Bo Nix's broken ankle has placed Jarrett Stidham into most unusual territory.
After throwing no passes and taking four offensive snaps all season, Stidham 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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FILE - Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Webb (14) throws a pass during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Jan. 5, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)
FILE - Oakland Raiders quarterback Connor Cook (8) is sacked by Houston Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus (59) during the second half of an AFC Wild Card NFL football game Jan. 7, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke (4) looks to pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Jan. 9, 2021, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach rears back to pass 22 yards to Ron Sellers (88) on a third down play late in the second quarter, Dec. 31, 1972. (AP Photo)
FILE - Buffalo Bills quarterback Frank Reich passes against the Houston Oilers in an NFL football game at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., Jan. 3, 1993. (AP Photo/John Hickey, File)
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.
Here's a look at the six QBs who started a playoff game in a season when they had no regular-season starts:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL
FILE - Minnesota Vikings quarterback Joe Webb (14) throws a pass during the second half of an NFL wild card playoff football game against the Green Bay Packers Jan. 5, 2013, in Green Bay, Wis. (AP Photo/Jeffrey Phelps, File)
FILE - Oakland Raiders quarterback Connor Cook (8) is sacked by Houston Texans outside linebacker Whitney Mercilus (59) during the second half of an AFC Wild Card NFL football game Jan. 7, 2017, in Houston. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
FILE - Washington Football Team quarterback Taylor Heinicke (4) looks to pass against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers during the second half of an NFL wild-card playoff football game, Jan. 9, 2021, in Landover, Md. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - Dallas Cowboys quarterback Roger Staubach rears back to pass 22 yards to Ron Sellers (88) on a third down play late in the second quarter, Dec. 31, 1972. (AP Photo)
FILE - Buffalo Bills quarterback Frank Reich passes against the Houston Oilers in an NFL football game at Rich Stadium in Orchard Park, N.Y., Jan. 3, 1993. (AP Photo/John Hickey, File)
DAVOS, Switzerland (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, on Wednesday, after a minor electrical issue aboard Air Force One had forced a return to Washington to switch aircraft.
Shortly after he landed in Zurich, his Marine One helicopter took him to the site of the international gathering. The White House said arriving late wouldn't push back his scheduled address at the forum in the Swiss Alps — where his ambitions to wrest control of Greenland from NATO ally Denmark could tear relations with European allies and overshadow his original plan to use his appearance at the gathering of global elites to address affordability issues back home.
Trump's speech is set to focus on domestic policy. But it may touch on Greenland as well as the U.S. military operation that led to the recent ouster of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro.
On Thursday, Trump plans to more heavily lean into foreign policy, including discussing hemispheric domination by Washington, and the “Board of Peace” he's creating to oversee the U.S.-brokered ceasefire in Israel's war with Hamas.
That's according to a White House official who spoke to reporters aboard Air Force One on the condition of anonymity to discuss plans that haven't been made public. Trump will also have around five bilateral meetings with foreign leaders, though further details weren't provided.
Trump comes to the international forum at Davos on the heels of threatening steep U.S. import taxes on Denmark and seven other allies unless they negotiate a transfer of the semi-autonomous territory — a concession the European leaders indicated they are not willing to make.
Trump said the tariffs would start at 10% next month and climb to 25% in June, rates that would be high enough to increase costs and slow growth, potentially hurting Trump’s efforts to tamp down the high cost of living.
The president in a text message that circulated among European officials this week also linked his aggressive stance on Greenland to last year’s decision not to award him the Nobel Peace Prize. In the message, he told Norway’s prime minister, Jonas Gahr Støre, that he no longer felt “an obligation to think purely of Peace.”
In the midst of an unusual stretch of testing the United States' relations with longtime allies, it seems uncertain what might transpire during Trump's two days in Switzerland.
On Tuesday, U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told a Davos panel he and Trump, a Republican, planned to deliver a stark message: “Globalization has failed the West and the United States of America. It’s a failed policy,” he said.
“This will be an interesting trip,” Trump told reporters as he departed the White House on Tuesday evening for his flight to Davos. “I have no idea what’s going to happen, but you are well represented.”
In fact, his trip to Davos got off to a difficult start. There was a small electrical problem on Air Force One, leading the crew to turn around the plane about 30 minutes into the flight out of an abundance of caution. That pushed the president's arrival in Switzerland back hours.
Wall Street wobbled on Tuesday as investors weighed Trump's new tariff threats and escalating tensions with European allies. The S&P 500 fell 2.1%, its biggest drop since October. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.8%. The Nasdaq composite slumped 2.4%.
“It’s clear that we are reaching a time of instability, of imbalances, both from the security and defense point of view, and economic point of view,” French President Emmanuel Macron said in his address to the forum. Macron made no direct mention of Trump but urged fellow leaders to reject acceptance of “the law of the strongest.”
Meanwhile, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen warned that should Trump move forward with the tariffs, the bloc's response “will be unflinching, united and proportional." She pointedly suggested that Trump's new tariff threat could also undercut a U.S.-EU trade framework reached this summer that the Trump administration worked hard to to seal.
“The European Union and the United States have agreed to a trade deal last July,” von der Leyen said in Davos. “And in politics as in business — a deal is a deal. And when friends shake hands, it must mean something.”
Trump, ahead of the address, said he planned on using his Davos appearance to talk about making housing more attainable and other affordability issues that are top priorities for Americans.
But Trump’s Greenland tariff threat could disrupt the U.S. economy if it blows up the trade truce reached last year between the U.S. and the EU, said Scott Lincicome, a tariff critic and vice president on economic issues at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank.
“Significantly undermining investors' confidence in the U.S. economy in the longer term would likely increase interest rates and thus make homes less affordable,” Lincicome said.
Trump also on Tuesday warned Europe against retaliatory action for the coming new tariffs.
“Anything they do with us, I’ll just meet it,” Trump said on NewsNation’s “Katie Pavlich Tonight.” “All I have to do is meet it, and it’s going to go ricocheting backward.”
Davos — a forum known for its appeal to the global elite — is an odd backdrop for a speech on affordability. But White House officials have promoted it as a moment for Trump to try to rekindle populist support back in the U.S., where many voters who backed him in 2024 view affordability as a major problem. About six in 10 U.S. adults now say that Trump has hurt the cost of living, according to the latest survey by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.
U.S. home sales are at a 30-year low with rising prices and elevated mortgage rates keeping many prospective buyers out of the market. So far, Trump has announced plans to buy $200 billion in mortgage securities to help lower interest rates on home loans, and has called for a ban on large financial companies buying houses.
There are more than 60 other heads of state attending the forum. On Thursday, Trump plans to have an event to talk about the Board of Peace, meant to oversee the end of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza, and possibly take on a broader mandate, potentially rivaling the United Nations.
The White House official said around 30 are expected to join the board after invites were sent to about 50 countries late last week.
Fewer than 10 leaders have accepted invitations to join the group so far, including a handful of leaders considered to be anti-democratic authoritarians. Several of America’s main European partners have declined or been noncommittal, including Britain, France and Germany.
Trump on Tuesday told reporters that his peace board “might” eventually make the U.N. obsolete but insisted he wants to see the international body stick around.
“I believe you got to let the U.N. continue, because the potential is so great," Trump said.
Weissert and Madhani reported from Washington. Michelle L. Price contributed from Washington.
Marine One, carrying President Donald Trump, is escorted by military helicopter during his transfer to Davos after arriving at the airport in Zurich, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One after arriving at Zurich International Airport for the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he steps off Air Force One after arriving at Zurich International Airport for the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump steps off Air Force One after arriving at Zurich International Airport for the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump, center, speaks as he steps off Air Force One after arriving at Zurich International Airport for the World Economic Forum, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026, in Zurich, Switzerland. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent speaks at the USA house during the Annual Meeting of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (AP Photo/Markus Schreiber)
Mark Rutte, Secretary-General, North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), speaks during a panel discussion during the 56th annual meeting of the World Economic Forum, in Davos, Switzerland, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2026. (Gian Ehrenzeller/Keystone via AP)
Things are unloaded from Air Force One after the plane, carrying President Donald Trump to the World Economic Form in Davos, experienced a minor electrical issue after departure, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, and returned to Joint Base Andrews, Md. Trump will board a second plane to complete the trip. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
President Donald Trump speaks before departing on Marine One from the South Lawn of the White House, Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)
