The first five offensive snaps of the game for the Broncos were unimpressive, but No. 6 made up for it.
Quarterback Jarrett Stidham launched a ball downfield for wide receiver Marvin Mims and Mims reeled it in for a 52-yard gain. Stidham hit wide receiver Courtland Sutton two plays later for a six-yard touchdown and an early lead over the Patriots.
The extra point made it 7-0 with 10:19 off the clock.
The Broncos picked up one yard while going three-and-out to open the game and Stidham threw incompletions on the first two plays of the second drive. The Patriots weren’t any better as they punted after three plays, but we’ll find out if the second try works as well as it did for the home team.
The Broncos and Patriots have released their inactive lists for Sunday afternoon’s AFC Championship Game.
Wide receiver Troy Franklin is on Denver’s list. Franklin, who was listed as questionable with a hamstring injury, had 65 catches for 709 yards and six touchdowns in the regular season.
Center Alex Forsyth (ankle) is also out after being listed as questionable. Forsyth started the last three games for the Broncos, but they activated Luke Wattenberg from injured reserve this week.
Safety JL Skinner, linebacker Karene Reid, wide receiver Michael Bandy, defensive lineman Jordan Jackson, and defensive end Sai’vion Jones are also inactive for Denver.
Patriots linebacker Marte Mapu is active after being listed as questionable with a hip injury. Edge rusher Harold Landry was ruled out on Friday and is inactive along with cornerback Kobee Minor, tackle Marcus Bryant, guard Caedan Wallace, tight end C.J. Dippre, wide receiver Efton Chism, and quarterback Tommy DeVito.
The Bills are casting a wide net when it comes to searching for their next head coach. But not wide enough to encompass the man who won six Super Bowls with a division rival.
Per a source with knowledge of the situation, the Bills are not interested in Bill Belichick.
At one level, it’s surprising. If the Bills are going to interview someone like Philip Rivers for the job, why not kick the tires on the Tar Heels head coach? At a not-much-deeper level, Belichick has morphed from GOAT in a good way to goat in the usual sense.
He’s currently regarded as radioactive by most NFL teams looking for coaches. And he has only himself to blame, thanks to the bizarre distractions he created in North Carolina over the past year and his open hostility toward his long-time employer in New England. Any NFL owner who would be inclined to hire Belichick would have to assume that, eventually, some of that same venom will be directed to his next former team.
Before it even gets to that, the current employees of the football operation would have to worry about Belichick showing up and taking over, firing long-time employees and bringing in his own people (like Lombo). That’s what apparently derailed Belichick’s candidacy with the Falcons in 2024, after he was fired by the Patriots.
And so here we are. Three full hiring cycles. One interview for Bill Belichick. And no indication that he’ll ever have another chance to chase Don Shula — or to fend off Andy Reid — on the all-time wins list.
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.
