Payton Turns to Stidham After Nix's Ankle Injury
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Bo Nix went down with a right ankle injury on the third-to-last play of the Broncos' divisional-round overtime win over Buffalo, forcing the AFC's top-seeded Denver team into a backup-QB scenario for the AFC Championship against New England.
- Jarrett Stidham, a 2019 fourth-round pick with four career starts and 197 career passes, becomes the first QB ever to start a conference championship game without a regular-season attempt that year.
- Sean Payton leaned on his track record with backup QBs — Bridgewater, Taysom Hill, Winston, Siemian — writing the names in bold ink on a legal pad and telling his staff, "All we need is two."
- Sean Payton rallied his team by recounting the 2019 Saints going 5-0 after Drew Brees tore a ligament in his right thumb, telling players, "I don't need supermen. I need you."
- Payton spent Monday's staff meeting railing at defensive coordinator Vance Joseph over communication breakdowns and missed run defense, while fuming that practice squad lineman Jordan Jackson was activated but never took a snap against Buffalo.
- The Broncos finished as the AFC's No. 1 seed; Payton told staff at a preseason San Jose steakhouse dinner that Denver would "begin our season in Santa Clara. And we're going to end it there, too" — site of Super Bowl LX at Levi's Stadium.
Why it matters: The AFC's No. 1-seeded Broncos face New England with Jarrett Stidham — four career starts, 197 career passes — in a scenario no modern NFL coach has survived at this late stage. Payton's counterargument: a 4-0 record with backup starters (Bridgewater, Hill, Winston, Siemian) and the 2019 Saints going 5-0 without Brees.
