For the first time since 2018, the New England Patriots are going to the Super Bowl. The Pats went into Denver on Sunday and emerged with a 10-7 victory to earn the right to represent the AFC in Santa Clara, California in two weeks' time.
In an ugly, defensive-focused game that was eventually dramatically affected by a severe snowstorm that poured down throughout the second half, the Patriots emerged victorious thanks to several mistakes by the Broncos and a few key plays by quarterback Drake Maye, who struggled through the air (10 of 21 for 86 yards) but ran 10 times for 65 yards and the Patriots' only touchdown of the day.
New England totaled just 206 yards on the game, averaging a paltry 3.2 yards per play. They went 6 of 18 on third down, turned just one of two red zone opportunities into a touchdown and even missed a pair of field goals.
But the Broncos gained even fewer yards (181) and averaged even fewer yards per play (3.1), while also missing a pair of field goals of their own and failing to convert a fourth-down opportunity that ended up being a swing point in the game. Backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham also committed a key fumble in the second quarter, giving the Patriots the ball on Denver's 12-yard line and setting up New England's only touchdown of the afternoon, and was later intercepted on Denver's final drive of the game.
The Broncos actually took a lead early on thanks to a quick-strike drive that saw Stidham complete a 52-yard bomb to Marvin Mims Jr. and then a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton on a bootleg. They had a chance to extend that lead when they drove deep into New England territory later in the first half, but elected to go for it on fourth-and-1 from the 14-yard line rather than kick a field goal. The play was blown up almost immediately and Stidham eventually threw incomplete, giving the Pats a turnover on downs.
The Patriots failed to take advantage of that situation and punted the ball right back to the Broncos, but Stidham tried to scramble away from pressure on a third-and-long opportunity and then throw the ball away, only to throw it backward and have the fumble scooped up by the Pats. The Broncos lucked out in that the play was initially ruled intentional grounding and blown dead, so the Pats took over at the Broncos' 12-yard line; but on the second play after the turnover, Drake Maye ran the ball up the middle on a quarterback draw to tie the game at 7.
Each team then had a chance to take the lead late in the half, but Wil Lutz missed a field goal from 54 yards out and Andres Borregales missed from 63 yards away, so the teams entered halftime tied.
On the first drive following the break, the Patriots marched down the field and deep into Broncos territory. They converted a fourth-and-inches opportunity on a tush push where it initially looked like Maye might be short of the line to gain, but he was eventually ruled to have achieved a first down and the play was upheld even after a challenge by Sean Payton. That drive led to what proved to be the game-winning field goal by Borregales.
Soon after that field goal, snow began driving and wind began swirling all over the field. The two teams had trouble keeping their footing and the passing attacks -- which had been muted to begin with -- all but disappeared. Neither team got much going at all the rest of the way, with the only scoring opportunities resulting in dueling missed 46-yard field goals by Borregales and then Lutz, whose kicks didn't come particularly close to going in thanks to the aforementioned snow and wind.
The Broncos did have multiple chances the second half, but the New England defense carried the day, holding the Broncos to just 32 yards on 18 plays after halftime. They got the ball back with 3:05 remaining in the game, with their fifth chance to tie or take the lead, but Stidham threw deep for Mims on second down and his pass hung up in the air and got intercepted by Christian Gonzalez.
On the ensuing drive, the Patriots faced a third-and-6 just after the two-minute warning. After previously running the ball into the line on the prior two third downs, Josh McDaniels called for a bootleg and Maye outran Broncos linebacker Jonah Elliss to the sidelines for a first down, allowing the Pats to kneel on the ball and clinch their latest trip to the Super Bowl.
Leading 7-0 early in the second quarter, the Broncos faced a fourth-and-1 at the Patriots' 14-yard line. Eschewing a field goal attempt, Sean Payton kept the offense on the field and decided to go for it. The play was blown up almost immediately, with two New England defenders breaking through the line and putting immediate pressure on Stidham, who threw incomplete intended for RJ Harvey.
The Patriots were unable to do anything with their ensuing drive, but after a punt, disaster struck for the Broncos. On third-and-4 from their own 33-yard line, the Broncos again allowed quick pressure on Stidham. Rather than simply eating the sack, Stidham kept backing up away from the rush, then eventually tried to shot-put a pass out to the sideline to avoid being dropped for a loss. His pass went backward, though, and was ruled a fumble.
The ball was recovered at Denver's 12-yard line. Two plays later, the Patriots scored their only touchdown of the game.
Maye did not have a good game throwing the ball. Even accounting for the conditions, he just did not have it for most of the afternoon. What he did have, though, was his A game in the scrambling department. As mentioned above, he ran the ball 10 times for 65 yards and a touchdown. And a few of those runs were absolutely massive.
First, there was the 6-yard touchdown run following Stidham's turnover.
Then there was a 28-yard run on the opening drive of the second half, which got the Patriots into scoring position and led to Borregales' eventual game-winning field goal.
And on the final competitive play of the game, Maye outran Jonah Elliss to the sideline and converted a first down on third-and-6 to put the game away and send his franchise to its 12th Super Bowl in franchise history.
Maye was one of the best runners in the league at the quarterback position this season, and his skill in that area made much of the difference in the title game on Sunday.
For the third game in a row, the Patriots didn't put together the best performance offensively. For the third game in a row, they won anyway thanks to a fantastic performance from their defense.
The Broncos averaged just 3.1 yards per play. They ran the ball for a total of 79 yards on 24 carries. Jarrett Stidham averaged 4.3 yards per attempt and took three sacks for 31 yards, losing a fumble and throwing an interception. With the exception of the 52-yard bomb to Mims on a buster coverage, New England gave up 129 yards all afternoon.
It was a spectacular performance from a unit that is really coming on in the playoffs, and that they'll need to be at the top of its game once again in two weeks.
New England faced a third-and-6 with just south of two minutes remaining in the game, and after running the ball into the line the previous two times in that situation, they instead ran a bootleg with Drake Maye, who outran Jonah Elliss to the sideline for a first down. All the Patriots have to do now is kneel on the ball and they will head to the Super Bowl.
Stidham was looking deep on first down but didn't have Marvin Mims open and checked it down instead. He predetermined a deep ball to Mims on the next snap and badly under threw the ball, and it was intercepted by Christian Gonzalez. (Remember, they hit a 52-yard deep ball to Mims working on Gonzalez early in the game to set up their only touchdown.)
Three straight runs go nowhere and the Pats punt it right back to the Broncos. New England took 1:31 off the clock on this drive. Denver took a timeout before the punt and now has only one remaining. The Broncos will have around 3 minutes to drive to tie or take the lead.
After a Stidham scramble set up a 46-yard kick, Wil Lutz hooked the ball wide to the left from the right hash. It looked like the ball may have been tipped by Leonard Taylor III.
Both Rhamondre Stevenson and Drake Maye slipped in the snow on first down, setting New England's drive back immediately. The Pats ran a sprint-out pass on third-and-long but Maybe just threw the ball away. After a bad punt, the Broncos will have the ball in New England territory (can't tell where because of the snow) with just south of 7 minutes remaining, with a chance to tie the game or take the lead.
Denver finally got its first first down of the second half, but then stalled out right away. A second-down screen pass got blown up immediately and then Stidham's third-down pass to Elijah Moore was caught well short of the sticks. After a great punt, New England will have the ball at its own 8-yard line, leading 10-7 with 8:21 remaining.
After gaining a quick first down, New England stalled out on its latest drive. Maye dropped back to pass on third-and-4 and had nowhere to go with the ball, leading to Denver's fifth sack of the game. Broncos have yet another chance to drive and tie the game or take the lead.
Denver has run only six plays for nine yards in the second half. Two three-and-outs. The latest punt went out of the end zone. New England will have another chance to extend its lead.
Borregales had a 46-yard try in the driving snow and wind and he pushed it wide to the right from the right hash. Never got inside the upright. Big break for the Broncos, who will be getting the wind and snow advantage back in their favor once the field flips in the fourth quarter.
Josh McDaniels went into the bag of tricks again, and Drake Maye made a great throw to Mack Hollins for a 31-yard gain.
Bad drive for Denver following the Borregales field goal. Jaleel McLaughlin dropped a second-down pass that would have set up third-and-short, then Marvin Mims went nowhere on a screen on the actual third-and-long. New England has a chance to extend its lead now as the snow continues to fall out in Denver.
The call on the QB sneak was upheld, which set up first-and-goal for New England. The Patriots got down to the 3-yard line and tried a direct snap to Rhamondre Stevenson, which went nowhere. Maye then got sacked on third down and the Pats set Borregales out there for a field goal to take a 10-7 lead. The opening drive of the second half lasted 16 plays and took 9:31 off the clock.
After a third-and-10 screen to Hunter Henry set up fourth-and-inches, the Patriots converted with a tush push. (Albeit after blowing a timeout while trying to set up the play.)
The initial spot of the ball looked like he was short of the line to gain, but they changed it. Sean Payton is challenging the spot.
Maye now has three huge runs in this game: a 6-yard touchdown, a 16-yard scramble at the end of the first half that set up Borregales' missed field goal, and now a 28-yard scramble to get the Patriots into scoring territory early in the third quarter.
Hat tip to Yahoo!'s Jori Epstein, who notes that the Broncos and Patriots combined for six sacks in the first half. The NFL record for sacks in a conference championship game is 13.
Borregales' 63-yard attempt was set up by a fantastic scramble by Drake Maye, who slid down with 1 second left in the half, but it never had a chance as he pulled it way wide to the left.
The Broncos got themselves into field-goal range on their ensuing drive but Wil Lutz pushed his 54-yard kick to the right. Stidham running out of bounds instead of throwing the ball away on third down may have affected that, as the kick was only narrowly wide./ New England has 20 seconds and a timeout to try to get a score.
New England's ensuing drive took just 39 seconds off the clock. The Pats ran it for five yards on first down, then Hunter Henry dropped a pass over the middle on second. The Broncos got a third-down stop to give themselves a chance at points late in the half. They have 48 seconds and no timeouts remaining but the ball is near midfield.
Christian Barmore came up with a huge play right after the two-minute warning, dropping Stidham -- who had just missed an open Lil'Jordan Humphrey over the middle on first down -- for a sack to set up third-and-18. New England will get the ball back with 1:36 left and one timeout, starting from its own 10-yard line.
Two plays after the fumble, the Patriots get into the end zone to tie the game. Maye has been under heavy pressure all afternoon and the Pats went with the QB draw here to get Maye a free lane up the middle for the score. It's 7-7 with 2:10 remaining in the first half despite all of New England's offensive struggles so far.
After initially being ruled intentional grounding, this was declared a backwards pass by Stidham and as a result it is a fumble recovered by the Patriots. Denver got incredibly lucky that the whistle blew and it wasn't a touchdown for the Patriots, which it clearly should have been. Stidham should have just taken the sack here.
The Patriots are once again going to have to punt. Drake Maye was sacked two times on this latest drive, including on third-and-3 to set up a punt.
The Pats did manage to get a first down, finally, but stalled out immediately after. Midway through the second quarter, the Broncos still lead 7-0 and have another chance to extend their advantage.
Denver put together a really good drive deep into Patriots territory but came up empty. The Broncos went for it on fourth-and-1 from the 14-yard line, and Stidham was under heavy pressure immediately. His pass intended for RJ Harvey was almost intercepted before ultimately falling incomplete.
Huge stand for the New England defense, and now the Pats will have a chance to cut into Denver's lead.
It's another three-and-out for New England on this latest drive. The big play here was a second-down sack by Que Robinson, who dropped Drake Maye for a big loss. The Patriots have run just 12 plays on their three drives and they have gained a total of 12 yards. Incredibly slow start for Josh McDaniels' group.
Spillane suffered some sort of injury on the latest RJ Harvey rushing attempt. He headed into the medical tent on the Patriots' sideline. Jack Gibbens entered in his place.
New England got a first down on its first series, but went backwards almost immediately on the next one. A bubble screen to Stefon Diggs got stopped for a loss by Ja'Quan McMillian, then Patrick Surtain II broke up a deep ball to Kayshon Boutte to set up a third-and-long that went nowhere. Denver gets the ball back with a chance to take a two-score lead.
Two plays after the deep ball to Mims, the Broncos went with a play-action bootleg out to the right side of the formation and Courtland Sutton found himself as wide open as possible in the back of the end zone. Stidham found him with ease to put the Broncos up 7-0 just less than five minutes into the game.
After Stidham missed Mims on a screen pass that would have resulted in a big play based on the blocking, he came right back and lofted the ball over the top of the defense for a huge gain -- 52 yards -- to get Denver into the red zone. It looked like Christian Gonzalez expected help over the top and didn't get it.
New England went three-and-out on its first drive, too. Back-to-back Rhamondre Stevenson runs set up third-and-4 and Drake Maye was nearly picked off by Talanoa Hufanga but the pass fell incomplete. The Broncos get the ball back with some pretty good field position.
Denver went very conservative on the first drive with Jarrett Stidham under center. The Broncos ran RJ Harvey right up the middle on both first and second down, and he went nowhere. Stidham was then under very heavy pressure on third down and got hit as he was throwing the ball away. Denver got a great punt down to the 8-yard line to set the Pats up deep in their own territory.
