Mile High Report
Well, that is how it ends.
Without Bo Nix and in a snowstorm, the Broncos fall just short of advancing to the Super Bowl. They started hot, but made too many costly mistakes throughout and couldn’t get anything going in the second half due to the snow.
It’s a disappointing end to a promising season for the Broncos, who faced long odds of advancing after losing Bo Nix last week. Backup Jarrett Stidham was thrown into the fire and had two costly turnovers, including a backwards pass that led to the Patriots’ only touchdown of the game. The run game couldn’t get anything going, and the Broncos’ pass catchers couldn’t catch the ball once again. On a positive note, the Broncos’ defense dominated throughout, but couldn’t come up with the big turnover as they did vs. the Bills.
With all that said, here are your winners and losers from the Broncos’ 10-7 loss to the New England Patriots.
Listen, despite the hype, Jarrett Stidham was in a tough spot. Hasn’t played a regular-season snap in 740+ days, only has 5 starts, and was making his first career postseason start in the AFC Championship Game. He started out hot with a deep throw to Marvin Mims and then a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton, but everything was downhill from there.
Stidham had a costly backwards pass that turned into an eventual Patriots touchdown, an interception on the Broncos’ final offensive drive, and the Broncos’ receivers kept dropping the ball. The run game once again couldn’t get anything going and the Broncos’ offense fell flat without Nix under center.
I am not going to hammer Stidham, but man, hoped for better. Once the snow came, the Broncos’ already struggling offense couldn’t do anything, and that ended up being the game.
They dominated the Patriots throughout the game. The only touchdown they gave up was when the Patriots started at their own 10-yard line. They sacked Maye 5 times but did not force a big turnover like they did vs. the Bills, and that ended up biting them.
Outside of not being able to contain QB Drake Maye, the defense played well today. In the end, it wasn’t good enough to get the win.
The secondary played great and had multiple PBU’s today, including PS2, who shut down whoever was lined up against him.
I get why you go for it there. You were feeling it and had the chance to go up 14-0. However, not putting any points on the board there really came back to bite you. Plus, the play call had zero shot of converting since the Patriots had it covered well.
Hindsight helps, but you gotta take the points there. Take a two-score lead, let your defense dominate, and take some pressure off your backup quarterback.
In the end, you take 3 off the board and lose the game by 3 points....
