ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Four days before the Broncos' biggest game in a decade, Jarrett Stidham stepped in front of a throng of media and set the tone.
"This is not about myself, first of all," Stidham said to begin his press conference ahead of the 2025 AFC Championship Game.
Poised to make his first start in two years on Sunday against the Patriots, Stidham made it clear his focus isn't on the national media attention. It's not on how his life could change if he finds success over the next three weeks. It's not, frankly, about him.
Instead, Stidham — poised to make his first career playoff start — is only focused on how to best help his team deliver in a big moment.
"At the end of the day, I'm not focused on anything but Sunday," Stidham said. "What is my job on each and every play? How can I help my teammates succeed on Sunday? I do not care about anything outside of the next five days and what my job is. That's the only thing I'm focused on."
Stidham and the Broncos' offense will also be driven, in part, by a desire to play at a high level in honor of Bo Nix, who suffered a season-ending ankle injury in Denver's Divisional Round win.
"My heart goes out to him and everything that he means to this team, because obviously we wouldn't be in this position without Bo," Stidham said. "… I know all of us on offense and I know the whole team, we want to go out there and make him proud this Sunday."
As Stidham steps into a nearly unprecedented situation — he has the fewest career starts of quarterback to start a conference championship game and will make the latest first start of the season since Roger Staubach in 1972 — he'll lean on his preparation. While he hasn't attempted a regular-season pass since late in the 2023 season, Stidham said he's always been ready over the last two seasons.
"I think every week I've always — going back to when I was backing up [former Broncos quarterback] Russ [Wilson] — I've prepared the same every single week like I am the starter," Stidham said. "It just hasn't obviously been that way, minus two [starts in 2023]. My preparation hasn't changed one bit, and that's just kind of how I view it."
Stidham believes he'll be aided this week due to the "full speed" nature of the Broncos' practice reps, and Head Coach Sean Payton pointed to the "real good defense" that Stidham faces in practice.
"You try to make practice as hard as possible, that way Sunday it's not a shock," Stidham said. "That's how we practice here, and that's how we'll always practice here."
Payton credited Stidham's decision-making and arm strength on Wednesday, and he said he knows Stidham is "going to rip it" when Sunday's game against the Patriots arrives.
His teammates have expressed a similar level of belief, and they trust in the veteran player to deliver in the conference title game.
"In one of the biggest moments in a lot of our careers, he's stepping up and ready to go take advantage of his opportunity because of the preparation and the way that he carries himself week in and week out," wide receiver Courtland Sutton said.
Added cornerback Pat Surtain II: "I've seen a lot of confidence. He's got a type of mojo with him, a type of confidence with him, that you rarely see. I'm excited for him for his opportunity. He's got everything it takes to shine on this level, and I'm looking forward to it."
That confidence and preparation should also allow Stidham to approach Sunday's matchup without trying to do more than is necessary. Whether in a stellar 2025 preseason, a strong performance against the eventual NFC West-champion 49ers with the Raiders in 2022 or in his collegiate career, Stidham has shown the caliber of his style of play.
"I think what I always go back to — in any game, regular season, preseason, the AFC Championship — it's still the same game," Stidham said. "Obviously, there are implications and winner advances, all that kind of stuff, but at the end of the day, it's still football. That's how I view it. I'm not treating it any differently. I'm not treating my preparation any differently. I'm just going to go out there and play and be myself. I think that's the biggest thing. I'm not going to try to be somebody that I'm not. I know how I can play, and I know the kind of guys I have around me and the kind of team that we have. So, we all just have to play within ourselves."
The level of attention is undeniably different. Stidham's highlights are now a mainstay on sports talk shows, and Broncos fans have changed their profile pictures en masse to support the quarterback. He is one of four players in the NFL that's poised to start on Sunday at the game's most important position — and he'll attempt to join a small but rarefied group of reserve quarterbacks to lead their team to a Super Bowl.
And yet, in the face of all that attention, Stidham's focus remains narrow.
"[I'm] really just fired up for the opportunity for these guys in this locker room," Stidham said. "We're looking forward to Sunday and getting out there and seeing what we got."
