The New England Patriots are back in the AFC Championship for the first time in seven years, going on the road for the first time in the playoffs to battle the Denver Broncos at Mile High for the chance to go to the Super Bowl in the first season of a full roster rebuild for New England under new head coach Mike Vrabel.
Although Denver will be without its starting quarterback, Bo Nix, the Patriots have an advantage when it comes to making a game plan for backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham, as they are more than familiar with what he brings to the table, despite there not being any recent film on him since he hasn’t thrown a pass in a game since 2023.
When the Patriots drafted Stidham in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL Draft, there were some expectations that he would one day become the successor to Tom Brady. Stidham was Brady's backup during the 2019 season, and when the Hall of Fame QB left town, all indications were that Stidham would take over as the starter. However, New England eventually signed veteran Cam Newton and then drafted Mac Jones the next year.
In the first three years of his career, Stidham backed up Brady, Newton, Jones, and Brian Hoyer. During Stidham’s formative years in the NFL, his offensive coordinator was one of the best in the game, Josh McDaniels. After working closely with him in New England, McDaniels traded for Stidham in 2022 when he became the head coach of the Las Vegas Raiders to be the primary backup to Derek Carr.
While under McDaniels, Stidham was named a starter for the first time in his career to close out the 2022 season. In his first start, Stidham finished 23-of-34 for 365 passing yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions. In the next game, he went 22-of-36 for 219 passing yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Patriots OC Josh McDaniels Has the Upper Hand on Game Plan for Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham
If there’s anyone in the NFL who knows Stidham’s playstyle and what works well for him and what doesn’t, it’s going to be McDaniels, as he was with Stidham during the first four seasons of his now seven-year career.
On Monday, during his press conference, Vrabel mentioned how he spoke with Stidham’s agent during the offseason about a potential backup role in New England, mostly due to his familiarity with McDaniels and his offense.
“Just speaking with his agent, they’re like, well, if you don’t want your starter to get hurt, sign Jarrett.” … Just going back to when Josh had him and playing against that. I think he sees things really well. I think he’s athletic enough to extend, like we talk about a lot of quarterbacks. Accuracy. I think the decision making, he’s really decisive in the games that we went back and watched. This is even going back to when I was in Tennessee as well.”
Stidham is a more than capable quarterback; he just hasn’t received many opportunities throughout his career, but he’s set to join a rare club in the NFL. By starting in the AFC Championship Game, Stidham is the second QB in NFL history to start a playoff game after not throwing a pass in the regular season (Joe Webb), and he’s also just the second QB to make his first start of the year in the conference championship (Roger Staubach).
The Broncos are going to rely on their defense to carry them to the Super Bowl, similar to the Patriots in some ways, but New England isn’t down its starting quarterback in the biggest game of the season. Although McDaniels isn’t a defensive coach, he is certainly providing a scouting report on how to best attack Stidham and limit their offense.
McDaniels has been part of all of the Patriots’ Super Bowl wins during the double dynasty. If New England advances to the big game, it would be his 10th Super Bowl appearance as a coach for the Patriots, which is the second-most in franchise history behind the legendary Dante Scarnecchia.