ENGLEWOOD, Colo. (AP) — Even without Bo Nix, the Denver Broncos are radiating plenty of swagger heading into the frigid AFC championship game against the New England Patriots behind backup quarterback Jarrett Stidham.
“No, I don’t think the vibe’s any different,” right tackle Mike McGlinchey said after Friday's workout, part of which was outdoors in 20-degree temperatures and icy wind. “Obviously, it was a tough situation. You don't want to see a guy that's your leader and the life of your team go down, especially in such a big moment.
“But Stiddy's done an unbelievable job this week stepping in and commanding the huddle, commanding the team. He's ready for it and the rest of the team is, too.”
Stidham exudes a quiet confidence that long ago secured him the nickname “Steady Stiddy” and belies the fact that he'll throw his first pass in a game in more than two years Sunday.
That tranquility has apparently rebuffed any possible angst over the loss of Nix, who underwent surgery on his broken right ankle this week in Alabama. Nix showed support for his backup, posting on Instagram, “I couldn't be more confident in Jarrett. And I couldn't be more excited for what's next.”
Which, he trusts, is a trip to the Super Bowl.
Coach Sean Payton set the tone for the week shortly after his stunning announcement of Nix's injury after Denver's 33-30 overtime win against Buffalo last weekend. Of Stidham, Payton said, “He's ready. I said this at the beginning of the season: I feel like we have a (backup quarterback) who is capable of starting for a number of teams. I know who feels the same way. Watch out. Just watch.”
Even before this opportunity, Stidham has long been the one setting the tone and the tunes in the Broncos' locker room, and he's never been shy about ribbing Denver's defenders after burning them on the scout team.
“Jarrett's got a little swag to him,” wide receiver Lil'Jordan Humphrey said. “He's a little swaggier than you'd probably expect him to be.”
There's no telling what sort of drop-off, if any, there will be Sunday with Stidham leading the Broncos (15-3) in place of Nix, who engineered winning drives in the fourth quarter or overtime of six games this season.
His coaches and teammates haven't shown a hint of doubt that Stidham can lead them past the Patriots (16-3) at Empower Field at Mile High, where it's forecast to be 23 degrees Fahrenheit (minus-5 Celsius) and windy at kickoff.
One teammate he won't have alongside him, however, is running back J.K. Dobbins, who returned to practice this week after having foot surgery in November. He was ruled out Friday along with Nix, who's recovering from surgery but won't go on injured reserve until the weekend.
All-Pro defensive lineman Zach Allen said Stidham has always been first to arrive at team headquarters and prepared as if he were the starter: “So, we’re really excited to see what he does. And obviously he goes against the defense in practice all the time.”
And holds his own, too.
“He's really, really smart,” Allen said. “He’s like a second quarterback coach out there and on top of it he can make every single throw.”
Edge rusher Nik Bonitto said Stidham isn't shy to trash-talk defenders.
“He’s actually funny because he’ll be in there, you know, he’ll be throwing dots, like throwing no-look passes in practice, and then he’ll let us know about it too, man, talking trash to whoever,” Bonitto said.
“So he has ultimate, you know, confidence in himself, and you got to have that playing that position, and that’s why I’m really excited for him to go out. You know, he’s earned this opportunity to go out and show off his talents, and I can’t wait to see him.”
Payton said he's not fretting over Stidham as his starter.
“I say this respectfully and I told the team, 'I’m not worried about Stiddy in this game. I'm worried about everyone else, all right, and how we play,'” Payton said. “And that really is the truth.”
The Broncos were a loose bunch all week as they embraced being the largest home underdog (five points) in conference championship history.
Cornerback Riley Moss was asked if he thought Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels and second-year quarterback Drake Maye would target him like many teams do to avoid Pat Surtain II on the other side.
“Yeah, no doubt,” Riley replied. “And you know the entire world knows that, I know that, you guys know that. It's going to be exciting. I'm excited for it. It's going to be a good challenge. It's going to be sweet, and yeah, I look forward to it.”
Over the last two months, Moss has largely avoided the pass-inference calls that dogged him early in the season.
“He responded well, man. He’s battle-tested,” Surtain said. “His confidence level never wavers. People always say he’s getting targeted but I say try him at your own risk because he’s going to eventually come back to bite you. He’s going to make a play.”
NOTES: Rookie WR Pat Bryant, who sustained a concussion against Buffalo, was a full participant in practice Thursday and Friday and is ready to go. “He was asymptomatic the very next day,” Payton said. WR Troy Franklin (hamstring) is questionable.
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Denver Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham warms up before an NFL divisional round playoff football game against the Buffalo Bills, Saturday, Jan. 17, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/Jack Dempsey)
DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — Israel and Iran exchanged fire early Wednesday as Tehran kept up its pressure on the region's oil industry, hitting a ship in the Strait of Hormuz and targeting infrastructure as concerns grew of a global energy crisis.
Iran has effectively stopped shipping traffic through the narrow strait off its coast, through which about a fifth of the world's oil is shipped from the Persian Gulf toward the Indian Ocean. It has also been targeting oil fields and refineries in Gulf Arab nations as part of a strategy that appeared to be aimed at generating enough global economic pain to pressure the United States and Israel to end their strikes.
Early Wednesday, Kuwait said its defenses had downed eight Iranian drones over the oil-rich nation and Saudi Arabia said it had intercepted five drones heading toward the kingdom's vast Shaybah oil field. A projectile hit a container ship off the coast of the United Arab Emirates in the Strait of Hormuz.
The United Nations Security Council was to vote later in the day on a resolution sponsored by the Gulf Cooperation Council demanding Iran stop attacking its Arab neighbors.
Israel, which launched the war with the United States on Feb. 28, said it had had begun a new wave of attacks on Tehran, following multiple strikes the day before that residents described as some of the heaviest during the war. Explosions were also heard in Beirut and in southern Lebanon after Israel said it had started a new assault on targets related to the Iran-linked militia Hezbollah.
The attacks set a building ablaze in central Beirut in the densely populated Aicha Bakkar area, engulfing the top two floors of the multistory structure in flames. There were no immediate reports of casualties from the strike, which came without warning.
An earlier Israeli strike in southern Lebanon killed five people in the Nabatieh district, while two more were killed in strikes in the Tyre district and the Bint Jbeil district, Lebanon's Health Ministry said. A Red Cross worker also died early Wednesday of wounds sustained Monday, when his team was hit by an Israeli strike while they were rescuing people from an earlier attack.
Nearly 500 people have been killed so far in Lebanon since Hezbollah triggered the latest round of fighting with Israel when it fired rockets into the country’s north after the American and Israeli attacks on Iran started.
Israel warned of three Iranian attacks across the country early Wednesday, with sirens heard in Tel Aviv and elsewhere but no immediate reports of casualties.
In addition to targeting Saudi Arabia's oil fields, the kingdom's defense ministry said it had destroyed six ballistic missiles launched toward Prince Sultan Air Base, a major U.S.- and Saudi-operated air facility in eastern Saudi Arabia. The ministry also said it intercepted and destroyed two drones over Hafar al-Batin, a major city in the eastern province.
In the Strait of Hormuz, Iran hit a container ship with a projectile off Ras al-Khaimah, the UAE’s northern-most emirate on the strait, according to a monitoring site run by the British military.
It said the “extent of the damage is currently unknown but under investigation by the crew.”
The United Arab Emirates said early Wednesday that its air defenses were working to intercept incoming Iranian fire. The wealthy Gulf nation — home to the business and travel hub of Dubai — said Iranian attacks have killed six people and wounded 122 others there.
Bahrain sounded sirens early Wednesday, warning of an incoming Iranian attack. The warnings came a day after an Iranian attack hit a residential building in the capital, Manama, and killed a 29-year-old woman and wounding eight people.
In New York, the U.N. Security Council was to vote Wednesday afternoon on the Gulf Cooperation Council resolution, according to three diplomats speaking on condition of anonymity ahead of an official announcement.
The Gulf Cooperation Council, a six-nation regional bloc, said its own facilities were targeted in an Iranian attack last week on Bahrain.
The draft resolution, obtained by The Associated Press, condemns Iran’s attacks on Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Jordan. The measure calls for an immediate end to all strikes and threats against neighboring states, including through proxies.
It would be the first Security Council resolution considered since the start of the war.
Oil prices remained well below the peaks hit on Monday but the price of Brent crude, the international standard, was still up some 20% Wednesday from when the war began, and consumers around the world are already feeling the pain at the pump.
The spike in oil prices has been rocking financial markets worldwide because of worries that the war could block the global flow of oil and natural gas for a long time.
Amin Nasser, the president and CEO of Saudi Arabia’s oil giant Aramco, warned on Tuesday that if oil tankers continue to be unable to transit the strait “that will have a serious impact on the global economy.”
The U.S. military said Tuesday it had destroyed 16 Iranian minelayers near the Strait of Hormuz, though U.S. President Donald Trump said in social media posts that there were no reports yet of Iran mining the passage, a prospect that experts warned of in the buildup to the war.
In addition to the nearly 500 people killed in Lebanon, Iran has said more than 1,300 people have been killed there and Israel has reported 12 people dead.
The U.S. has lost seven soldiers while another eight have suffered severe injuries.
Many foreign nationals have been getting out of the Persian Gulf region since the war began, including over 45,000 U.K. citizens, the British Foreign Office said. Some 40,000 people returned to the United States, according to the State Department.
Magdy reported from Cairo, and Rising from Bangkok. Associated Press writers Sally Abou AIJoud in Beirut, Giovanna Dell’Orto in Miami, Julie Watson in San Diego, and Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this story.
People take shelter in an underground metro station as air raid sirens warn of incoming Iranian missile strike, in Ramat Gan, Israel, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Oded Balilty)
A man passes in front of a destroyed building that housed a branch of Al-Qard Al-Hassan, a non-bank financial institution run by Hezbollah, which was hit by an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
People walk past closed shops at the nearly empty traditional main bazaar in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Motorbikes drive past a billboard depicting Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, center, handing the country’s flag to his son and successor Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, right, as the late revolutionary founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini stands at left, in a square in downtown Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)
Smoke rises from an Israeli airstrike in Dahiyeh, Beirut's southern suburbs, Lebanon, Tuesday, March 10, 2026. (AP Photo/Bilal Hussein)
