The Denver Broncos are heading to the AFC championship game for the first time since winning their last Super Bowl 10 years ago, but they won’t have Bo Nix under center after the second-year quarterback broke his right ankle.
Sam Darnold and the Seattle Seahawks are going to the NFC title game after dominating the injury-riddled San Francisco 49ers.
Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills fell short again, with questionable officiating playing a role.
Wil Lutz kicked a 23-yard field goal in overtime to lift the Broncos to a 33-30 victory on Saturday, sending Denver to the conference title game for the 12th time in franchise history. The Broncos are 8-3 in those games.
The No. 1 seed Broncos (15-3) will host the Texans-Patriots winner on Jan. 25 at 3 p.m. EST. Seattle (15-3) will host the Rams-Bears winner in the Championship Sunday doubleheader.
The Broncos won’t have Nix, who was injured on Denver’s final series. Coach Sean Payton said Nix will have surgery on Tuesday. Jarrett Stidham, who is 1-3 in seven seasons, will start the AFC title game.
“I feel like I have a (No.) 2 (quarterback) that’s capable of starting for a handful of, a number of teams,” Payton said. “I know he feels the same way. So watch out. Just watch.”
No. 2 seed New England (15-3) hosts No. 5 seed Houston (13-5) on Sunday, with the winner likely to be favored on the road against the Broncos. In the NFC, No. 2 seed Chicago (12-6) is a home underdog against No. 5 seed Los Angeles (13-5) in the second game Sunday.
The Seahawks got a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown from Rashid Shaheed to open the game and never trailed in a 41-6 rout of San Francisco (13-6). Seattle’s stingy defense held Brock Purdy, Christian McCaffrey and the Niners to 236 yards and forced three turnovers.
“They’re unbelievable,” Darnold said of the defense. “They’ve stepped up every single game for us. Can’t say enough great things about that defense. It was tough in training camp and OTAs going up against them. But I’m glad they’re on our side.”
It’s be Seattle’s fifth trip to a conference title game and first in 11 years. The Seahawks are 3-1, losing their first appearance when they were in the AFC.
Denver’s last victory in the AFC championship came in Peyton Manning’s final season. The Broncos defeated Tom Brady and the New England Patriots 20-18 on Jan. 25, 2016. A stifling defense shut down Cam Newton and led Denver to a 24-10 win in the Super Bowl.
Allen and the Bills (13-6) again were denied an opportunity to win the franchise’s first Lombardi Trophy. Buffalo has been knocked out in the divisional or championship rounds in six straight seasons under Allen and coach Sean McDermott.
Allen and Nix traded go-ahead touchdown passes in the fourth quarter and Buffalo’s Matt Prater kicked a 50-yarder to send it to overtime.
After the Broncos punted on the opening drive, Allen threw a deep pass to Brandin Cooks that would have put the Bills in field-goal range, but Ja’Quan McMillian snatched it away for an interception as both players tumbled to the ground.
Officials quickly reviewed the play and upheld the call, a decision that McDermott criticized after the game. The Broncos took over at their own 20.
“It was a rather rapid unfolding of the review, if there was a review, and so I called a timeout to try to slow it down,” McDermott said. “It would seem logical to me and make a lot of sense that the head official would walk over and want to go and take a look at it. … That’s too big of a play, in my estimation, too big of a play in a play that decided the game, potentially as well, to not even slow it down. … I’m standing up for us. What went on, that is not how it should go down in my estimation. These guys spend three hours out there playing football, pouring their guts out to not even say, ‘Hey, let’s just slow this thing down.’ That’s why I’m bothered.”
Two pass-interference penalties on Buffalo gave the Broncos 47 yards and set up Lutz’s winning kick. Tre’davious White, who was called for the second one that moved the ball to Buffalo’s 8, threw his helmet down in disgust while arguing and got an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
Since the NFL expanded the playoff field to 14 teams in 2020, only one team in each conference gets a bye. Those No. 1 seeds are now 9-3 in the divisional round. The 2022 Chiefs are the only No. 1 seed to win the Super Bowl in that span.
___
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
