Patriots punch ticket to 12th Super
Bowl with gritty 10-7 win over Broncos in snowy Denver
[January 26, 2026]
By ARNIE STAPLETON
DENVER (AP) — Drake Maye handled the sloppy, snowy conditions better
than the home team and he scored New England’s only touchdown on a
6-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their 12th Super Bowl with
a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos in the AFC championship game
Sunday.
Maye threw for just 86 yards, but ran for 65 and iced the win with a
7-yard keeper on third-and-5 in the waning minutes to send the
Patriots (17-3) to the Super Bowl in Mike Vrabel's first year as
coach.
The Patriots will play the Seattle Seahawks, who beat the Los
Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game, on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara,
California.
“I’m just proud of this team,” said the 23-year-old Maye, who's the
second-youngest starting quarterback to reach the Super Bowl, behind
only Miami's Dan Marino. “Don’t have many words. Just thankful for
this team. Love each and every one of them. It took everybody.”
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, starting in place of
an injured Bo Nix, with 2:11 remaining for New England’s second
takeaway. The first set up the Patriots with a short field and led
to Maye’s touchdown scamper that tied it at 7 heading into halftime.
With Nix looking on from a suite following ankle surgery Tuesday in
Alabama, Stidham made his first start in more than two years. His
first completion since the 2023 regular-season finale was a 52-yard
dart to Marvin Mims Jr. to the New England 7 that set up Courtland
Sutton’s 6-yard touchdown catch.
That was Stidham’s highlight as he turned the ball over twice and
finished 17 of 31 for 133 yards with the TD.
“I was super excited for the opportunity and just hate that we fell
short,” Stidham said.
New England, which went 4-13 last year under Jerod Mayo, became the
third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship
with 10 points or less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 in the 1991 AFC
title game, and Los Angeles beat Tampa Bay 9-0 in the 1979 NFC
championship game.
Vrabel, who won three Super Bowls as a playmaking linebacker for the
Patriots, could become the first person in NFL history to also win
as a head coach for the same franchise.
“I won’t win it. It’ll be the players that’ll win the game,” Vrabel
said. “I promise you, it won’t be me that’ll win it, and I promise
you that I’ll do everything I can, and our staff, to have them ready
for the game.”
The Broncos (15-4) finished one step shy of fulfilling Sean Payton’s
preseason prediction of a trip to Super Bowl 60, and he pointed the
finger right at himself.
He said he regretted his call on fourth-and-1 from the New England
14 in the second quarter when a chip-shot field goal before the snow
came in would have given Denver a double-digit lead. Stidham’s throw
to running back R.J. Harvey was incomplete and the Broncos' early
momentum vanished.
“There’s always regrets,” Payton said. “Yeah, I mean, look, I felt
like here we are, fourth-and-1. We felt close enough ... So, yeah,
there’ll always be second thoughts.”
The Broncos were left clinging to a 7-0 lead that was short-lived.
Elijah Ponder recovered Stidham’s backward pass at the Denver 12,
setting up the tying touchdown two plays later.
“I thought I threw it forward and obviously the replay said
differently,” Stidham said. “Probably should have just eaten the
sack and let (Jeremy) Crawshaw punt the ball and flip the field.”
[to top of second column] |
New England Patriots cornerback Christian Gonzalez celebrate after
an interception against the Denver Broncos during the second the
half of the AFC Championship NFL football game, Sunday, Jan. 25,
2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Garrett W. Ellwood)
Both kickers missed two field goals in the frigid
conditions with Denver’s Wil Lutz and New England’s Andy Borregales
wide on long tries just before the snow came in at halftime. Lutz's
45-yard attempt late in the fourth quarter was tipped by Leonard
Taylor III.
The Patriots’ victory was their 40th in the playoffs, breaking a tie
with the San Francisco 49ers for the most in NFL history.
It was sunny at kickoff with a temperature of 26 degrees, but by
halftime the snowflakes began falling and grounds crews had to use
snowblowers to mark the hashmarks and yard lines by the fourth
quarter, when it was 16 degrees.
“It was a lot of fun out there,” Broncos cornerback Pat Surtain II
said. “Snow game, for the conference, to go to the Super Bowl — it
doesn’t get any better than that. I felt like I was a little kid out
there just playing in the snow.”
And the Patriots had the most fun of all.
“What an atmosphere out here,” said Maye, in his second NFL season.
“Battle of the elements. Love this team. How about the defense? I
love each and every one of them.”
The Patriots have allowed 26 points across three playoff games. The
only team to allow fewer points over three playoff games before a
Super Bowl appearance was the 2000 Ravens, who allowed just 16
points.
After gaining just 72 yards in the first half, the Patriots opened
the second half in swirling snow with a 16-play, 64-yard drive that
ate up 9 1/2 minutes and ended with a 23-yard field goal by
Borregales that proved the difference.
Stidham, who was drafted by the Patriots in 2019, made his first
start since the 2023 regular-season finale. The Broncos were the
only team in the league that didn’t give their backup QB any snaps
or handoffs the last two seasons.
The Patriots have averaged 18 points per game in the playoffs, the
fewest by any team to make the Super Bowl since the 1979 Rams, who
averaged 15.
“I'll take an ugly win before I take a pretty loss,” Diggs said.
"Nobody's satisfied. Happy, but not complacent. We’re blessed to be
where we are, but we know there’s more out there for us.”
Coming up just short of a trip to the Super Bowl will drive Denver,
said Surtain, who suggested: “This is not the last time we’re going
to be here. We’re going to just keep on building and getting
better.”
Nix, who had 11 game-winning drives in his first two NFL seasons,
got hurt on Denver’s final drive in overtime against Buffalo last
week, and this title game will always be dogged in Denver by the
what-ifs.
“It (stinks),” linebacker Alex Singleton said. “We’ll remember it
for the rest of our lives.”
Injuries
Patriots: LB Robert Spillane (ankle) left in the first quarter.
Broncos: WR Pat Bryant left with a hamstring injury in the second
quarter.
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