Patriots favoured as Broncos start Jarrett Stidham in AFC Championship

Cbssports reports the New England Patriots are 5.5-point road favorites over the Denver Broncos in Sunday's AFC Championship Game at Empower Field in Denver, where Denver will start backup Jarrett Stidham after starter Bo Nix suffered a broken ankle and is out for the season; Nix had led the Broncos to a 14-3 regular season and the AFC's No.

1 seed. This is the sixth postseason meeting between the franchises and the first since the 2015 AFC Championship, with Denver having won four of the previous five. Opening lines listed Patriots -4.5, a money line of Patriots -250 and Broncos +205, and a total of 40.5; a hypothetical pre-Divisional Round line had Denver -1.5 until the Nix injury shifted early money to New England.

The matchup features two top-four scoring defenses, Denver's NFL-best 71 sacks this season and New England allowing 58 sacks (including a league-worst 10 in the postseason), while Patriots quarterback Drake Maye has fumbled six times in the playoffs. Denver's betting profile shows a 15-3 W/L record (opening win total 9.5) and an 8-10 ATS mark while New England is 16-3 (opening win total 7.5) and 14-5 ATS; the Patriots went 8-0 straight-up on the road this season.

Key Topics

Sports, New England Patriots, Denver Broncos, Jarrett Stidham, Bo Nix, Empower Field