On Sunday the Denver Broncos hosted the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship headed by back up quarterback Jarrett Stidham. Critics and sports analysts offered their predictions with most selecting the visiting team. The Broncos ignored the opinions as they have all season, almost always proving them wrong all season.
Empower Field at Mile High was rocking and a sea of orange and blue filled the stands with devoted Broncos fans with a sprinkle of Patriot diehards throughout the stadium.
Denver scored first after Jarrett Stidham connected with a Marvin Mims on a pass from midfield that placed Denver within the ten-yard line. Stidham connected with Courtland Sutton for the first and only touchdown pass of the game.
The Broncos had a chance to go up 10 points shortly before the half however; coach Sean Payton made the decision to go for it on fourth and one in an effort to score another touchdown. That attempt would later be a huge turning point for the Patriots.
While New England wasn’t able to create any momentum after stopping Denver’s offense on fourth down, on Denver’s ensuing drive Jarrett Stidham turned over the ball deep in their own territory after an errant pass was considered a backwards pass and the ball was awarded to the Patriots.
New England capitalized on the error and scored a touchdown tying the game at seven apiece before heading into the half.
The weather begin to take a turn for the worse in the second half creating a messy and slippery surface on the field making it difficult for passing and running the ball for both teams. New England kicked a field goal in the third taking a 10-7 lead over Denver.
In the fourth quarter the snow was blowing from the south stands to the north stands and causing some visual issues on the field for both quarterbacks.
Both teams’ defenses battled to keep the offenses unproductive and in the end the Broncos fell short of advancing to the Super Bowl.
The NFC Championship was played in Seattle with the L.A. Rams visiting. The Seahawks and Rams kept it close but scored far more points in a much more exciting game than the AFC matchup.
In the end Seattle bested L.A. and will advance to Super Bowl 60 to play the New England Patriots.
In other sports the Colorado Avalanche were on the road in Toronto on Sunday to face the Maple Leafs. The Avs were 3-6 in their last nine games heading into their matchup with Toronto and were in dire need of a win after domination most of the league for the first part of the season.
The Avs jumped out to an early lead in the first period with Brock Nelson scoring two goals early. Colorado added another in the second and one more in the third before Toronto even scored their first goal of the game.
The Avs defeated the Maple Leafs 4-1. Colorado is in Ottawa and Montreal this week before heading to Detroit this weekend to face the Red Wings. Wednesday’s game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m.
