The last time that wide receiver Stefon Diggs played in a conference title game, he stayed on the field in his Bills uniform to watch the Chiefs celebrate in January 2021.
Diggs got to do the celebrating this time. He had five catches for 17 yards in Sunday’s 10-7 win over the Broncos, so it wasn’t the biggest individual day for the wideout but it was still an emotional one after he came back from the torn ACL he suffered while playing for the Texans last season.
“They was calling me washed,” Diggs said in an on-field interview with Cameron Wolfe of NFL Media. “Saying I didn’t have it anymore. I just wanted to prove to myself I am who I say I am. This team took a chance on me. I just wanted to make them proud. I’m thankful.”
Diggs also lost in the conference title game after getting Vikings there with the Minneapolis Miracle against the Saints in January 2018, but he’s never played in a Super Bowl. That will change in a couple of weeks when Diggs gets another chance to pay the Patriots back for rolling the dice on his recovery.
One of the most consequential plays of the AFC Championship Game came on a fourth-and-1 from the New England 14-yard line in the second quarter.
The Broncos were leading 7-0 at the time, but head coach Sean Payton passed on a field goal in order to have backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham throw a pass in an attempt to convert a first down and try for a touchdown. Stidham was pressured and wound up nearly getting his pass intercepted to cap a drive that would move the Broncos closer to the end zone than they would get at any other point in the afternoon.
“I just felt like we had the momentum to get up 14,” Payton said in his postgame press conference. “I felt like we had a good call. . . . I think the feeling was, let’s be aggressive. I was just watching the way our defense was playing.”
The Broncos defense was playing well and it continued to play well once the game became a snowy and windy affair over the final 20 minutes or so. Payton referenced the conditions in his press conference by saying “you don’t know how a game’s gonna unfold” and how valuable three points would turn out to be, although it’s hard to imagine any coach not appreciating a two-score lead in the first half with a backup running the offense.
Denver had other opportunities over the course of the afternoon, but two longer field goal tries were no good and Stidham had the only two turnovers of a game that the Broncos entered with a very slim margin for error. That proved to be too much to overcome and they’ll have to wait a long time before they’ll have a chance to get back on the field.
The AFC Championship Game turned into a snow globe for the final quarter, but the change in conditions wasn’t enough to shake the Patriots out of the lead.
A long Patriots drive to open the second half ended with a field goal that put them up 10-7 and the Broncos weren’t able to get any more points on the board the rest of the way. Their best chance came on a 46-yard field goal try in the fourth quarter, but Patriots defensive lineman Leonard Taylor deflected Wil Lutz’s kick and the Broncos remained behind.
They forced another New England punt and got the ball back with just over three minutes to play, but quarterback Jarrett Stidham was picked off by cornerback Christian Gonzalez. The Patriots faced a third-and-5 after the Broncos used their final timeout just after the two-minute warning and they turned to their MVP to pick up a first down that would allow them to run out the clock.
Quarterback Drake Maye kept the ball and ran around the left side of the line for a seven-yard run. The Patriots took a knee from there and they will move onto Levi’s Stadium for Super Bowl LX in two weeks.
Maye’s running was a huge factor throughout the game. He ran six yards for a touchdown after a Stidham fumble in the second quarter and had a 28-yard run to set up Andy Borregales’s field goal in the third quarter. Maye ran for 65 yards and Rhamondre Stevenson had 71 as the Patriots were content to grind things out once the snow and wind kicked up in the final stages.
Stidham finished 17-of-31 for 133 yards, a touchdown and an interception in his first start since the final week of the 2023 season. That was also the last time that he threw a pass and his lack of comfort showed on his fumble, which was a backward pass thrown after a long attempt to evade the New England pass rush. Broncos receivers also failed to hold onto a few catchable balls and head coach Sean Payton made a decision that’s sure to get plenty of coverage in the postgame analysis.
Facing a fourth-and-1 from the Patriots’ 14-yard line while up 7-0 in the second quarter, Payton passed on a field goal to go up two scores and Stidham threw an incompletion on a play that the Patriots blew up from the snap. It was easy to second guess the call at the time and became even easier as the weather became another factor working against the Broncos as the game went on.
Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel made a similar call in the third quarter and officials ruled that Maye was pushed across the line for a first down on a sneak. Replays were inconclusive, but the call on the field stood and the Broncos lost a timeout for their unsuccessful challenge. It was a worthwhile risk given the stakes — the Patriots scored the only points of the second half a few plays later — but the timeout would have come in handy down the stretch.
The Broncos will be left to wonder what might have been had things gone differently on those plays or if Bo Nix were healthy enough to play. The Patriots will be focused on what they need to do to win the seventh Super Bowl in franchise history.
The Patriots have their first lead of the AFC Championship Game.
Andy Borregales hit a 23-yard field goal to put the Patriots up 10-7 at the end of a long drive to open the third quarter. The Patriots held the ball for 9:31 before Borregales made his kick.
The field goal came a few plays after officials ruled that Patriots quarterback Drake Maye successfully sneaked for a yard on fourth-and-1 from the Denver 8-yard line. Broncos head coach Sean Payton challenged the spot and his argument appeared to have merit, but not the clear and obvious video evidence that his forward progress had been stopped short of the first down.
Maye had a clearer first down earlier in the drive when he scrambled for a 28-yard gain on a third down to move the Patriots into scoring range. Maye now has four carries for 51 yards, but wasn’t able to avoid a sack by Jonathon Cooper on the third down before the field goal.
The Broncos defense controlled the first 30 minutes of play against the Patriots, but the team doesn’t have a lead to show for it.
Denver took over near midfield after forcing the fifth Patriots punt of the first half with under a minute to play in the second quarter and picked up 17 yards on a pair of Jarrett Stidham passes to set up a 54-yard Wil Lutz field goal attempt. Lutz missed the kick wide to the right, however, and there was enough time left for the Patriots to position themselves for a 63-yard field goal attempt with one second left before halftime.
Andy Borregales’s kick didn’t come close and the score remains 7-7 at the break as a result.
New England punted on their first four possessions, but the fifth started on the Denver 12-yard line and the Patriots turned the short field into their only points of the game. Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham fumbled while trying to throw a ball away and Patriots quarterback Drake Maye ran for a six-yard score two plays later.
Stidham’s fumble came one possession after the Broncos faced a fourth-and-1 on the Patriots’ 14-yard line. Broncos head coach Sean Payton passed on the chance to go up two scores and Stidham was pressured into an incompletion that ended the drive without points of any kind.
The Patriots will get the ball to start the second half. After picking up 72 yards and four first downs in the first half, they’ll need to come up with a better plan of attack to take the lead on the road.
