Broncos will face the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game in Denver

The Broncos and their newly-named starting quarterback, Jarrett Stidham, will face the New England Patriots in the AFC Championship game next weekend. Denver will host its first AFC championship game in a decade.

The Patriots defeated the Houston Texans in New England on Sunday afternoon and will now travel to Colorado for the championship game on Jan. 25. The winner goes to Super Bowl LX.

The Broncos will be without quarterback Bo Nix, who broke a bone in his right ankle right before the end of Saturday's 33-30 overtime win over the Buffalo Bills. Stidham took just one snap this season, a kneel-down in a blowout win over Dallas in Week 8. Stidham has appeared in 20 games in six NFL seasons, starting four and winning one.

Nix got hurt on a keeper where he lost 2 yards and was tackled by safety Cole Bishop. Nix was limping after the play, but there was no indication that he suffered such a serious injury.

On the next play, Nix threw a deep pass to Marvin Mims Jr. that drew a 30-yard pass interference flag and got the Broncos well into field-goal range. Nix then took a knee to center the ball for Lutz's game-ending field goal.

Nix said nothing about being hurt during a postgame interview with CBS, and he sounded as if he was looking forward to the next game.

"It's great to have home-field advantage in a situation like this. It's exciting. This is why you play the game, this is why you compete. You get to playoff football, and good things happen," Nix said.

The last time the Broncos played the Patriots was in week 16 of the 2023 season, when New England beat the Broncos 26-23 in Denver.

Kickoff for the AFC Championship game in Colorado is scheduled for 1 p.m. Mountain Time on Jan. 25. Watch it on CBS and Paramount+.