It has been 10 years since the Patriots went to Denver to face the Broncos in the AFC Championship Game, and fans around New England have mostly blocked that one out. On Sunday here in 2026, they’ll look to quarterback Drake Maye to help them fully exorcise what has been one of the big franchise demons that even Tom Brady–the quarterback on that difficult Sunday–could not smite.
The Patriots have never won a playoff game in Denver. Brady did beat the Broncos in the playoffs, once in Foxborough, but he was 0-for-3 in his attempts as a visitor to the Mile High City.
Maye, apprised of that historical point, kept the focus on the now.
“It’d be huge,” Maye said this week. “I mean, just the AFC Championship, the chance to go to the Super Bowl. That’d be huge. Another road environment that’s had success in the past. They’ve had success since Coach [Sean] Payton has been there, and they have great players, and they’ve got a great team. I know it would be a big-time win, obviously, and I think for us just to play to our standard and play to our road – kind of what we’ve been doing on the road all season long. I know it’s going to be a tough challenge.”
Patriots Playoff History, Pre-Drake Maye
But first, a trek through three painful games in the mostly stellar history of Brady and the Patriots.
Start with the 2016 game, which was the final meeting between Brady and Peyton Manning in their illustrious series of battles. That was for a trip to the Super Bowl (the Broncos got shredded by the Seahawks that year) and was Brady’s best chance to get a Patriots win in his time as a playoff visitor in Denver.
The Broncos defense was tough all day, but Brady led a stunning two-minute drill to turn a 20-12 fourth-quarter deficit into a 20-18 game with seconds to play following a fourth-down touchdown pass to Rob Gronkowski. But the 2-point conversion attempt was tipped and intercepted, and the Broncos held on.
Memorable Flops for Patriots & Tom Brady
Brady’s Patriots also lost in the AFC Championship to Manning’s Broncos in 2014, when Manning threw for 400 yards and the Patriots fell behind, 23-3, on their way to a 26-16 clobbering that was not as close as the score indicated.
Even back in 2006, when the Broncos had Jake Plummer at quarterback, Brady could not get the job done in the divisional round. He threw for 341 yards on the night, but also threw two interceptions, and combined with fumbles by Troy Brown and Kevin Faulk, the Patriots were their own worst enemy against a very good Broncos defense.
Drake Maye Feels Prepared for Moment
So there’s history to contend with. But Maye and the Patriots, again keeping it here in 2026, have some hope. They’ve been the best road team in the NFL this year, at 8-0, and ground out tough wins under the national lights against both Buffalo and Baltimore this season.
Maye cited those games as ones that helped prepare the Patriots for what they’ll see in Denver.
“Both the Sunday night ones, both Buffalo and Baltimore,” he said. “Those are two teams in the AFC that are good fan bases, big-time teams that have done stuff in the playoffs in the past years with big-time players and great coaches, and I think that environment helped us. The Buffalo game was tight, it was ugly in the first half, and the second half was cool, was special.
“We had to go on a game-winning drive, and then same deal in Baltimore. … What Coach [Mike] Vrabel has been saying is we’ve seen a lot of things this year, a lot of different scenarios, a lot of different game situations, and I think we’re prepared for a lot. Looking forward to what this team’s going to show on Sunday.”
Patriots’ Drake Maye Could Do Something Tom Brady Never Did on Sunday