DENVER — Drake Maye ran for 68 yards and threw for 86 in sloppy, snowy circumstances and scored New England’s solely landing on a 6-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their twelfth Tremendous Bowl with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Christian Gonzalez intercepted Jarrett Stidham, beginning rather than an injured Bo Nix, at New England’s 36 with 2:11 remaining and the Patriots (17-3) iced their first playoff win in Denver when Maye ran for 7 yards on third-and-5 from his 41.
New England grew to become the third workforce within the Tremendous Bowl period to win a convention championship with 10 factors or much less. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 within the 1991 AFC title recreation, and the Los Angeles Rams beat Tampa Bay 9-0 within the 1979 NFC championship recreation.
The Broncos (15-4) completed one step shy of fulfilling Sean Payton’s preseason prediction of a visit to Tremendous Bowl 60.
Each kickers missed two area targets within the frigid circumstances with Denver’s Wil Lutz and New England’s Andy Borregales broad on lengthy tries simply earlier than the snow got here in at halftime.
“It wasn’t perfect,” Maye stated of the circumstances. “Protection, they have been stepping up all playoffs. We will play higher. However man, I am simply happy with this workforce. … It took everyone.”
The Patriots fell behind 7-0, however had a key fourth-down cease close to their very own finish zone to spark the comeback. Their victory was their fortieth within the playoffs, breaking a tie with the San Francisco 49ers for probably the most in NFL historical past.
It was sunny at kickoff with a temperature of 26 levels, however by halftime the snowflakes started falling and grounds crews had to make use of snowblowers to mark the hashmarks and yard traces by the fourth quarter, when it was 16 levels.
After gaining simply 72 yards within 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 area objective by Borregales that gave New England its first lead at 10-7.
The Patriots managed simply 4 first downs and 72 yards within the first half, punting 5 instances and lacking a area objective. However they capitalized on a brief area when New England’s protection arrange Maye on the Denver 12 with a takeaway and Maye took it in from 6 yards out to tie it at 7 at halftime.
Stepping in for the injured Nix (ankle surgical procedure), Stidham’s first completion for the reason that 2023 regular-season finale was a 52-yard dart to Marvin Mims Jr. to the New England 7 that arrange Courtland Sutton’s 6-yard landing catch that began the scoring.
The Related Press contributed to this report.
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