DENVER — Drake Maye ran for 65 yards and threw for 86 in sloppy, snowy conditions and scored New England’s only touchdown on a 6-yard keeper, propelling the Patriots to their 12th Super Bowl appearance with a 10-7 win over the Denver Broncos on Sunday.
Christian Gonzalez intercepted a pass from Jarrett Stidham, who was starting in place of an injured Bo Nix, at New England’s 36-yard line with 2:11 remaining. The Patriots (17-3) sealed their first playoff win in Denver when Maye ran for 7 yards on third-and-5 from the Patriots’ 41.
The Patriots will play the winner of the NFC Championship Game between the Los Angeles Rams and Seattle Seahawks in Super Bowl LX on Feb. 8 in Santa Clara, California.
In Mike Vrabel’s first season as coach, New England became the third team in the Super Bowl era to win a conference championship with 10 points or fewer. Buffalo beat Denver 10-7 in the 1991 AFC title game, and the Rams 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 LX.
Both kickers missed two field goal attempts in the frigid conditions, with Denver’s Wil Lutz and New England’s Andy Borregales wide on long tries just before the snow began falling at halftime.
“It wasn’t ideal,” Maye said of the conditions. “Defense, they’ve been stepping up all playoffs. We’re going to play better. But man, I’m just proud of this team. … It took everybody.”
The Patriots, which went 4-13 last year under Jerod Mayo, fell behind 7-0, but had a key fourth-down stop near their own end zone to spark the comeback. Their victory was their 40th in the playoffs, breaking a tie with the San Francisco 49ers for the most in NFL history.
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,” Stefon 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.”
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.
“What an atmosphere out here,” Maye said. “Battle of the elements. Love this team. How about the defense? I love each and every one of them.”
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 9½ minutes and ended with a 23-yard field goal by Borregales that gave New England its first lead at 10-7.
The Patriots managed just four first downs and 72 yards in the first half, punting five times and missing a field goal attempt. But they capitalized on a short field when New England’s defense set up Maye at 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 surgery), Stidham’s 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 started the scoring.
The Broncos reached New England’s 14 early in the second quarter, but Payton decided to go for it — and Stidham’s throw to RJ Harvey was incomplete on fourth-and-1.
“There’s always regrets,” Payton said of the decision not to kick the field goal. “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.”
Instead of going up double digits, the Broncos were left clinging to a 7-0 lead, and 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 flip the field.”
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 past two seasons.
“I was super excited for the opportunity and just hate that we fell short,” said Stidham, who turned the ball over twice and finished 17 of 31 for 133 yards with the TD.
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. But he didn’t come out of the game, and the extent of his injury — a broken right ankle — wasn’t known until he went for X-rays after the 33-30 win.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
