‘He Can Ball’: Broncos OL Relays Confidence in Jarrett Stidham Ahead of AFC Title Game

The Broncos have quite the test ahead of them this coming Sunday as they get set to take on the Patriots in the AFC championship game. When they do, they’ll line up not only with a trip to Super Bowl LX on the line, but with a different player under center than who’s led them throughout the regular season.

Following Denver’s divisional round victory over the Bills last Saturday night, coach Sean Payton informed reporters that starting quarterback Bo Nix suffered a broken bone in his ankle that will force him to miss the remainder of the playoffs. As a result, the Broncos will now turn to seventh-year pro Jarrett Stidham to try to lead them to their first big game appearance since 2013.

“He will be ready to go and ready for the moment,” Payton said of Stidham Monday morning. “One of Stiddy's great strengths is his mental aptitude and his progression and understanding plays. There would be practices where I'm looking at [defensive coordinator] Vance [Joseph] getting [mad], because Stiddy’s making our defense look bad. He’s very accurate. He's got a lot to his ball.”

Payton isn’t the only one who’s confident in Stidham’s ability to play quarterback at a high level. Broncos tackle Mike McGlinchey, too, spoke highly of the 29-year-old ahead of this Sunday's matchup against New England.

“Being around Stiddy for the last three years now, One: he’s one of my best friends, and two: this guy just loves football,” said McGlinchey. “and he’s been absorbing everything we’ve been doing. He’s been ready for his opportunity ... he stays in his routine every single day for three years straight, not knowing when that opportunity’s going to come around, and I know that our team, and our staff, and everybody, has got the utmost confidence in Jarrett to play well and lead our team forward.”

“He’s more prepared than anybody would be in this situation,” he continued. “He can ball. Like he can flat out play quarterback, and we’ve seen it every single day at practice. We’ve seen it in training camp. We’ve seen it in the preseason. ... I have no doubts that he’s gonna go out there and play his butt off, and I think our team is in a perfect position, with Stiddy, moving forward. And we’re lucky to have him, and we're lucky that our team and our coaching staff, and our front office invests in every situation that can possibly come up on a football field. Because not everybody has a quarterback waiting in the wings as talented as Jarrett.”

Stidham has appeared in 20 games over his NFL career—starting four while posting a 1–3 record—and has completed 59.4% of his passes for 1,422 yards, with eight touchdowns and eight interceptions. That said, his first pass attempt on Sunday will be his first in an NFL game (not including preseason, of course) in over two years.

The Broncos and Patriots kick off from Empower Field at Mile High at 3:00 p.m. ET.

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