DENVER – It’s time to dust off those old feelings about the New England Patriots, that long-standing mix of admiration and envy and disdain. They are back in the Super Bowl.
For the first time in their post-dynasty history, the Patriots will play on football’s grandest stage with a Lombardi Trophy at stake. They beat the Denver Broncos, 10-7 Sunday in an AFC championship game marked by dueling defensive dominance, deteriorating weather and wintry kicking misadventures.
Bill Belichick is coaching in college. Tom Brady is splitting his time between broadcasting and part-ownership of an NFL team. But their former franchise is playing on into February just like it used to do.
The second-seeded Patriots ended the season of the top-seeded Broncos, who played with Jarrett Stidham filling in at quarterback for the injured Bo Nix, and advanced to Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California. They will face the Seattle Seahawks.
A first-half touchdown run by quarterback Drake Maye and a second-half field goal were all the Patriots could manage on offense. But that’s all they needed as the snow and wind made things more difficult as the second half progressed.
It will be the Patriots’ first Super Bowl appearance since the 2018 season, when they defeated the Rams for their sixth Super Bowl triumph in nine Super Bowl appearances with Belichick as their coach and Brady as their quarterback. Along with owner Robert Kraft, they were the mainstays of the two-decade dynasty that left a complicated legacy of relentless winning and polarizing controversies with the Spygate and Deflategate scandals. Those Patriots were the team that fans loved or loathed but never could ignore.
There is a somewhat softer edge to these Patriots, with Mike Vrabel in his first season as their coach and Maye in his second season as their quarterback. Kraft remains. But Belichick is gone, having spent this season as the coach at North Carolina. Brady is long gone, as an NFL game analyst at Fox and a part-owner of the Las Vegas Raiders after finishing his playing career with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Vrabel, once a linebacker for the Patriots during their dynastic years, inherited a team coming off two straight 4-13 seasons under Belichick and Belichick’s successor, Jerod Mayo, who lasted only one year. He promised an immediate turnaround and has delivered beyond anyone’s reasonable expectations or hopes.
The Broncos failed in their bid to reach their first Super Bowl since the 2015 season, which they won in quarterback Peyton Manning’s final NFL game. They were trying to get back in Coach Sean Payton’s third season in the Mile-High city. But their chances were damaged considerably when Nix, their second-year starter at quarterback, suffered a fractured bone in his right ankle late in their overtime win over the Buffalo Bills in the divisional round the previous weekend.
Stidham was making his first career postseason appearance. He has made four career regular season starts. He last threw a regular season pass in 2023. He was facing his original NFL team; he entered the league as a fourth-round draft pick by the Patriots in 2019.
Stidham made one big play and one major mistake during the first half. The Patriots managed only 72 yards on offense in the half but were tied at 7 at the intermission.
Payton pledged during the week that Stidham was “going to rip it.” That occurred on the Broncos’ second offensive possession when Stidham connected with wide receiver Marvin Mims Jr. for a 52-yard completion, then threw a six-yard touchdown pass to wideout Courtland Sutton. Payton passed on a second-quarter field goal attempt that could have increased the lead to 10-0, and the Broncos instead failed on a fourth-and-one attempt from the New England 14-yard line.
Stidham’s gaffe came when he attempted to throw the ball away with a two-handed shove deep in his own territory. The on-field officials originally ruled the play an incomplete forward pass and intentional grounding, then amended that call to a backward pass by Stidham and a recovery by the Patriots. They cashed in on the turnover with Maye’s six-yard touchdown run. Each team missed a long field goal try in the closing seconds of the half.
The Patriots converted, albeit just barely, on a fourth-and-one push-the-quarterback sneak in the third quarter but had to settle for a 23-yard field goal by kicker Andy Borregales. By then, snow was falling and winds were swirling. Borregales sent a 46-yard attempt wide right in the closing seconds of that quarter. Broncos kicker Wil Lutz missed a 45-yard try wide left with 4:42 to play on a ball that was deflected by the Patriots.
Stidham’s underthrown deep pass was intercepted by Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez with 2:11 left. The Patriots ran out the clock from there.