On Sunday, January 25th, the AFC Championship game occurred between the New England Patriots and Denver Broncos. With the majority of the Country receiving a huge blizzard, the game was a sloppy, snowy mess in the second half.

The Broncos, who were the number one seed in the AFC, were without their starting quarterback Bo Nix, who suffered a broken ankle in the Divisional Round against the Bills. Jarrett Stidham was the backup, and he didn’t complete a single pass all season long, the only backup quarterback this season to do that. The odds were completely stacked against them, and they were going against a pretty solid team in the New England Patriots, who are led by top candidate for the MVP, Drake Maye.

In the first quarter, the Broncos and Stidham actually had a good rhythm going, and Stidham threw a six yard touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton to take the early lead in the game. Unfortunately, that would be their only score of the contest.

New England got on the board for the first time with 2:10 left in the second quarter, where QB Drake Maye ran in the endzone for a six yard score. Both teams actually missed a field goal going into halftime, so the score remained 7-7.

In the second half is when the snow started piling in. The game was a defensive showdown from the start, but there was no chance of an exciting second half once the snow starting coming down. With five minutes left in the third quarter, New England took the lead by making a field goal from 23 yards out.

In the fourth quarter, with the game and season on the line, the backup QB  came into play, as Stidham threw an interception to Christian Gonzalez right before the two minute warning. Denver, with only one timeout remaining, couldn’t get the ball back in time, and New England won the game 10-7.

With the win, the Patriots are making it back to the Super Bowl after missing the playoffs for the past three seasons. New England fans have been used to winning a lot with the Brady and Belichick era, and have missed that feeling in recent memory. Maybe their fanbase will get to experience yet another Super Bowl win. If they do happen to beat the Seattle Seahawks, they will become the franchise with the most Super Bowl wins ever with seven. You can watch the game next Sunday, February 8th, on NBC.