The New England Patriots ruled the NFL for most of two decades, and when they fell, they fell hard. Just not for long.
The celebration for the end of the Patriots’ dynasty is over, and now perhaps there will be a new round of complaints about a new era of dominance. The Patriots, led by NFL Coach of the Year favorite Mike Vrabel and NFL MVP finalist Drake Maye, are going to Super Bowl LX after beating the Denver Broncos 10-7 in a snowy, messy AFC championship game.
It wasn’t a pretty performance by the Patriots, but the Broncos missed starting quarterback Bo Nix, who was out after suffering a season-ending ankle injury last week.
Jarrett Stidham made one massive mistake on a turnover near the end of the first half that completely turned the game around. The Patriots got their first touchdown after that and when the weather turned the field into a snowy ice rink as the second half went on, that touchdown was huge because neither team could move the ball. Denver not having Nix was a factor, but the Patriots made sure that Stidham wouldn’t beat them. So did the weather.
https://x.com/Patriots/status/2015533041536610452
New England went 4-13 each of the past two seasons. Its roster was in severe disrepair, though Maye’s rookie season in 2024 provided hope. This past offseason, the Patriots hired Vrabel, spent a ton in free agency and had a good draft. Now they’re going to the Super Bowl for the 12th time, and their first time since Tom Brady led them to a championship at the end of the 2018 regular season.
This is an entirely new cast from that Patriots dynasty. After just a few years trying to retool after the Brady and Bill Belichick era, New England is back atop the AFC. The Brady-Belichick dynasty got its major break in the tuck rule game against the Raiders, which the Patriots pulled out in a wild, snowy game. Maybe that’s a sign for this iteration of the Patriots.
Jarrett Stidham impressed and disappointed in first half
Stidham needed a big play early, perhaps to calm himself down but definitely to ease the crowd. He got it on Denver’s second drive. Stidham threw incomplete on his first three passes but the fourth one was huge, a 52-yard gain on a nice deep pass to Marvin Mims Jr. Stidham’s next pass came off play action and he found Courtland Sutton wide open in the end zone for a 6-yard touchdown. It was Stidham’s first touchdown pass since Jan. 7, 2024, when he hit Jerry Jeudy for a 24-yard score against the Raiders.
Meanwhile, Drake Maye had a slow start. He was just 3 of 6 passing for 7 yards in the first quarter, took a sack and probably should have been intercepted on New England’s first drive. Maye was the MVP finalist coming in but he didn’t look the part early on. The offense with the little-used backup had 92 yards in the first quarter, and the offense with one of the best quarterbacks in the NFL through the regular season had 12.
But Stidham made a big mistake in the second quarter. Under pressure he tried to chest pass the ball out to avoid a sack. His pass went backward and was therefore a fumble. The Patriots recovered, though their return for a touchdown didn’t count because the play was whistled dead. It didn’t matter, as Maye ran 6 yards on a quarterback draw for the touchdown and a tie score.
https://x.com/Patriots/status/2015532622156636284
The Broncos had a few mistakes, Stidham’s fumble being the worst. They decided against a field-goal attempt on a fourth-and-1, passed it and Stidham threw incomplete under pressure. They missed a field goal with 20 seconds left in the first half. In many ways the Broncos had thoroughly outplayed the Patriots, but they were still tied 7-7 at halftime. New England had to feel pretty good about that after a poor start.
Then the weather turned bad and it made the field into an unplayable mess.
Snow to start second half in Denver
By the time the teams came out of the locker room for the second half, snow had started to fall. New England decided it was time to run the ball. Mostly using the running game, and getting a 28-yard scramble from Maye and a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-1, New England had its best drive to start the second half. The Broncos held inside the 10-yard line, but the Patriots got a field goal to take the lead. They were fortunate to get that lead before the field became much worse.
Snow had covered the field by the end of the third quarter. For a Broncos offense with its backup quarterback, the weather didn’t help Denver’s struggles moving the ball. After a couple Broncos punts to start the second half, Stidham’s deep throw to Mims and the touchdown to Sutton when the skies were sunny and clear seemed like it happened in a different game weeks earlier.
The Broncos had a shot to tie the game with less than five minutes left. A bad punt set them up with good field position but the offense couldn’t get a first down. The Broncos tried a 46-yard field goal in miserable conditions and it was deflected.
The Broncos got the ball back when the Patriots decided to run three times and punt, but the odds of them going all the way downfield and scoring seemed very low. Denver had to try something, and when Stidham threw deep, it was picked off by Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez with 2:11 left. That practically punched New England’s ticket to the Super Bowl. Maye’s first-down run with 1:51 left iced the game.
The Broncos will spend the offseason wondering how things might have been different if Nix had stayed healthy, or if the snow had at least given Stidham and the offense a chance in the second half. The Patriots were just thrilled to be moving on, with much better weather in Santa Clara for their next game.