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Jarrett Stidham joins rare company in AFC Championship start against Patriots
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- Jarrett Stidham joins rare company in AFC Championship start against Patriots
By Josh Dubow | Associated Press
Bo Nix’s broken ankle has placed Jarrett Stidham into most unusual territory.
After throwing no passes and taking four offensive snaps all season, the former Patriot will now take over as starting quarterback for the Denver Broncos in the AFC title game against New England on Sunday.
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Stidham hasn’t thrown a pass in a regular-season or playoff game since starting the final two contests in 2023, getting his only action in practice and the preseason since then.
According to Sportradar, Stidham will be the seventh quarterback since starts began being tracked in 1950 to start a playoff game in a season when he didn’t start in the regular season.
Frank Reich was the only one of those six QBs to win as a fill-in when he won two starts for Buffalo in the 1992 playoffs in place of Jim Kelly.
Stidham will join Joe Webb as the only QB to start a playoff game after not throwing a pass in the regular season and the second to make his first start in the conference title game or Super Bowl. Roger Staubach made his first start in the 1972 season in the NFC title game for Dallas the year after winning Super Bowl MVP.
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Here’s a look at the six QBs who started a playoff game in a season when they had no regular-season starts:
Taylor Heinicke , 2020 Washington
Heinicke had bounced around the NFL for more than five years when he signed to Washington’s practice squad late in the 2020 season. He replaced Dwayne Haskins late in a Week 16 loss but reverted to a backup role the following week for Alex Smith .
Smith won the finale to clinch a playoff berth with a 7-9 record but was unavailable for the wild-card round because of a calf injury. Heinicke stepped in and made his second career start, throwing for 306 yards and a touchdown in a loss to eventual Super Bowl champion Tampa Bay.
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Connor Cook , 2016 Raiders
A promising season for the Raiders ended in disappointment in 2016. Derek Carr led the team to its first playoff berth in 14 years but broke his leg in Week 16. Matt McGloin started the season finale but got hurt, setting the stage for rookie Connor Cook to make his first career start in a wild-card game at Houston .
Cook went 18 for 45 for 161 yards with one TD and three interceptions in a 27-14 loss to the Texans and never appeared in an NFL game again.
Joe Webb, 2012 Vikings
Webb played only three offensive snaps — one fewer than Stidham this season — when he was called on to start the wild-card game against Green Bay when Christian Ponder went down with an elbow injury.
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Webb had started two games in 2010 but hadn’t thrown a single pass in 2012 before the game against the Packers . He went 11 for 30 for 180 yards with one TD and one INT in a 24-10 loss.
Frank Reich, 1992 Bills
After Jim Kelly hurt his knee in the season finale, Reich got the nod for the wild-card game against Houston and delivered a memorable performance.
Buffalo fell into a 35-3 hole early in the third quarter before Reich engineered the biggest comeback in playoff history. He threw four TD passes to lead the Bills to a 41-38 overtime win. Reich followed that up with a win the next week at Pittsburgh before Kelly returned for an AFC title game win against Pittsburgh.
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Gary Danielson, 1983 Lions
After starting all 16 games in 1980 for Detroit , Danielson split time the next two seasons with Eric Hipple. Danielson got benched for Hipple for a playoff game in 1982 after leading the team to a win in the finale to clinch a playoff berth.
Hipple then started all 16 games in 1983 with Danielson coming off the bench 10 times to throw 113 passes and seven TDs. But Hipple hurt his knee in the season finale and Danielson made his first start of the 1983 season in the divisional round against San Francisco .
The results were rough as Danielson threw five interceptions — including four in the first half — but still almost came out with a win. Joe Montana threw a go-ahead TD pass to Freddie Solomon with 1:23 to play to make it 24-23. Danielson led Detroit into field goal range only for Eddie Murray to miss a 43-yard field goal in the closing seconds.
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Roger Staubach, 1972 Cowboys
Staubach had led Dallas to a Super Bowl title in the 1971 season but separated his shoulder in a preseason game. Craig Morton took over as starter and kept the job even when Staubach was healthy again late in the season.
But coach Tom Landry went to Staubach in the divisional round with Dallas trailing 28-13 and he engineered one of the biggest playoff comebacks ever. Staubach threw two TDs in the final 90 seconds to help the Cowboys win 30-28 and advance to the NFC title game.
Staubach then got his first start since winning Super Bowl MVP the previous season but struggled in a 26-3 loss to Washington.
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