Drake Maye He has the opportunity to achieve something with the Patriots that not even Tom Brady was capable of.
Maye hopes to beat the Broncos in the AFC championship game in Denver on Sunday and lead New England to the Super Bowl for the first time since 2018. The Patriots have never won a playoff game in Denver, losing in all four attempts they have had, leaving Brady with an 0-3 record.
“Just the AFC championship and the opportunity to go to the Super Bowl would be huge. I know it would be a big win,” Maye said.
The Patriots advanced to their 14th AFC championship game in the last 25 years on Sunday when they beat the Houston Texans 28-16 in Foxborough. Denver beat Buffalo 33-30 to advance to the conference title game.
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New England and Denver both finished with a record of 14-3 in the regular season, but the Broncos won the home-field advantage tiebreaker because they had a better record against common opponents: Denver beat the Raiders twice this season, but the Patriots lost to them.
That loss, to the worst team in the NFL in the first game of the Mike Vrabel era, lands New England in one of the most inhospitable environments in the league. In addition to the electrifying crowd, the Patriots will also have to deal with a low-oxygen environment that they won’t have a chance to acclimate to.
“It’s a little bit of what we’ve been doing on the road all season. They have a great team, so we are going to face a difficult challenge. But I’m looking forward to getting out there and having the opportunity to possibly celebrate on a visiting field, it would be pretty special,” said Maye, who has guided the Patriots to an 8-0 road record this season.
The last team to go undefeated on the road with a new coach was the San Francisco 49ers under George Seifert in 1989; and ended with his victory in the Super Bowl.
“Coach (Vrabel) has always said we’re ‘Road Warriors,’ so we’re trying to find that once again and finish strong what we’ve done this year,” Maye said.
The Broncos are 18-5 in home playoff games all-time, but will be without starting quarterback Bo Nix, who broke his ankle late in the divisional round win over Buffalo. Instead, the offense will be led by former Patriot Jarrett Stidham, who hasn’t thrown a pass since 2023.
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That’s why New England opened as a 5½-point favorite, the biggest road favorite in a conference championship game. The line has since moved to plus 4½ for Denver.
“We always feel like no matter what others have to say, we still have something to prove. We’re always trying to prove ourselves right and not try to prove others wrong. That’s kind of the philosophy we’ve had for a long time,” said cornerback Marcus Jones, who returned an interception for a touchdown against Houston.
Win or lose, the Patriots could have trouble returning to New England: A major storm is expected to cover their home in just over a foot of snow.
Vrabel said the team is prepared if it can’t leave Denver on Sunday night.
“We have multiple plans for what could happen based on the weather. (It’s) something you’re familiar with here. I mean, there are things I can control, (but) I can’t control,” he said.
