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Keeler: Here’s why Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham makes Patriots fans in Denver nervous

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Keeler: Here’s why Broncos QB Jarrett Stidham makes Patriots fans in Denver nervous


Justin Grant had Tedy Bruschi on his back and Brock Osweiler on the brain.

“I don’t like the storyline with Jarrett Stidham,” he told me as we shivered on the second-floor deck at Jackson’s LODO early Saturday night.

Then he corrected himself.

“I hate the storyline,” Grant continued, adjusting his bright blue Bruschi replica Patriots jersey.

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“Why?” I wondered.

“Because we drafted him. And he gave us two years and then he left. And now he’s, like, the guy who’s coming in. I just don’t like the storyline.”

New England rolls an MVP-caliber quarterback into Denver — only to get beaten by a Broncos backup? Justin’s seen the movie before. He always ends up crying at the end.

The last time Grant, who calls Colorado Springs home but grew up in Maine, saw his beloved Pats at Empower Field was November 2015. When Osweiler rallied the Broncos past Tom Brady in the snow.

Talk about your classic PTSD — Pats Traumatic Stress Disorder.

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“I’m 0-and-1, man,” Grant laughed on the eve of the AFC Championship between the Broncos and Patriots. “We don’t have a good record here.”

Sure don’t. The Pats are tied with the Steelers for the most Super Bowl victories (six) since the AFL-NFL merger of 1970. But they’ve never won a postseason game in Denver (0-4). Brady went 0-3. Empower Field was the one mountain too high for even the GOAT to climb.

New England Patriots fan Brian Kureta screams among his fellow fans on Saturday, Jan. 24, 2026, at Jackson’s LODO in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

“Honestly, man, after losing two Super Bowls to Eli Manning and one to Nick Foles,” Grant’s friend Jordan Buck, a Pats fan from Lakewood, told me, “I’m not overlooking anybody. But you’ve got to be confident in your squad, so I like my team’s chances.”

Love them, though?

Not after Osweiler. Or Foles. Or Eli twice.

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“Yeah, (Stidham) hasn’t played in a long time,” Buck shrugged. “But I mean, he played for us for three years, so he knows us well.”

What did Broncos fans and Pats fans have in common Saturday? Stidham, who’ll make his first postseason start against New England in place of injured Broncos QB Bo Nix, was on the lips of both teams’ fans the hours before the biggest football game at Empower Field in a decade.

New Englanders packed into Jackson’s LODO for a pep rally just within shouting distance of Coors Field. Most of the shouts were distinctly of the NC-17 variety.

Patriot Pat signs New England Patriots fan Sumaya Faggan's bag on Saturday at Jackson's LODO in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
Patriot Pat signs New England Patriots fan Sumaya Faggan’s bag on Saturday at Jackson’s LODO in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

“I LOVE DRAKE MAYE!” a Patriots fan cried.

“(EXPLETIVE) THE BRONCOS!” Another screamed.

The “Night Before” rally was a brainchild of the Pikes Peak Pats fan club. PPP typically hosts a night-before primer on the eve of an AFC title game in Denver, but it’s been a while. January 2016 brought roughly 700 Front Range Pats fans together. PPP president Anne Stone told me they were expecting at least 1,000 this time around — if not more. With the sun setting and temps falling at 5:15 p.m., a line of at least 100 patrons was seen snaking out from the front door of Jackson’s and around the block.

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Near the DJ stage on the second floor, the Patriots’ “All-Access”  television show did a live shoot for the locals back in Beantown. Pat Patriot danced in one corner. A giant ice sculpture of the New England logo rested in another. Former New England kicker Adam Vinatieri, the Patriots’ honorary captain for Sunday, showed up for his “All-Access” cameo as faithful waved tiny cardboard heads of New England rookie tackle Will Campbell.

“We all we got?” Vinatieri asked.

“We all we need!” they cried.

“We all we got?” Vinatieri repeated.

“We all we need!”

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“That’s what I’m talking about!” Vinatieri said.

Former New England Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan signs autographs for fans on Saturday at Jackson's LODO in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)
Former New England Patriots cornerback Logan Ryan signs autographs for fans on Saturday at Jackson’s LODO in Denver. (Photo by Timothy Hurst/The Denver Post)

It’s OK to roll your eyes. But not at the cause. PPP ran a raffle during the rally on Saturday, with a plethora of signed Pats items, in order to raise money for the Pikes Peak Region Peace Officers Memorial.

As a Boston native, Stone’s accent is thicker than chowdah, bless her, with a laugh that lilts like a fly ball onto Lansdowne Street. She moved to the Front Range 30 years ago when her husband got a new gig — and never left.

The Pikes Peak Pats Club started in 2006. Stone became president a year after that. PPP counts about 90 active members now. Before the pandemic, it was closer to 400. Things are more transient now, with East Coast military transplants looking for a good watch pah-ty coming and going as Uncle Sam ships them in and out of the Springs.

“It’s good,” Stone said. “You get to meet new people all the time.”

Pats owner Robert Kraft has even visited PPP tailgates and parties over the years, although he wasn’t on the guest list for Saturday’s rally.

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And if Stone’s got any PTSD, deep down, she sure as heck wasn’t showing it.

“To tell you the truth, in all honesty, I think a lot of people, all of my Pats friends, everyone’s hearts are broken for poor Bo Nix,” Stone said. “Some of us are old enough that he could be our son. Here was a 25-year-old who spent the night crying. It’s just awful.”

A pause.

And cue the “but” …

“That being said, I don’t think we’re a shoo-in,” Stone continued. “I do think we’re going to win. That’s my gut reaction. You know what they say: ‘Any given Sunday.’ It’s true. And we don’t have good luck (in Denver).”

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Oh and four.

As in, uh-oh and four.

“That worry you?” I asked Grant.

“Yes, it does,” he replied. “It worries me a lot.”

He just wishes Stidham would stop giving him that old Osweiler vibe.

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“So hopefully,” Grant said nervously, “history doesn’t repeat itself.”

Stiddy as you Bo, man. Stiddy as you Bo.



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Game Thread: Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors. March 29th, 2026. – Denver Stiffs

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Game Thread: Denver Nuggets vs Golden State Warriors. March 29th, 2026. – Denver Stiffs


Community Guidelines

Welcome to Denver Stiffs! We’re glad you’re here.

Denver Stiffs is a community where sports fans from all backgrounds gather to share their passion. We strive to create a fun and welcoming place for everyone to come fan with us. These guidelines help ensure that happens. Here’s the short version:

  • Be respectful in your interactions with contributors and fellow fans.
  • Don’t be a jerk, and don’t call other people jerks.
  • We’ll remove anything we see that jeopardizes our communities.
  • We ask that you do your best to keep the conversation to sports and primarily our favorite NBA team. Why? Because there are plenty of other sites where you can air your opinions about everything from politics to soup recipes.
  • You can help with that. If you see something that doesn’t align with our guidelines, let us know. Flag any comments or usernames that violate our guidelines so our community managers can review them.

These rules extend to our communities everywhere: in our comments, on social media, and in real life.

We do not allow any of the following:

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  • Personal attacks: This includes name-calling, insults, threats, hurtful comments about someone’s appearance, voice, or style, and all other forms of attacks. We want our communities to be welcoming and fun. Personal attacks are the opposite of that.
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  • Misinformation and disinformation: Sharing demonstrably false information about news or world events, beyond the scope of reasonable sports opinion or analysis, can be harmful to our communities. These comments will be removed and may result in a suspension or a ban.
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Anyone who doesn’t follow these rules when engaging in our communities will at best be removed from the conversation, and at worst will end up banned from that community. These decisions will be made at the discretion of our community managers and other Mile High Sports personnel. Community managers and moderators have final say on interpretation of violating our community guidelines, and on all decisions resulting in a warning, suspension, and/or ban.

If you see any of these things happening in our communities, please flag it and it will be reviewed. You can also reach out via our contact page.



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Colorado No Kings protests draw crowds across Denver, state

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Colorado No Kings protests draw crowds across Denver, state


Carol Swan went to her first-ever protest in Denver’s Civic Center on Saturday dressed like Lady Liberty — a tiara of crystals and wire, a teal bedsheet-turned-dress that belonged to her late grandmother and a torch fashioned from aluminum foil.

The 74-year-old Lochbuie resident doesn’t like crowds. She normally protests alone every weekend on a busy street corner in the north metro area.

“But when we face our fears, they become less and less,” she said.

Swan was among tens of thousands of Coloradans who joined demonstrations across the state on Saturday to protest policies carried out by President Donald Trump’s administration as part of the nationwide “No Kings” movement.

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No Kings organizers have criticized the administration’s use of masked federal agents for “terrorizing our communities,” the war in Iran and “attacks on our freedom of speech, our civil rights, our freedom to vote.”

Protesters filled Civic Center and spilled into surrounding streets Saturday as speakers led songs and chants and encouraged attendees to stand up for what they believed in.

Swan’s reason for driving into the city was simple: to be among the voices saying they don’t support the president.

“Trump swore at his inauguration that he would uphold the Constitution, and he’s done anything but that,” she said.

This is the third nationwide No Kings demonstration in less than a year, with previous protests in June and October also drawing tens of thousands of people onto the streets across Colorado. More than 70 protests were scheduled statewide Saturday, from Burlington to Steamboat Springs and Cortez to Fort Collins. No Kings organizers said nearly 4,000 demonstrations were planned nationwide.

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Denver’s No Kings protest began on the steps of the Capitol shortly before noon, with attendees hoisting signs criticizing cuts to foreign aid and sharing expletive-laden messages against Trump. Several woman dressed as suffragettes in floor-length dresses, formal pantsuits and hats and carried signs or wore sashes that demanded “Votes for Women.”

Lifelong Denverite Christina De Luna, 29, was watching the crowd mill around a closed-off Broadway with a Mexican flag tied around her shoulders.

“I come from a family of immigrants, and I feel like this is a way of supporting them and taking a stance on the right side of history,” she said.

De Luna said she thinks the protests make a difference: They raise awareness about what’s going on in the U.S. and remind people to come together as a community.

“What’s going on in the world right now with immigrants and anyone who looks and sounds different, it’s not OK,” she said. “We should all be treated equally, and coming out here is about fighting for equality and basic human rights.”

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A member of Rise and Represent leads people marching downtown on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Denver. Thousands gathered to march in the No Kings Protest. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post)

Partners Diane Larson, 67, and Don Hiser, 72, drove from Parker to join the No Kings demonstration in downtown Denver. The couple said they were dismayed by what was happening in the country — that they lived through the Vietnam War and civil rights movement, and things had never been this bad.

“I think this is a start,” Hiser said. “You have to start somewhere, and if you don’t show up, you don’t change anything.”

“We care about what happens to people,” Larson added. “It’s really important to make sure everyone’s voices are heard, because we’re not standing idly by.”

Saturday was also the first time Ajani Brown, 33, attended a protest. Brown came to the park dressed as Captain America to pass out flyers with his union. He shared a hug and fist-bump with a passing Spider-Man.

“It feels like I’m doing something that’s a lot bigger than myself,” he said. “It’s about righteousness. It’s about freedom of expression.”

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Demonstrators began marching through downtown about 1:30 p.m., with the crowds spanning city blocks. A video taken from a high-rise at 19th and Lincoln streets and shared on social media by Christine Piel shows marchers at 19th Avenue and Lincoln Street, with the crowd stretching south down Lincoln and out of view toward Civic Center.

Law enforcement blocks protestors from going onto the interstate on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Denver. Thousands gathered to march in the No Kings protest. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post)
Law enforcement blocks protestors from going onto the interstate on Saturday, March 28, 2026, in Denver. Thousands gathered to march in the No Kings protest. (Photo by Rebecca Slezak/Special to The Denver Post)

Although the protest appeared to stay largely peaceful, Denver police officers used smoke cannisters and pepper balls to disperse a “small group of demonstrators” who blocked the road near 20th and Wazee streets, where police were staged to stop people from marching onto Interstate 25, agency officials said.

Police declared an unlawful assembly at 2:35 p.m. and used the smoke cannisters, switching to pepper balls when someone threw a cannister back at police. Eight people were arrested, and one person was arrested about two hours later for throwing things.

No Kings protests across the Front Range also saw significant crowds, including at least 3,000 people in Longmont.

Carlos Álvarez-Aranyos, founder of the Boulder-based group American Opposition, criticized Trump’s handling of the war with Iran and the actions of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

“If one man can ignore the law, detain people without due process and drag this country into a war without the consent of its people, then we are no longer living in a democracy,” he said. “We are living under a king, and we are here today because we refuse to accept that.”

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More than 1,000 people gathered at Lincoln Park in downtown Greeley, where residents Kyleen and Kathy Gilliland carried a large flag as they marched with the group around the streets near the park.

“Our country is in distress,” Kyleen Gilliland said. “It’s going upside down because the rich are empowered and the little guy is left behind. And that’s not what America stands for.”

Times-Call reporter Dana Cadey and Greeley Tribune reporter Anne Delaney contributed to this report.

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Purple Row After Dark: Is Denver the best sports town in the US?

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Purple Row After Dark: Is Denver the best sports town in the US?


In case you missed it, the Denver Summit — the Mile High City’s new NWSL team — made quite a debut today:

The game ended on a 0-0 draw, but what a great day for Denver sports.

And that raises an interesting question: Is Denver the best sports town in the United States?

The sooner the Mile High City gets a WNBA team, the better.

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Me, I think you can’t beat Denver for sports. But I’m willing to entertain other perspectives. Let us know in the comments!

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