Stidham set to join Staubach, Reich and 4 other QBs to make first start of season in playoffs

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.

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)

GUATEMALA CITY (AP) — Guatemala’s newly selected Constitutional Court will have to work to regain the trust of Guatemalans disillusioned with a justice system that appears to serve the interests of few, experts said Thursday.

Elected every five years by various institutions, Guatemala’s highest court will return four of its 10 magistrates, including alternates. The outgoing court’s decisions in controversial cases were criticized for protecting people with alleged ties to drug trafficking, human rights abuses or corruption.

Experts say the new court appears more balanced, but its decisions will confirm whether that is the case.

“What it has to do is recover the concept of a legal and technical court and not issue decisions tailored for anyone,” said Carlos Luna Villacorta, a former alternate magistrate on the court. “It must inspire more confidence above all with its most controversial decisions.”

The new court was completed Wednesday, when President Bernardo Arévalo announced his selections of Gladys Annabella Morfín, a former solicitor general, and her alternate María Magdalena Jocholá, a Kaqchikel Maya lawyer and academic specializing in Indigenous issues.

Guatemala’s Constitutional Court has been at the center of the country’s battle against corruption. The court has ruled in high-profile cases on the future of an international anti-corruption commission and the release of a former president charged with corruption.

The Constitutional Court is Guatemala’s highest and its decisions cannot be appealed. Alternates step in when a magistrate has a conflict or on constitutional questions that must be heard by seven magistrates.

When former President Jimmy Morales terminated the mandate of an anti-corruption commission known as the CICIG in 2019, the Constitutional Court acted as a key democratic safeguard and ruled his decision unconstitutional.

But the court took a turn when new magistrates were elected in 2021.

For example, the court in April 2024 upheld the release from prison of former President Otto Pérez Molina (2012-2015), who had been convicted in two separate cases of corruption.

In addition to Arévalo’s selections, the Supreme Court of Justice, Congress, University of San Carlos and the country’s bar association each selected a magistrate, as well as an alternate.

Four of the five principal magistrates will be women on the new court, which will be seated in April.

Political analyst Renzo Rosal said the new court appears to be “relatively balanced.”

“The court leans conservative, but nothing else can be expected of the (Constitutional Court),” since its essence is applying the Constitution, he said. “What we need is a group of magistrates who must stabilize (the court) and allow it to be an institution that halts the mistrust of justice, that serves the people and not the spurious spaces like now.”

Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo speaks to the press ahead of Congress choosing their representatives to serve as magistrates on the Constitutional Court in Guatemala City, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)

People gather outside Congress as lawmakers choose their representatives to serve as magistrates on the Constitutional Court in Guatemala City, Thursday, March 5, 2026. (AP Photo/Moises Castillo)