It wasn’t a pretty game, but in the end, the New England Patriots are headed back to the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2018 season and the Tom Brady glory days.
With the Denver crowd at a fever pitch, the Patriots couldn’t get anything going offensively in the early stages of the game.
The Broncos were pinning their hopes on back-up quarterback Jarrett Stidham, who was filling in for Bo Nix after the starting quarterback suffered a broken bone in his ankle in the final minutes of Denver’s win over the Buffalo Bills last weekend.
Denver struck first, with a 52-yard pass from Stidham to Marvin Mims Jr. setting up a six-yard scoring pass from Stidham to Courtland Sutton to put the Broncos ahead 7-0.
The Broncos’ stiff defense completely stymied the Patriots’ offense, but New England was able to take advantage of a costly mistake late in the second quarter.
Stidham fumbled the ball on a sack, and the Patriots’ Elijah Ponder recovered deep in Denver territory, and only a premature whistle from the officials prevented Ponder from returning the fumble for a touchdown. But the Patriots capitalized two plays later as quarterback Drake Maye ran the ball in for a touchdown from six yards out to tie the game just seconds before the two-minute warning.
Both teams missed field goals as snow flurries began to fall in the final seconds of the first half – a sign of things to come in the Mile High City.
But the time the second half started, conditions were deteriorating rapidly at Invesco Field, with visibility and footing worsening by the minute.
The Patriots were able to strike early before the snow truly began to dictate to terms of the game. New England put together the longest drive of the game – a 16-play, 64-yard epic that drained 9:31 off the clock and ended in a 23-yard field goal from Andy Borregales.
Borregales’ boot proved to be the decisive score of the game. As the weather turned into white-out conditions down on the gridiron, Broncos’ field personnel struggled to keep the yard lines and hashmarks cleared, and the CBS broadcast had to add yard line graphics to the telecast for views at home to follow the action on the field.
Neither team’s offense found any success in the blizzard-like conditions, but a terrible punt from New England set the Broncos up with a golden opportunity. Denver couldn’t convert a first down, but did set up a 45-yard field goal chance for Broncos kick Wil Lutz.
Patriots’ lineman Leonard Taylor III was able to get a fingertip on Lutz’s kick, just enough for the kick to flutter wide left.
The Broncos got the ball back one last time, but with Denver forced to take shots downfield, a deep pass from Stidham was picked off by Christian Gonzalez to put the game on ice.
The Patriots needed to convert just one first down to run out the clock, and they did just that with an inspired play call and a seven-yard scramble from Maye on a third-and-five. Three kneel downs later, the New England was victorious and headed to Santa Clara for a date with the NFC Champion in Super Bowl LX.
