And then, there were four.
With the divisional round in the rear view, we have just four teams left in the NFL’s tournament to see who gets to play in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, February 8. The NFC Championship game is a particularly interesting pier-sixer in that it has two teams that have already faced off twice this season, with the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams splitting the series in the regular season — both times in thrilling fashion.
When we look at X-Factors for each team in these
games, for the Denver Broncos, it’s obviously quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who replaces the injured Bo Nix as Denver prepares a hopeful run for a fourth Lombardi Trophy. Stidham hasn’t started a regular-season game since January 7, 2024, and there are reasons that he’s a career backup, but he’s shown some things in Sean Payton’s offense that should give the New England Patriots pause.
The question is, will it be enough?
The New Orleans Saints probably shouldn’t have been a 13-3 team in the 2019 season. Certainly not after Drew Brees was lost for five games to a torn thumb ligament in his right hand as Aaron Donald bore down on him in Week 2. But head coach Sean Payton had an ace in the hole — one Teddy Bridgewater, who completed 133 of 196 passes for 1,384 yards, nine touchdowns, two interceptions, and a passer rating of 99.1. The Saints won all five games that Bridgewater started, and Bridgewater turned out to be a most valuable piece for the Saints that season.
We learned then, and we may soon learn again, that as complex as Payton’s passing games tend to be, he’s also provided answers for his backups through time. Now, after Bo Nix suffered a broken bone in his ankle on the penultimate play of the Broncos’ 33-30 divisional-round win over the Buffalo Bills, Jarret Stidham will attempt to meet that test head-on.
Selected by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2019 draft out of Auburn, Stidham got half a cup of coffee with his original team in 2019 and 2020, didn’t see the field at all in 2021, and was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders on May 13, 2022. That reunited him with Josh McDaniels, who had been his offensive coordinator in New England, and was now the Raiders’ head coach.
That didn’t work well for all kinds of reasons, but Stidham’s future took a nice uptick when the Broncos signed him to a two-year, $10 million contract in March, 2023, and gave him a two-year, $12 million contract in March, 2025. Clearly, there’s a lot about Stidham that Payton likes.
“It started with our evaluation in New Orleans of him,” Payton said last Sunday, when asked why he believes that Stidham is ready for this particular crucible. “He was a target for us in the draft. That doesn’t really mean anything other than we liked this player coming out. I know how he was coached in New England. I know exactly how he was coached in New England. Then I know how [Patriots Offensive Coordinator Josh] McDaniels felt about him when he brought him from New England to Vegas. Then I know reports on how he played, and then we saw him play real time. But ultimately, to answer your question, it’s our three years here. In our three years, watching him day-in and day-out that you guys don’t have access to.
“He will be ready to go, and ready for the moment.”
We saw none of Stidham during the 2025 regular season, and yes, the preseason comes with its own caveats, but in the 2025 preseason, Stidham completed 30 of 38 passes for 376 yards, four touchdowns, no interceptions, and a passer rating of 143.0. And he wasn’t going up against the usual vanilla defenses you’d expect in exhibition games — the Arizona Cardinals in particular gave him a lot to think about pre- and post-snap.
“It was good,” Stidham said after Denver’s 27-7 win. “I was really happy that we were able to score some points. I thought cleaning up some mistakes from last week was really crucial. I thought our offensive line played their butts off tonight. We were able to throw the ball well and run the ball super well so hats off to those guys. In the first and second half, I thought everyone played really hard tonight. Like I said, it was great to score some points.”
You have to go back to 2023 to see regular-season Stidham, when he completed 40 of 66 passes for 496 yards, two touchdowns, one interception, and a passer rating of 87.7. One thing’s for sure — the Patriots had better be ready to cover deep. In 2023, Stidham proved to be quite functional with downfield throws.
This has happened before, of course. For the 1980 Oakland Raiders, Jim Plunkett didn’t become the starter until Dan Pastorini broke a leg in Week 5, For the 1990 New York Giants, Jeff Hostetler didn’t become the starter until Phil Simms’ injuries caught up with him in Week 14. For the 2001 Patriots, Tom Brady didn’t become the starter until Mo Lewis blew up Drew Bledsoe in Week 2. For the 2017 Philadelphia Eagles, Nick Foles subbed in for Carson Wentz, whose season ended in Week 15.
Each of those teams won the Super Bowl with quarterbacks who performed above their supposed station. Now, it’s Jarrett Stidham’s turn to try and pull off the ultimate sports miracle.
