When Jarrett Stidham steps under center in Sunday’s AFC championship, he’ll confront a defensive kaleidoscope. The Patriots will likely come at Stidham with disguised blitzes, nonstop stunts, defensive linemen dropping into passing lanes and an array of looks.
That’s a lot to decipher for a backup quarterback who hasn’t started in a real NFL game since Week 18 of the 2023 season. But the Broncos have a built-in security blanket for the 29-year-old QB who’s never thrown a postseason pass.
He’ll play behind an offensive line that is among the best in the NFL.
Faith in that unit, the Broncos insist, has allowed them to go about their regular business after losing starting quarterback Bo Nix to a broken ankle in last Saturday’s divisional playoff win over Buffalo.
All-Pro left tackle Garett Bolles says he doesn’t have to counsel Stidham.
“I just tell him, ‘I got your back.’ ” Bolles said Thursday. “He knows.”
Still, the Broncos’ O-line had better be prepared for a New England defense on a serious heater. In the Patriots’ 28-16 divisional playoff win last Sunday, the defense forced five turnovers while sacking Texans QB C.J. Stroud three times and holding Houston to 48 rushing yards.
After the game, Pats defensive tackle Milton Williams pulled out the disrespect card, saying that people have not paid enough attention to his team’s defensive performance.
“It definitely fueled the whole defense,” he told reporters. “Nobody has been talking about our defense all year. We’ll see what they say today.
“Every week, we’re trying to come out and dominate, knowing that they do have a great defense, but in our minds, it was our defense versus their defense. See who could make more plays, create more turnovers, stop the run, and get the ball back to our offense.”
‘He knows it cold’
Head coach Sean Payton of the Denver Broncos speaks to offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi during practice at the Broncos Park in Centennial on Thursday. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)New England’s defense has ramped up its pressure in the playoffs, using a variety of schemes to do so. In two postseason games, the Patriots have generated pressure on only 28.6% of their four-man rushes, but that rate increased to 47.8% when they blitzed. Plus, the Pats are blitzing more, increasing from 27.6% in the regular season to 40.6% in the playoffs.
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“I’m sure they have something that we haven’t prepared for, something that we haven’t seen on tape,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said. “That’s kind of how these things go, this late in the year, when you are trying to get an edge on somebody. But I’m confident in the way we are able to execute and the way we are able to problem solve.”
Offensive coordinator Joe Lombardi says he’s not worried that the Patriots will try to take advantage of Stidham’s inexperience and rustiness.
“I wish he had a couple of warm-up games and wasn’t just coming off running the practice squad,” Lombardi said. “But he’s vet, he’s a professional. When he’s running our plays, or calling plays in our walkthrough period, he never hesitates. He knows it cold.”
Bolles said the O-line won’t do anything different because Stidham, not Nix, is calling signals and audibles.
“Just because we have a backup quarterback … we always prepare the same,” he said. “Nothing changes for us. We always prepare for exotic blitzes and teams bringing different looks. Sometimes (the Patriots) drop D linemen, sometimes they bring in corners off the edge. We just have to be prepared for anything.”
Besides, Lombardi is not certain how exotic the Patriots will get on Sunday, simply because Stidham is playing QB.
“Depending on which game you watch, they can pressure a lot,” Lombardi said. “Last week, they pressured a lot. But I’m not sure they look at Jared and think they are going to pressure him more than another quarterback. (But) you are always preparing in your mind for when a team starts gassing it up in that way, you always try to have a plan for that.”
Big task for big guys up front
Jarrett Stidham (8) of the Denver Broncos prepares to work out during practice at the Broncos Park in Centennial on Thursday. (Photo by AAron Ontiveroz/The Denver Post)When it comes to scrambling and throwing on the run, Stidham can’t match Nix. He’s well aware of that, even though he was a dual threat at Stephenville High School in Texas.
“Look, technically, back in the day, I could run a little bit,” he said Thursday. “I guess my age has caught up to me with the old legs a little bit. But I guess, yes, I could run a little bit more in high school and that sort of thing.
“So the dual-threat label, I guess, I had. I think I can move around a little bit still, but I was probably a little faster in high school.”
The Broncos’ linemen hope the only running its QB has to do on Sunday is on planned plays. The statistics say the O-line is up to the task.
During the regular season, Pro Football Focus ranked the Broncos’ offensive line as the best in the NFL. Denver’s O-line allowed only 23 sacks, tied with the Rams for a league-low. Denver’s 3.6% sack rate was the NFL’s best, and much better than the league average of 6.9%. And the Broncos allowed just 186 pressures, for a pressure rate of 27.7%, ranking third in the NFL according to Next Gen Stats.
And Denver’s O-line could get a boost on Sunday because starting center Luke Wattenberg is in line to return from injured reserve. Wattenberg suffered a shoulder injury in the Broncos’ Week 15 win over Green Bay.
Lombardi said the big guys up front know what’s at stake Sunday, but said their preparation remains the same.
“I don’t know if the pressure on the O-line changes this week,” he said. “In this league, in this game, you always have to be at your best every week, especially as you get deep into the playoffs.
“This is going to be the biggest game in most of these guys’ lives. We are expecting them all to be at their best.”
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