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The New England Patriots are one win away from playing for the Lombardi Trophy, but to punch their ticket to Super Bowl LX in February, they’ll need to do something the franchise has never accomplished: beat the Broncos in Denver during the playoffs. The Patriots advanced to the AFC Championship Game by defeating the Houston Texans 28-16 at Gillette Stadium in Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round game, while the Broncos defeated the Buffalo Bills 33-30 in overtime of their AFC Divisional Round matchup Saturday. The Broncos, as the No. 1 seed, will host the Patriots in the AFC title game. It’s the Patriots’ first conference championship game appearance since 2018 and their 14th trip in the 21st century. More Patriots coverage New England Patriots 23 hours ago Patriots-Texans recap: Pats ride dominant defense to AFC title game berth Patriots Postgame Live 16 hours ago Perry: Pats' win over Texans a huge ‘program victory' for Vrabel The major storyline entering this game is the season-ending injury to Broncos starting quarterback Bo Nix, who fractured his ankle late in Denver’s victory over the Bills. Jarrett Stidham, whom the Patriots drafted in 2019, is expected to start at quarterback for the Broncos. Will the Patriots reach the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2018 campaign? Check out our Patriots-Broncos preview below. Recent head to head The Patriots and Broncos have squared off only twice since 2017, with the latest matchup coming on Christmas Eve in 2023. The Pats won that game 26-23 in Denver on a 56-yard field goal by Chad Ryland in the final seconds. Bailey Zappe was the starting quarterback for the Patriots. The Patriots have played the Broncos in the playoffs five times, and the only time New England emerged victorious was in the 2011 postseason at home. The other four games were all in Denver, including a pair of AFC title game defeats to Peyton Manning in the 2013 and 2015 playoffs. 1986 AFC Divisional Round: 22-17 Broncos 2005 AFC Divisional Round: 27-13 Broncos 2011 AFC Divisional Round: 45-10 Patriots 2013 AFC Championship Game: 26-16 Broncos 2015 AFC Championship Game: 20-18 Broncos Key stats to know Playing on the road in a playoff game is typically a tough spot for a young quarterback, and Drake Maye has yet to play a road postseason game. But there are reasons for New England fans to be optimistic about Maye’s chances of delivering a great performance in Denver. Maye has actually played better on the road than at home this season. He completed 72.1 percent of his passes for 2,186 yards with 17 touchdowns, three interceptions and a fantastic 120.2 passer rating in eight road games during the regular season. A look at total offense stats for the Patriots and Broncos during the regular season. The Broncos gave up 30 points to Josh Allen and the Bills in the Divisional Round, but their defense ranks among the league’s best units. That group finished the regular season ranked No. 2 in yards allowed per game, No. 1 in yards allowed per play, No. 2 in touchdowns allowed, No. 5 in EPA per play allowed and No. 3 in points allowed per game. Patrick Surtain II is the reigning NFL Defensive Player of the Year and considered the league’s top cornerback. Maye will have to be aware of where Surtain is on the field at all times. A look at total defense stats for the Patriots and Broncos during the regular season. Patriots’ keys to victory Red zone defense The Patriots ranked 23rd in red zone defense, as measured by opponent scoring percentage (TD only), during the regular season. They’ve been almost lights out in the playoffs, though, allowing only one touchdown in six opponent trips inside the 20-yard line. They held the Texans to only one touchdown in four red zone trips in the Divisional Round. Establish the run game, and get Drake Maye on the move The Bills had great success on the ground versus the Broncos in the Divisional Round, racking up 183 yards (5.1…

Spanish police said Monday that at least 39 people are confirmed dead in a high-speed train collision the previous night in the south of the country. Efforts to recover the bodies are continuing and the death toll is likely to rise. Some bodies were found hundreds of meters from the crash site, Andalusia regional president Juanma Moreno said. The crash occurred Sunday at 7:45 p.m. when the tail end of a train carrying 289 passengers on the route from Malaga to the capital, Madrid, went off the rails at 7:45 p.m. It slammed into an incoming train traveling from Madrid to Huelva, another southern Spanish city, according to rail operator Adif. The head of the second train, which was carrying nearly 200 passengers, took the brunt of the impact, Spanish Transport Minister Óscar Puente said. That collision knocked its first two carriages off the track and sent them plummeting down a 4-meter (13-foot) slope. Puente said that it appeared the largest number of the deaths occurred in those carriages. Authorities said all the survivors had been rescued in the early morning while work remained to recover and identify the dead. Moreno said Monday morning that emergency services were still searching. “It is likely (that there will be more dead people found) when you look at the mass of metal that is there. The firefighters have done a great job, but unfortunately when they get the heavy machinery to lift the carriages it is probable we will find more victims.” “Here at ground zero, when you look at this mass of twisted iron, you see the violence of the impact,” Moreno said. Moreno said that authorities are also searching the area near the accident for possible bodies. “The impact was so incredibly violent that we have found bodies hundreds of meters away,” Moreno said. Various Spaniards who had loved ones traveling on the trains posted messages on social media saying they were unaccounted for and pleading for any information. Spain’s Civil Guard opened an office in Cordoba, the nearest city to the crash, for family members of the missing to seek help and leave DNA samples to be used to possibly identify bodies. Video and photos showed twisted train cars lying on their sides under floodlights late on Sunday. Passengers reported climbing out of smashed windows, with some using emergency hammers to break the windows, according to Salvador Jiménez, a journalist for Spanish broadcaster RTVE, who was on board one of the derailed trains. He told the network by phone Sunday that “there was a moment when it felt like an earthquake and the train had indeed derailed.” Authorities said 159 people were injured. As of Monday, that included 11 adults and one child in critical condition. The collision took place near Adamuz, a town in the province of Cordoba, about 370 kilometers (about 230 miles) south of Madrid. A sports center was turned into a makeshift hospital in Adamuz and the Spanish Red Cross set up a help center offering assistance to emergency services and people seeking information. Members of the Civil Guard and civil defense worked on site throughout the night. Spanish Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez expressed his condolences to the victims’ families. “Tonight is a night of deep pain for our country,” he wrote on X. The prime minister will visit the accident site on Monday, according to his office. Officials call accident ‘strange’ Transport Minister Puente early Monday said the cause of the crash was unknown. He called it “a truly strange” incident because it happened on a flat stretch of track that had been renovated in May. He also said the train that jumped the track was less than 4 years old. That train belonged to the private company Iryo, while the second train, which took the brunt of the impact, was part of Spain’s public train company, Renfe. According to Puente, the back part of the first train derailed and crashed into the head of the other train. When asked by reporters how long an inquiry into the crash’s cause could…

FOXBORO — A lot of experts picked the Houston Texans to upset the New England Patriots in Sunday’s AFC Divisional Round matchup at Gillette Stadium. This confidence in the Texans largely stemmed from their defense, which ranked as one of the NFL’s best in the regular season and dominated the Pittsburgh Steelers in the AFC Wild Card Round. The players on the New England Patriots defense heard all the praise for the Texans defense this week, and it motivated them to show everyone that they, too, have an elite unit. And after another dominant playoff performance in a 28-16 win, the Patriots defense shouldn’t have too many doubters left. “Definitely. It fueled the whole defense,” Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams said postgame when asked about all the talk surrounding the Texans defense. “Ain’t nobody been talking about our defense all year. We’ll see what they got to say today.” The Patriots defense put on a masterclass against the Texans. This group intercepted Texans quarterback C.J. Stroud four times in the first half, including a pick-6 by Marcus Jones that snatched momentum away from Houston at a time when New England’s offense was really struggling. Veteran cornerback Carlton Davis intercepted Stroud twice. “They had a really good D-line and they were good on the back end,” Stroud said postgame. “You know, the pick-6, he made a heck of a play. I tried to make a play and had a guy open, but he hit my arm and made a great play.” The Patriots finished with five takeaways (four interceptions and one fumble), sacked Stroud three times, pressured him consistently and stuffed the run. Houston racked up just 241 yards of total offense and managed only two field goals in the second half. The Texans ran for a measly 48 yards on 22 carries (2.2 per attempt). The Patriots defense forced 22 plays of zero or negative yards in the first half, which, according to ESPN Insights, is the most by any team in a playoff first half since 2000. Stroud could have actually finished with more interceptions, as the Patriots defensive backs blanketed his wide receivers all game and gave him almost no margin for error. “Every week, we try to come in and dominate, knowing they do have a great defense over there,” Williams said. “But in our mind, it was our defense vs. their defense to see who could make more plays and (force) more turnovers, stopping the run, getting the ball back to our offense and letting them go make a play.” Through two playoff games, the Patriots defense has allowed only one touchdown, forced six turnovers, sacked the opposing quarterback nine times and tallied 66 quarterback pressures. After struggling to prevent teams from scoring touchdowns in the red zone for much of the regular season, the Chargers and Texans combined to score only one TD in six red zone trips over the last two weeks. New England’s bend-but-don’t-break red zone defense has been an encouraging development for this team of late. More Patriots coverage New England Patriots 23 hours ago Patriots-Texans recap: Pats ride dominant defense to AFC title game berth Patriots Postgame Live 16 hours ago Perry: Pats' win over Texans a huge ‘program victory' for Vrabel New England Patriots 16 hours ago Patriots-Broncos Tale of the Tape: Keys to victory, prediction and more The Patriots are also blitzing at a much higher rate in the playoffs (44 percent) than the regular season (28 percent), per ESPN Insights. Opposing quarterbacks are completing just 38 percent of their passes for 3.4 yards per attempt with one touchdown and two interceptions when New England’s defense has blitzed in the playoffs. “They’re playing well together. I feel like they’re complementing each other, and our turnovers are created by more than one guy,” Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel said of his defense. “There’s some great efforts. But it’s somebody…

Monday marks one month since the deadline for the Justice Department to release all of its files related to Jeffrey Epstein, but only a fraction of the records have been made public. The delays have frustrated Epstein’s victims and brought warnings of repercussions from the co-authors of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Ro Khanna, D-Calif. Massie claimed in a statement to NBC News on Friday that “Attorney General Bondi is making illegal redactions and withholding key documents that would implicate associates of Epstein.” In a separate statement Friday, Khanna said “DOJ’s refusal to follow the law” is “an obstruction of justice.” “They also need to release the FBI witness interviews which name other men, so the public can know who was involved. That is why Massie and I are bringing inherent contempt against Bondi and requested a special master to oversee this process,” he said. “The survivors and the public demand transparency and justice,” Khanna said. The Justice Department did not respond to requests for comment on the releases and the lawmakers’ claims. It said in a court filing last week that it had “made substantial progress and remains focused on releasing materials under the Act promptly while protecting victim privacy.” “Compliance with the Act is a substantial undertaking, principally because, for a substantial number of documents, careful, manual review is necessary to ensure that victim-identifying information is redacted before materials are released,” the filing said. Jeffrey Epstein Jan 13 House GOP seeks to hold Bill Clinton in contempt for skipping Epstein deposition Jeffrey Epstein Jan 7 House committee votes to issue more subpoenas related to Jeffrey Epstein Jeffrey Epstein Jan 6 More than 2 million Epstein files still to be released, DOJ says in court filing Victims have complained that the Justice Department is protecting the wrong people. In a letter to the Justice Department’s inspector general last week, a group of Epstein survivors and relatives of victims complained that the redactions to date had been “selective.” “These failures have caused renewed harm to survivors and undermined trust in the institutions responsible for safeguarding sensitive information,” the group said in its letter. “In multiple instances, names of individuals alleged to have participated in or facilitated abuse appear to have been redacted, while identifying details of survivors were left visible. In some cases, survivors’ names, contextual identifiers, or other information sufficient to identify them publicly were not adequately protected,” they added. They also complained, as have Khanna and Massie, that the Justice Department has not complied with another part of the law, which requires it to explain its redactions. “Without it, there is no authoritative accounting of what records exist, what has been withheld, or why, making effective oversight and judicial review far more difficult,” an attorney for the congressmen argued in a filing. The Justice Department has not commented on the request for the inspector general to step in. On Friday, lawyers for the Justice Department challenged Massie and Khanna’s request for a special master to oversee the release of the materials in a court filing, arguing the pair do not have legal standing to make the request. President Donald Trump signed the Epstein Files Transparency Act into law on Nov. 19. The law gave the attorney general 30 days to “make publicly available in a searchable and downloadable format all unclassified records, documents, communications, and investigative materials in the possession of the Department of Justice” involving Epstein, “including all investigations, prosecutions, or custodial matters.” On Dec. 19, the day the files were due to be made public, Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche…