When star quarterback Phil Simms went down with a broken foot in Week 15 in 1990, the New York Giants turned to sparingly used backup Jeff Hostetler as the guy who would have to lead them into the playoffs.

Hostetler remembers the talk then of him taking over.

“I had to block out the noise,’’ Hostetler told The Denver Gazette on Wednesday from his home in Morgantown, West Virginia. “Heck, there wasn’t anybody outside our locker room who thought I could do the job. I can probably count outside the locker room on one hand the people who thought I could do it and they were all family members.”

Well, Hostetler led the Giants as the starter to two wins to close the regular season and to three in the playoffs. The final one was a 20-19 victory over the Buffalo Bills in Super Bowl XXV in January 1991 in Tampa, Fla.

Now, Hostetler, 64, is watching with interest as Broncos quarterback Jarrett Stidham will start for injured Bo Nix in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game at Empower Field at Mile High. Nix suffered a broken right ankle in overtime of Saturday’s 33-30 win over the Bills in a divisional playoff, ending his season.

“He and my circumstances are somewhat similar,’’ Hostetler said. “It was my seventh year and this is his seventh year. I had about the same number of starts as he does in his career at this time.”

Hostetler entered the 1990 season with just two career starts before getting the two to close the regular season. Add on his three winning playoff starts, and he had seven after the Super Bowl win.

Stidham enters Sunday with four career starts, two with Las Vegas in 2022 and two in his first year with Denver, when he got the nod for the final two games of 2023 after Russell Wilson was benched. Backing up Nix, Stidham has gotten into just four games over the past two seasons in mop-up roles and hasn’t thrown a pass.

Now, he’s one game away from taking the Broncos to Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, Calif., on Feb. 8.

“My advice to (Stidham) is to block out the noise,’’ Hostetler said. “That’s really hard to do because you’ve got reporters asking questions. They were asking me things like, ‘This coach doesn’t think you can get it done. ‘(John) Madden (the former NFL coach and analyst who is now deceased) doesn’t think you can get it done.’’’

Well, Hostetler got it done after he had thrown just 93 passes in seven seasons prior to Simms getting hurt.

“I came home (the week before Simms’ injury) and told my wife (Vicky) that after the season I was done,’’ Hostetler said of planning to retire. “That was before free agency and I was stuck and I just didn’t see an opportunity and I was filled with frustration. Seven weeks later, I was standing on the podium after we had won the Super Bowl.”

In Super Bowl XXV, Hostetler completed 20 of 32 passes for 222 yards with a touchdown and no interceptions. The Giants clinched the win when Buffalo’s Scott Norwood missed a 47-yard field goal wide right on the final play.

“I can still hear the snap and the thump and see the officials underneath waving no good,’’ Hostelter said. “It sure changes things (in his life).”

Hostetler didn’t retire, going on to play seven more seasons. That included starting 21 games to eight for Simms in two more seasons with the Giants and making the Pro Bowl with the Los Angeles Raiders in 1994.

Broncos coach Sean Payton said Wednesday he has reached out to his mentor Bill Parcells, who coached the Giants in 1990, to talk about topics that included Hostetler’s Super Bowl run. Stidham said that what some backup quarterbacks have “accomplished is incredible” in leading teams to Super Bowl wins but he’s “not going to get too far ahead of myself.”

Payton also has brought up backup quarterback Nick Foles having led Philadelphia to a win in Super Bowl LII in the 2017 season after taking over for injured Carson Wentz as the starter in Week 15 of the regular season. But Foles had 32 career starts before replacing Wentz and had made the Pro Bowl in 2013, leading Hostetler to be a much better comparison to Stidham’s situation.

Hostetler at least had the advantage of starting the final two regular-season games and beginning the playoffs in that role. Stidham is just the second quarterback to make his first start of the season in a conference title game, the first being Roger Staubach of Dallas in 1972. But Staubach had led the Cowboys to a Super Bowl win the previous season and was the game’s MVP before being injured in 1972.

Hostetler said Parcells told the team when he took over, “Listen, if we lose, it’s not going to be because of that quarterback.” He likes how Payton is supporting Stidham now.

“I do like how Sean Payton has been coming out and saying right off the bat, ‘Stidham is going to get it done and we’ve got all the confidence in the world that he’s going to get it done,’’’ said Hostetler, who has met Payton on several occasions. “That’s huge.”

Stidham said Wednesday “it’s still football” and he’s not preparing differently from any other game. Hostetler said that is the right approach.

“My big thing is don’t make the game bigger than just another football game,’’ Hostetler said. “Obviously, it’s the playoffs and it’s one and done and this is your chance to go to the Super Bowl. But you‘ve got to put that stuff aside and just do your job and go have some fun out there.”

If Stidham can get the job done, his life could change just the way it did with Hostetler.

“Things can change quicky,’’ Hostetler said. “Just keep plugging away and good things can happen.”