Jarrett Stidham, Broncos taking business as usual approach - ESPN

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Denver Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham, set to make his first start since the last two games of the 2023 season in Sunday's AFC Championship Game, has still tried to make this week as normal as possible.

That included a Monday trip to Target with his kids. Asked whether anybody recognized or approached the player suddenly thrust front and center for a team with a Super Bowl trip on the line, Stidham gave a wry smile and said, «No, incognito, nobody noticed.»

The 29-year-old Stidham, who is in his third season with the Broncos, will start Sunday against the New England Patriots in place of Bo Nix, who fractured his right ankle on the game-winning drive in Saturday's 33-30 overtime victory over the Buffalo Bills. In the span of an hour, the Broncos players went from the euphoria of the win to the crushing news that Nix would not play for the remainder of the postseason.

In the days that have followed, the Broncos coaches, players and Stidham have tried to stick as closely as possible to the team's usual routines as they go about the business of preparing to play for a Super Bowl chance.

«We wouldn't be in this position without Bo,» Stidham said Wednesday. «I know all of us on offense, I know the whole team, we want to go out there on Sunday and make him proud.»

Stidham's teammates have expressed plenty of confidence in his readiness for Sunday's game, which will be the Broncos' first AFC Championship Game appearance since they won the conference title game to close out the 2015 season on the way to Super Bowl 50. Cornerback Pat Surtain II said Stidham «has got a type of mojo with him, a type of confidence with him, that you rarely see.''

Broncos coach Sean Payton said Wednesday there are differences