DENVER (AP) — Drake Maye dealt with the sloppy, snowy stipulations better than the dwelling group and he scored Recent England’s handiest touchdown on a 6-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their 12th Tall Bowl with a 10-7 gather over the Denver Broncos within the AFC championship sport Sunday.
Maye threw for appropriate 86 yards, however ran for 65 and iced the gather with a 7-yard keeper on third-and-5 within the waning minutes to ship the Patriots (17-3) to the Tall Bowl in Mike Vrabel’s first year as coach.
The Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks, who beat the Los Angeles Rams within the NFC championship sport, on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California.
“I’m appropriate contented with this group,” mentioned the 23-year-mature Maye, who’s the 2d-youngest starting quarterback to reach the Tall Bowl, within the motivate of handiest Miami’s Dan Marino. “Don’t possess many phrases. Correct grateful for this group. Love every and every person of them. It took everyone.”
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, starting in set up of an injured Bo Nix, with 2:11 remaining for Recent England’s 2d takeaway. The key living up the Patriots with a brief field and resulted in Maye’s touchdown drag that tied it at 7 heading into halftime.
With Nix taking a see on from a suite following ankle surgical design Tuesday in Alabama, Stidham made his first commence in more than two years. His first completion since the 2023 frequent-season finale became a 52-yard trot to Marvin Mims Jr. to the Recent England 7 that living up Courtland Sutton’s 6-yard touchdown gain.
That became Stidham’s highlight as he turned the ball over twice and carried out 17 of 31 for 133 yards with the TD.
“I became gargantuan angry for the change and appropriate hate that we fell immediate,” Stidham mentioned.
Recent England, which went 4-13 last year below Jerod Mayo, became the third group within the Tall Bowl period to assemble a conference championship with 10 functions or less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 within the 1991 AFC title sport, and Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay 9-0 within the 1979 NFC championship sport.
Vrabel, who obtained three Tall Bowls as a playmaking linebacker for the Patriots, also can become the first individual in NFL history to moreover gather as a head coach for the identical franchise.
“I obtained’t gather it. It’ll be the gamers that’ll gather the sport,” Vrabel mentioned. “I promise you, it obtained’t be me that’ll gather it, and I promise you that I’ll attain every little thing I’m succesful of, and our personnel, to possess them prepared for the sport.”
The Broncos (15-4) carried out one step unnerved of fulfilling Sean Payton’s preseason prediction of a time out to Tall Bowl 60, and he pointed the finger lawful at himself.
He mentioned he regretted his call on fourth-and-1 from the Recent England 14 within the 2d quarter when a chip-shot field objective sooner than the snow came in would possess given Denver a double-digit lead. Stidham’s throw to running motivate R.J. Harvey became incomplete and the Broncos’ early momentum vanished.
“There’s continuously regrets,” Payton mentioned. “Yeah, I mean, see, I felt like here we’re, fourth-and-1. We felt shut sufficient … So, yeah, there’ll continuously be 2d strategies.”
The Broncos possess been left clinging to a 7-0 lead that became immediate-lived. Elijah Ponder recovered Stidham’s backward chase at the Denver 12, establishing the tying touchdown two performs later.
“I idea I threw it forward and clearly the replay mentioned in another case,” Stidham mentioned. “Potentially also can objective peaceable possess appropriate eaten the sack and let (Jeremy) Crawshaw punt the ball and flip the sector.”
Each kickers overlooked two field dreams within the frigid stipulations with Denver’s Wil Lutz and Recent England’s Andy Borregales huge on prolonged tries appropriate sooner than the snow came in at halftime. Lutz’s forty five-yard strive slack within the fourth quarter became tipped by Leonard Taylor III.
The Patriots’ victory became their 40th within the playoffs, breaking a tie with the San Francisco 49ers for the most in NFL history.
It became sunny at kickoff with a temperature of 26 degrees, however by halftime the snowflakes began falling and grounds crews had to use snowblowers to label the hashmarks and yard traces by the fourth quarter, when it became 16 degrees.
“It became quite a few enjoyable accessible,” Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II mentioned. “Snow sport, for the conference, to pass to the Tall Bowl — it doesn’t get any better than that. I felt like I became somewhat minute one accessible appropriate having fun with within the snow.”
And the Patriots had the most delightful of all.
“What an environment out here,” mentioned Maye, in his 2d NFL season. “Battle of the aspects. Love this group. How about the protection? I esteem every and every person of them.”
The Patriots possess allowed 26 functions across three playoff games. Basically the most fascinating group to allow fewer functions over three playoff games sooner than a Tall Bowl appearance became the 2000 Ravens, who allowed appropriate 16 functions.
After gaining appropriate 72 yards within the first half of, the Patriots opened the 2d half of in swirling snow with a 16-play, 64-yard power that fed on 9 1/2 minutes and ended with a 23-yard field objective by Borregales that proved the distinction.
Stidham, who became drafted by the Patriots in 2019, made his first commence since the 2023 frequent-season finale. The Broncos possess been the handiest group within the league that didn’t give their backup QB any snaps or handoffs the last two seasons.
The Patriots possess averaged 18 functions per sport within the playoffs, the fewest by any group to get the Tall Bowl since the 1979 Rams, who averaged 15.
“I’ll rob an gruesome gather sooner than I rob a sparkling loss,” Diggs mentioned. “No one’s ecstatic. Glad, however no longer complacent. We’re blessed to be the set up we’re, however we know there’s more accessible for us.”
Bobbing up appropriate searching a time out to the Tall Bowl will power Denver, mentioned Surtain, who suggested: “That is no longer the last time we’re going to be here. We’re going to appropriate defend on constructing and bettering.”
Nix, who had 11 sport-winning drives in his first two NFL seasons, got damage on Denver’s last power in additional time in opposition to Buffalo last week, and this title sport will continuously be dogged in Denver by the what-ifs.
“It (stinks),” linebacker Alex Singleton mentioned. “We’ll endure in mind it for the remainder of our lives.”
Injuries
Patriots: LB Robert Spillane (ankle) left within the first quarter.
Broncos: WR Pat Bryant left with a hamstring injury within the 2d quarter.
—
This sage has been corrected to cloak Maye ran for 65 yards and never 68.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL