When the Broncos’ starting quarterback sneaked away to Target for a quick shopping trip, the peeps in America’s football-craziest city didn’t know him from a six-pack of toilet paper.

“Nobody noticed me,” Jarrett Stidham said Wednesday.

By Sunday afternoon, when Stidham breaks the Broncos huddle against New England in the AFC Championship Game, Denver might turn into Stiddy City.

But for now, he’s just a random dude with his kids in tow at the checkout line.

“Incognito,” Stidham said.

He wears No. 8 for the Broncos. And for those of you keeping score at home, Stidham is the best thing to come out of Corbin, Kentucky, since Colonel Harland Sanders’ original recipe for fried chicken.

But seven full seasons into his professional career, the biggest game of Stidham’s life, with nothing less than a trip to the Super Bowl at stake, will be only his fifth start as an NFL quarterback. 

At age 29, he’s a cellophane man in the league. Nothing to see here … or at least that’s what Patriots defensive tackle Milton Williams suggested when asked what he knows about Stidham.

“Nothing. I ain’t gonna lie. Nothing,” said Williams, drawing chuckles from reporters in New England. “We’re gonna watch the tape on him and figure out what he likes to do. But .. no, they didn’t like him over Bo (Nix), so …”

Those Massholes that fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it.

Although they’re the No. 1 seed in the AFC, the Broncos are 5.5-point underdogs on their home turf, because of a bad break late in their rousing 33-30 overtime victory against Buffalo.

Denver kicker Wil Lutz drilled the winning field goal, the crowd in Empower Field at Mile High went wild, players hugged each other on the field, listened to the postgame speech from coach Sean Payton and hit the showers, when bad news fell on them like a ton of bricks.

Nix broke his ankle. Surgery required. Done for the season.

Disbelief and shock couldn’t begin to describe what the Broncos felt.

“That’s the crazy thing,” said receiver Courtland Sutton, when I asked if he had any inkling during the final seconds of overtime that Nix was hurt too badly to continue down the road to the Super Bowl. “When people came and told me, I was like: ‘That’s not true.’”

After the Bills were sent packing, Sutton celebrated with Nix on the Denver sideline. Embraced him in the locker room. Shared smiles guaranteed never to fade.

Everything was cool. Until it wasn’t.

“I saw (Nix) multiple times, and he did not say one thing to me, there wasn’t anything that was leaning toward he was hurt,” Sutton recalled. “I think it speaks volumes to his toughness … Spoke volumes to the man he is and the character he has. He didn’t want to make this big scene and say, ‘Oh, I just won the game and I hurt myself.’ Nah. He didn’t want to steal the joy of the moment from everybody.”

How do the Broncos possibly replace their alpha dog? What chance does Stidham stand against the Patriots and Drake Maye, a quarterback with bona fide MVP credentials?

“He’s going to rip it,” said Payton, confident that Stidham is ready for his close-up, despite not throwing a pass in an NFL game that counts since 2023.

Stiddy’s role has been serving as the boombox guy in the Denver locker room. The DJ in charge of the vibe. Now, he’s entrusted with winning the biggest game for the franchise since Super Bowl 50 a decade ago.

For a QB in his shoes, what’s the sweet spot between turtling in the spotlight and trying to do too much?

“I’m just going to go out there and play. And be myself,” Stidham said. “I think that’s the biggest thing. I’m not going to try to be somebody I’m not.”

There’s a template for him to turn this dusty old cowtown into Stiddy City.

And you don’t have to go as far as citing the impossible dream of winning a Super Bowl with a backup quarterback, as Nick Foles did with the Philadelphia Eagles and Jeff Hostetler did with the New York Giants after stepping in for an injured starter.

Let’s instead focus on the last magical NFL season in Denver, when Brock Osweiler was forced to take the reins of the Broncos offense after the ravages of age and injury forced coach Gary Kubiak to bench legendary quarterback Peyton Manning.

Recall what was Osweiler’s daunting assignment in only his second NFL start?

The undefeated Patriots, led by GOAT Tom Brady, when they brought a 10-0 record to Denver as 3-point favorites in November 2015.

Osweiler made beating the mighty Patriots 30-24 in overtime look like child’s play.

“I remember when I was a kid, you’d go in the backyard and play football in the winter, and if your receiver didn’t catch it, the ball would go in a snowbank,” said Osweiler, who threw for 270 yards and a touchdown in a winter wonderland, while leading Denver from 14 points down in the fourth quarter to get the better of Brady.

Maye is a brilliant young QB. But he ain’t no GOAT.

If Osweiler could do it, Stiddy’s got this.

No sweat. No big deal.

“We’re playing in the AFC championship; we’re one of the last four teams playing,” Stidham said. “What’s not fun about this?”