The Denver Broncos lost in overtime to the Buffalo Bills despite winning the game.
The victory by the top seed in the American Football Conference playoffs sends Sean Payton’s team into the championship game next Sunday against Mike Vrabel’s New England Patriots. The loss was that their starting quarterback. Bo Nix suffered a broken bone in his ankle on the Broncos last series of downs in their overtime victory and he will miss the rest of the postseason.
His loss brings Jarrett Stidham into the starting role for the defensive strong Broncos. Stidham and Nix have two things in common; they both play for the Denver Broncos, and both spent some of their college career at Auburn University. Nix spent three seasons at Auburn before transferring to Oregon. Stidham began his collegiate career at Baylor before shifting to Auburn.
The similarities between these two field generals end there. While Nix guided the Broncos into the playoffs in his rookie season and the number one seed this year, Stidham has been a career backup since being drafted by the New England Patriots in the fourth round of the 2019 NFL draft.
After Tom Brady left the Patriots to join the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in 2020, Stidham thought he was in line to be the starter in New England. Those hopes were dashed when the Patriots acquired Cam Newton, who became the starter at the beginning of the Patriots decline. In 2022, Stidham was traded to the Las Vegas Raiders in a deal that gave the Patriots a sixth-round pick in exchange for a seventh-round draft selection and the quarterback.
Stidham made two starts for the Raiders in 2022, lost them both, and in 2023 was signed by the Broncos. That year, veteran Russell Wilson was the Broncos starter and while he struggled in the Mile High City Stidham got a pair of late season starts and split them.