Le Journal

ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Denver’s defense carried Peyton Manning across the finish line in Super Bowl 50 and Vance Joseph’s bunch will almost certainly have to lead the way for the Broncos to get back to Levi’s Stadium in the San Francisco Bay Area for Super Bowl 60. The Broncos (15-3) host the New England Patriots (16-3) in the AFC championship Sunday at Empower Field at Mile High with a journeyman backup QB making his first start in more than two years, a tattered receiving corps and no ground game to speak of unless J.K. Dobbins somehow returns from a mid-November foot operation. Bo Nix broke his right ankle on Denver’s game-winning drive in overtime as the Broncos wrestled their biggest win in a decade from Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills with a 33-30 thriller that sent both tears and barbs flowing in the Bills locker room. Jarrett Stidham, who has appeared in 20 games in six NFL seasons, starting four and winning one, will step in for Nix, who’s undergoing surgery Tuesday in Birmingham, Alabama. Save for the preseason, Stidham hasn’t started a game — or even thrown a pass — in more than two years. “He will be ready to go and ready for the moment,” coach Sean Payton said. Stidham almost certainly won’t have two of the Broncos’ best receivers after Troy Franklin pulled a hamstring and Pat Bryant suffered his second concussion in a month during the Broncos’ first playoff victory since Super Bowl 50. In their absence, Marvin Mims Jr. caught all eight passes thrown his way for 93 yards, with the biggest grab a 26-yard over-the-shoulder touchdown catch from Nix with 55 seconds left in regulation. What’s working Denver’s defense heeded Payton’s edict ahead of the playoffs to produce more takeaways after the Broncos were minus-3 in turnover differential during the season despite an NFL-leading and franchise-record 68 sacks. They forced the Bills into five turnovers, including four by Allen, who hadn’t turned the ball over in his previous six playoff games, and finished the game plus-4. What needs help The Broncos’ ground game was almost nonexistent against the Bills with Nix leading the way with 29 yards on a dozen carries. Jaleel McLaughlin had 21 yards on four rushes and rookie R.J. Harvey had 20 yards on six handoffs. Harvey also had five catches for 46 yards, including a key 24-yarder on the game-winning drive in overtime. Stock up OLB Nik Bonitto had a strip sack and forced both of Allen’s fumbles. He became just the third Denver defender to force multiple fumbles in a playoff game, joining LB Tom Jackson and OLB Von Miller. Safety and All-Pro special teams ace Devon Key recovered James Cooks’ fumble, P.J. Locke saved a touchdown with an interception and Ja’Quan McMillian’s interception when he wrested the ball from Brandin Cooks in overtime set up the Broncos’ game-winning drive that ended with Wil Lutz’s chip-shot field goal. Talanoa Hufanga and Malcolm Roach recovered Allen’s fumbles that were forced by Bonitto. Stock down Denver’s rushing attack. Injuries Bryant suffered his second concussion in a month. His first came in the closing minutes of Denver’s only home loss in a year and a half, to the Jacksonville Jaguars on Dec. 21. Bryant had three catches for 32 yards on Denver’s opening drive Saturday before leaving the game with the head injury. Franklin pulled a hamstring early in the game and had no targets. Key stats — 4 field goals by Lutz in four chances, tied for second-most by a Broncos kicker in the team’s playoff history, behind only Brandon McManus’ five field goals against Pittsburgh following the 2015 season. Lutz also made all three of his extra points. — 3 TD passes from Nix against the league’s No. 1 pass defense tied John Elway and Manning for most touchdown throws in a Broncos playoff game. Elway did it three times and Manning did it against Baltimore following the 2012 season. Next steps The Broncos host the Patriots (16-3), who have lost all four of their playoff games in Denver, for the right to play…

Jadin O’Brien was running track for Notre Dame a year ago. She’s now an Olympic bobsledder. O’Brien, who got in a sled for the first time only about three months ago, was one of the six women’s bobsledders selected Monday to be part of the U.S. Olympic team that will compete at next month’s Milan Cortina Games. O’Brien will push the sled driven by five-time Olympic medalist Elana Meyers Taylor, who made the U.S. team for the fifth time — and has medaled in all four of her previous Olympic appearances. Kaillie Humphries Armbruster, a three-time gold medalist, will also race in the Olympics for a fifth time between her tenures with Canada and now the U.S. She’ll be in a sled with Jazmine Jones as her push athlete. Kaysha Love — the reigning world champion in monobob — is on the team as well, her second Olympic trip and first as a pilot. She’ll be in a sled with Azaria Hill, whose parents both were Olympians as well. Hill’s mother is three-time Olympic sprint medalist Denean Howard-Hill and her father is boxing medalist Virgil Hill Sr. “Being an Olympic legacy is, you know, one of a kind,” said Azaria Hill, whose aunt — Sherri Howard, Denean’s sister — was also an Olympic sprint medalist. “It’s amazing.” It was long known that Meyers Taylor, Humphries Armbruster and Love would be the pilots on the team, and Jones and Hill getting selected was generally expected as well. That basically left one push athlete spot and O’Brien, who immediately turned heads in preseason training, got the nod. O’Brien won NCAA indoor track and field pentathlon national championships for Notre Dame in 2023, 2024 and 2025. She was competing in the U.S. track championships as recently as September and was initially skeptical when invited to try bobsled. And now she’s an Olympian with a serious chance of winning a medal. “These athletes have earned their place through their incredible effort, talent, and perseverance,” USA Bobsled and Skeleton CEO Aron McGuire said. The men’s team saw the U.S. qualify two pilots, and the Americans are sending six brakemen as well. Frank Del Duca, racing in his family’s homeland at these Olympics, will drive USA-1 and have Josh Williamson, Boone Niederhofer and Bryan Sosoo in his sled. Kris Horn was the other men’s pilot to make the team, with Carsten Vissering, Hunter Powell and Caleb Furnell in his sled. ___ AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics Source