payton was asked why he disclosed the injury affirmatively, days before the first injury report is due..
“I wasn’t trying to send you guys cakes or flowers,” Payton told reporters on Sunday. “Here’s what I thought. I would’ve liked to talk to the team first, but like half of the locker room had left. There’s no way that story survives until Monday when I talk to the team. I don’t want the team to hear it from you all first or any national media first because that story is going to break in 24 hours. If we were meeting this morning at 9 a.m., I wouldn’t have come back to see you. I would’ve addressed it after the team meeting. We just discussed it, and I said, ‘Well, why don’t I just go in and tell everyone what happened?’ That seems to me like the smartest and easiest thing to do, and just be straightforward with it. At least then the players are going to hear that from me on the podium and not some national insider that gets it from an agent or that gets it from a doctor.”
That’s what would have happened. It would have gotten out, and the players wouldn’t have heard it in a way that traces back to Payton. So Payton said it himself, prompting shock and surprise — and disbelief — from those who saw it.
