Following the Denver Broncos’ divisional-round victory over the Buffalo Bills, the franchise announced that their sophomore sensation, Bo Nix, would be unavailable for the remainder of the postseason due to a broken ankle. And that his backup, Jarrett Stidham, would lead the charge for the remainder of the playoffs. As a result, many believe that NBC is now just two scoreboards away from having to promote one of the most unmarketable Super Bowl matchups in recent history. Because no one seems to be calling for a Sam Darnold and Stidham-led Super Bowl.
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The sudden change at signal caller has also led to the Broncos being booked as +4.5 point underdogs against the New England Patriots in this weekend’s AFC Championship. According to Tom Brady, however, fans may want to avoid writing off Stidham and the Broncos just yet. He was responding to Colin Cowherd’s request to give a ‘scouting report’ on Brady’s former backup QB.
“I always loved Stiddy. He’s a very natural passer of the football, very competitive, very smart,” Brady said about Stidham, adding, “he’s got sneaky good athleticism.” He had more praise to share about the Broncos’ backup QB. “He’s (Stidham) performed well out there when he’s gotten opportunities, and I know that the Denver coaching staff, from the things that I’ve read this week, everybody’s got a tremendous amount of confidence in Stiddy and what he can do… I wouldn’t sleep on him at all.”
While Brady is more than confident in Stidham’s ability to make the necessary throws and limit turnovers, he also suggested that “he’s gonna need to do that because New England’s defense is pretty absurd as well.” At a glance, that may seem like a rather biased assessment given Brady’s history, but unfortunately for the Broncos, there’s plenty of numbers to back that up.
New England’s defense surrendered 320 points to opposing offenses throughout the regular season, the fourth-lowest total in the league. Add in that they only missed 71 tackles throughout the entire year, which was the lowest amount by any team in football, and it becomes pretty clear that we’re dealing with an incredibly disciplined unit here.
The good news, for Stidham at least, is that he’ll still be in control of an offense that managed to finish in the upper half of this year’s rankings. His head coach, Sean Payton, should also be able to help him out by devising a game plan that takes advantage of the fact that New England allowed the 15th most passing touchdowns (25) in the NFL this season.
Nevertheless, no one has seen the Broncos QB2 throw a football in more than two years, so unless there’s another unforeseen change waiting around the corner, the Patriots will walk into Mile High Stadium as the deserved favorites for this one.
