NFL Fans Rip Referees After Confounding Sequence in Broncos-Patriots AFC Championship

The officials’ ruling on a Jarrett Stidham pass led to plenty of ridicule from the NFL world. | Ron Chenoy-Imagn Images

The Broncos hosted the Patriots on Sunday in the AFC championship game for a chance to go to the Super Bowl. But, as has been the case throughout this postseason, a questionable call by the referees ended up a dominant storyline in the first half.

Backup Jarrett Stidham played pretty well in place of Bo Nix to start the game for Denver. He threw a deep bomb on the second possession of the game before opening up the scoring by throwing a touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton. The Broncos’ defense proved ready to go from the opening whistle and completely shut down Drake Maye’s offense. It was all going Denver’s way.

Then, halfway through the second quarter, Stidham dropped back to pass and panicked upon feeling the pressure. He got flushed out of the pocket immediately and tried to fling the ball away as New England defenders tackled the QB.

From the broadcast view, it wasn’t clear whether he actually got rid of the ball or fumbled. It was even less clear on the field, where one referee acted like it was a fumble while others blew their whistles to signal an incomplete pass. The Patriots’ defense, not totally sure what was going on, grabbed the loose football and ran into the end zone.

Play is ruled a fumble and @Patriots ball

NEvsDEN on CBS/Paramount+
Stream on @NFLPlus pic.twitter.com/KIe2UPl47Q

— NFL (@NFL) January 25, 2026

Initially the officials called it an incomplete pass and threw a flag for intentional grounding. Replay showed it was pretty close to a forced fumble by the New England defense, though, and coach Mike Vrabel seemed ready to challenge it. But then the call was changed to a fumble, as Stidham’s incomplete pass had traveled backwards. But because at least one ref blew the whistle, the Patriots’ return couldn’t count and Vrabel was unable to challenge the ruling. The final call by the refs was a backwards pass by Stidham recovered by the Pats, resulting in New England possession in Denver red zone.

Refs rule this a backwards pass and not a fumble, even though the Patriots recovered the ball and ran it for a touchdown the ball cannot be advanced. pic.twitter.com/UzPam0CnkN

— Rate the Refs (@Rate_the_Refs) January 25, 2026

It was an absolute disaster of a sequence for the refs, as well as CBS rules analyst Gene Steratore, and led to plenty of ridicule from everyone watching.

Tf was that lmao

— kofie.substack.com (@Kofie) January 25, 2026

I don’t get how a pass that ends up in front of the passer is a backward pass but carry on

— Les Bowen (@LesBowen) January 25, 2026

Might be the worst officiating I’ve ever seen

— Chris Infante (@Infante54) January 25, 2026

You could read Vrabel's lips pretty easily and i'm paraphrasing "Why did you blow the (bleep) whistle?"

— Judy Battista (@judybattista) January 25, 2026

If the Patriots don't get a TD out of this I think Mike Vrabel should be allowed to fight one official.

— Tom Fornelli (@TomFornelli) January 25, 2026

These refs have no idea what’s going on

— Matt Modi (@JediModi) January 25, 2026

The officials just astound in the NFL far too often.

You see the most ridiculous crap allowed to play out every week, and THAT is the play they decided to blow the whistle on.

— Matt Verderame (@MattVerderame) January 25, 2026

*refs say it’s a forward pass*

Gene Steratore: “He pushes the ball forward, it’s clearly a forward pass”

*refs change the call and say it was a backward pass*

Gene: “It’s clearly backwards”

🤡

— Zach Reger (@zachreger18) January 25, 2026

Definition of the kind of mistake you’d anticipate from a backup QB.

Jarrett Stidham trying to backpedal his way away from pressure.

Right call eventually made — after all kinds of deliberation and an initial officiating screwup — and the backward pass gives NE possession.

— Phil Perry (@PhilAPerry) January 25, 2026

Gene Steratore getting this one wrong 3 separate times trying to agree with the refs while the refs changed their own minds, legendary stuff

— Andrew Cooper (@CoopAFiasco) January 25, 2026

Jarrett Stidham throws a backward pass and it's #Patriots ball.

The refs blew it dead, so the touchdown doesn't count...

Should've let the play finish. That's brutal... pic.twitter.com/OEO6liyKBz

— Arye Pulli (@AryePulliNFL) January 25, 2026

Lights were wayyyyyyyy too bright for the refs there lol

— Patrick Daugherty (@RotoPat) January 25, 2026

All the refs have to do is just let every play that’s up in the air go and they can’t even do that man

— Ben Houselog (@benlikessport) January 25, 2026

On the one hand, refs fixed the call to reflect a fumble from Jarrett Stidham, giving the Patriots the ball.

On the other, it was a clear scoop and score from the Patriots, and so even giving them the ball doesn't fully rectify the call.

— Chad Graff (@ChadGraff) January 25, 2026

A very messy showing from the officials. Fortunately for the Patriots, the mistakes didn’t end up mattering—New England got possession of the ball and scored a few plays later on a Drake Maye run. But the tens of millions of viewers who tune in to watch these NFL playoff games are clearly frustrated by the regular mistakes made by the officiating crews across the league each week.

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