Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Instant Reaction to Patriots vs Chargers, Bills vs Jaguars, Packers vs Bears, Rams vs Panthers & 49ers-Eagles | NFL Wild Card Weekend

Episode Date: January 12, 2026

Our instant reaction to NFL Wildcard Weekend is here! Mitch and Mello break down every game of this weekend's NFL Wildcard slate. Then we wrap up by by looking at some of the 2025 Fantasy Football seasons biggest breakouts, and if they’ll continue their breakout in the 2026 Fantasy Football Season 0:00 - Intro 0:33 - Los Angeles Rams vs Carolina Panthers 5:45 - Green Bay Packers vs Chicago Bears 14:42 - Buffalo Bills vs Jacksonville Jaguars 22:59 - San Francisco 49ers vs Philadelphia Eagles 29:49 - Los Angeles Chargers vs New England Patriots 59:10 - Houston Texans vs Pittsburgh Steelers 35:48 - Breaking Out or Breaking Down Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All right, welcome into the lineup fantasy football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mello. And both of us are working off of about six hours of sleep right now after going at Gillette Stadium last night to watch the Patriots Chargers game. We're going to get into that game in every single game from Super Wild Card weekend. Before we jump into things, make sure to drop a like, drop a comment, subscribe, and hit that bell to be notified every time we drop a brand new episode.

Without further ado, let's get into our instant reaction from Super Wild Card weekend. All right, game one. We are taking a look at the Rams, Panthers, 34, 31. Both our picks was the Rams. Give me your initial thoughts on the game. Game was much better, much more exciting as a viewer than I was expecting, which after the first few minutes, I didn't think would be the case. It felt like it was so over, so early, the Rams scoring, like four minutes into the game,

not even starting with the ball. But it became a good game. I'm curious how much the hand has affected Stafford was affecting him in this game, how much it could going forward. He seemed a little bit off. I mean, he had a stretch where he was like two of 13 in this game or something like that. Shout out to Cokeheads. That was super exciting.

And the Panthers probably weren't going to win this game, but the fact that they had a chance and that game management in the last drive was so horrible. it was kind of like hard to watch as a fan. That was pretty criminal game management down the stretch. But great game overall. Yeah, I would say my big note from this game was like, what a disastrous end to the first half for the Rams? Going forward on that fourth and three,

I get being aggressive in the playoffs, but like you just didn't need to. And then obviously Puka's drop, which you texted like one in 500 chance that was going to happen. My only other note, that hit on Devante Adams was insane. I literally got flashed back to the, Emmanuel Sanders hit where like coming down the sideline and he just got railroaded.

I was shocked that he was good to go after that. I mean, thankfully he was back like three plays later. That seems like he was done for maybe the season, but I'm glad he was good to go. They got him in the blue tent, gave him a little something he was back out there. Yeah, they're like his playoffs. You're fine. Just get. Yeah. Yeah. Um, my, my best moment of this game was easily the Parkinson touchdown. I mean, I think like you said, like, I never like, I never, fully thought the Rams are going to, or excuse me, the Panthers were going to win it. But like, you look at that, Stafford's going to Stafford. They figured it out.

But like, what an unbelievable ball and what an unbelievable catch by Parkinson. Yeah, that was a crazy play. Like you said, unbelievable ball. And then Parkinson's ability to come down with that with the defender all over him and then keep the feet in bounds and score was incredible. I think the only play before that that I sort of had as my best play of the game was just the block punt. Yep.

Because that was awesome and obviously a game changing play. What surprised you? For me, it was, I mean, I love Jalen Coker. I was about to say I'm a Cokhead,

but I'm not going to put that on tape. I love Jalen Coker. I think he's awesome. But like, even as a believer, he surprised me. He was incredible. Yeah,

he was awesome. That was definitely one of the big surprises of the game. For me, it was just the Panthers in general hanging in this. I know last episode we talked about, we felt super.

confident in the Rams to win comfortably. Shout up the Panthers. They really played well. Maybe it wasn't just a fluke that they won that game earlier this season against the Rams because they were right in it. And then the only other surprise we talked about was just the pook could drop. If he hadn't dropped that, that would have been like full nuclear status on the day for him. Oh my God.

Because he already had like an insane day. I believe 34 and a half points. Yeah. And if you look at it as like unrealized fantasy points, it was probably closer to like 45. Oh, 100%. If he had caught that, like, you have him in DFS, you have him in best ball. Like, you're just winning. That's just like, especially in a playoff game where there's fewer players in the slate, like that would have just been mic drop. But still a great day from Puka. That game was like the perfect NFL is king. This is the one game where I think one

one team doesn't have a chance and it's riveting and it's exciting. And you're like, fuck yeah. Like, we just kicked it off with that game. What did you take away from this one though? Yeah, I mentioned earlier. I'm curious to see if the Stafford hand injury actually becomes anything going forward. Regardless, I think the Rams definitely are a contender, which we've all thought. But maybe they're not like the top contender that we sort of make them out to be, at least a lot of us do. I think there's sort of a narrative or a sense that the Rams are maybe the best team in the NFL. And despite being a wildcar team, maybe the favorite. But I think we might need to walk that back a little bit.

They are vulnerable. They're a great team. but they're super beatable. Yeah, this defense is a problem. I had convinced myself we were going to hit the postseason. They were going to lock in. Just thought, you know, like, they're down the stretch and they're having a few rough games,

but postseason football, this defense is going to figure it out. They've now allowed 28.3 points per game since week 13. Like, I know you've got Matthew Stafford, potentially the MVP. I know you've got a high-powered offense, but like, if you're letting up 28 points a game, eventually you're going to slip. And we've seen Stafford slip a few times.

We saw it back in the Panthers game the first time around. So I completely agree with you as I had them in my Super Bowl. And I think I still stand with that take, but it's a little more nerve-wracking right now. Yeah, I think that's a good way to put it. Let's move on to the second game, the 8 p.m. game of Saturday. This one was awesome. Bears beat Packers. I had Bears. You had Packers, but you also had Jane Reed. Yeah.

felt good about Jaden Reed. It was nice to see him catch a touchdown. Honestly, I could have said any Packers receiver and claimed I was right, though, because, I mean, they were cooking offensively in the passing game. Yeah, but which one was going to make you throw up in your mouth the most? It was easily Jaden Reed, so I got to give you credit for Kate. Thank you.

I'll take that. And it felt good to get that sort of moral victory. And it felt really good about my Packers pick, too, like, for the majority of the game, 213. I was like, all right, good pick. Yeah. And then it just, it all crumbled for. there. But great game again. We were really spoiled this weekend with some great games.

My initial thoughts on this game is that nobody knows how to fire me up for the NFL postseason quite like 81 year old Al Michaels. Al Michaels is like, I went from like hating on him so much almost being impressed by like his ridiculousness. It was like five minutes into the game and there was like an end around I think to Colquemette and he was going to try to pass it and Al Michaels is like, Colson Loveland's got the ball. Colson Loveland's got the ball. Colson the ball. And then he realizes it's Colcomette and he just starts screaming Cole Comette's name. He starts going, Colcomat! Colcomat! I was like, this is like prime Al Michaels. Like, this is the type of stuff I'm going to be missing when he's like in a home next year. The only other thing, and they

mentioned on the broadcast, where the fuck did this Iceman nickname come from for Caleb Williams? I've never, as somebody who is like concerningly tapped into the NFL, I've never heard Caleb Williams called Iceman ever. I'll say two things on. One, it sounds like the type of nickname that appears on like pro football reference when you're like well nobody calls him that but it's just like there yeah my second thought is like god damn it i was like taking notes about how much i hated that nickname at halftime and then he had ice in his veins and i'm like is he the ice man maybe he is he might be the ice man but you're right like at halftime like we would have we you know what what happened is if the second half went how the first half did we would always call caleb will

Iceman, like ironically. Ironically. Yes, exactly. Like how we called J.J. McCarthy 9, which by the way, I was fully expecting to see so many Caleb Williams nine memes on the internet. The Photoshop demons must have been so fucking pissed. Yeah, they were working hard. They were so, and they're like, shit, now I got to make one of Matt Lafleur, which is what

I saw everywhere. It's like Bleacher report when they post their like graveyard of unused graphics and it'll be like the Chiefs Three Pete thing and it's like Caleb Williams is nine. What would you have for thoughts on the game that actually matter other than me making fun of Al Michaels? No, I'm glad you brought up Al Michaels. There was another point in that game, by the way. I think it was like Colston Loveland or something, had a pass broken up. And Al Michaels was like, a drop.

And it was just blatantly not a drop. Yeah. One of the greatest to ever do it, but it is far overdue for him to hang him up. But other thoughts on the game, Ben Johnson has a huge pair of balls. some might say too big. Some of those fourth down decisions were kind of crazy. I'm all for being aggressive, by the way.

I'm very much a believer to be aggressive and go for on fourth more. Some of those were super questionable decisions in the first half. I came in here making fun of the Rams for that fourth and three call. Meanwhile, Ben Johnson's like, fucking fourth and 25. Let's just do it.

Yeah, he like, he was fading the analytics, which the analytics a lot of the time are like, when does the analytics say to punt it? Right. Have you ever seen that? Like, I guess I did the other night. Like, they were in their own territory.

It was like fourth and medium. And Ben Jonser was like, I don't care. I'm going to go for it. And of course, it didn't work out until it did in the second half. But that was my first takeaway from the game. The second one is Packers with four different receivers scoring touchdowns. I don't know if they've done that in years, especially like, I mean, they have so many different guys, but I wouldn't say

their receiving corpses necessarily a strength of the team, but it certainly seemed like it on Saturday. And then just a last note, Caleb was great down the stretch. Obviously, they came back and it was incredible. Caleb went 10 for 21 in the fourth quarter, and that was

enough to get it done. Now, granted, 10 completions is a good amount for a quarter. It's kind of crazy he threw the ball 21 times. And I think those 10 completions went for like 180-something yards. So he definitely made them count. But if you told me he completed under 50% of his passes in the fourth quarter, I would think there is no way in hell they were winning that game. But they did. It really felt like a microcosm of like exactly what we worry about with Caleb Williams,

which is we've got the fourth down to Roma Dunes-A. Here's Caleb Williams, like this generational talent. Then you look at the accuracy issues overall when you zoom out and there's still so many question marks within. Yeah, I agree. I think one thing to give him credit for, which may play into some of those incompletions, is he is doing a much better job this year of throwing the ball away when there's pressure.

Last year, and at times this year, he'll hold it way too long. He'll try to make something happen, and then he takes an 18-yard sack. Turns us back to the defense, and next thing you know, it's like he's running backwards, like four yards. Yep, exactly.

But there were a lot of times in this game, multiple that I saw that he was able to sense the pressure, just throw it away, live to see another down and that's how you extend your eyes. So credits him there. 100%. Let's get into our best moment of the game. I had the Matthew Golden touchdown. Never wrong. Just early for all you sickos, best ball sickos that love Matthew Golden over the off season. That was sick. That was a really cool touchdown. There were like three different points on that one play that I was like, all right, well, he's going to get tackled here. And then he just

didn't. So it's not in the Roma dunzee throw, but I figured I was going to be talking about it earlier in segment anyway so i was like i'll give a little love matthew golden too yeah that was an incredible play we can't go into this offseason saying he's never scored a touchdown uh granted it was the postseason my favorite play though was the darian canard screen pass rumble and fumble that play was awesome it had everything i love when a big man catches the ball he was breaking tackles it then he fumbles it got like punted like another 10 yards down the field that play was just awesome. I think that was the play, whereas somebody who had Chicago in it, I was like, oh, Chicago's done, because you just got gifted this fumble and they still didn't come up with it. And I feel like

looking back, I'm like, it's even more incredible that they won. Because when you give up, like, in a postseason game, a fumble in your lap and you don't get it there, like while you're trying to make a comeback, it's like so rare that they still pulled off. That was one of three fumbles that I counted at least that Green Bay had that Chicago did not recover. It was, was that one. Christian Watson at the goal line. I mean, that was almost touchback. And then the kick return, Josh Jacobs,

bears didn't get on either, on any of the three, and they still won the game. Yeah. Crazy. What surprised you from this game? I mean, the game in general, the second half comeback,

the three fumbles that we just talked about. But my biggest note from the first half, which was shocking, was just how comfortable, Jordan Love was. I mean, he was like in a rhythm, unstoppable. Honestly, for parts of the second half as well, but more particularly the first half,

I mean, it just seemed effortless for the Packers' offense. It's crazy the Bears were able to turn around. And then just shout out Dennis Allen, the Bears defensive coordinator. I think the second half of this game especially was a reminder why he's been a head coach in this league multiple times. Obviously, the first half wasn't a disaster.

But he changed things up, made Jordan Love a little bit more uncomfortable in the second half. And that was one of the keys to victory. So shout out Dennis on. I was, I had pretty much the same thing. Just the game in general, the fumbles. I had Ben Johnson all the fourth down tries. Like, I think all of that was all I found shocking from this one. My takeaways here is, I talked about this a couple of minutes ago, but like, I still find

Caleb Williams so hard to pin down. I think this was awesome. But he looks awful in the first half, comes back with the magic in the second half. but even then, like, his problem this season is he's 32 among 32 in accuracy and completion percentage. Like, and it was still an issue tonight. And then my other one was we talked about him a good amount last episode. Like, Colston Lovelland breakout is fully here.

We're going to talk about him in another segment right at the end of this episode. But the Tyler Warren truthers had their laughs at the beginning of the season and now the Loveland gang is just rising up. Absolutely. All right. Let's move on to our. third game, the 1 p.m. on Sunday, Bill's Jaguars. Our picks, I had the Jaguars and Parker Washington, which that worked out. Not the Jaguars part. You had the Bills and Josh Allen going full Superman,

which was a clean sweep on this game. So give me your initial thoughts. Yeah, another great game. Great call in Parker, Washington. I was a little worried. First half was quiet for him, concussion potentially. And then he just went like, nuclear the rest of the way. Parker Washington only needs one half. He only needs one. He's that good. Crazy game by him. And that actually kind of is a good transition to one of my takeaways, which was the Brian Thomas Jr. touchdown was great to see. This year was obviously super frustrating for him. So it's good to see him score the first touchdown again. Well, my question is, could that have been his last touchdown as a Jacksonville Jaguar? Because with the breakout of

Parker, Washington, and Jacoby Myers is clearly a big part of the offense. They extended him already. Travis Hunter is going to be back. I assume they'll still continue to try to use him at receiver. Brian Thomas seems like he might not be on this team next year. I think if they can get a decent value for him, I think this is a fantastic take. That wide receiver room is so crowded, and it's not crowded out of necessity. It's like crowded out of talent. And this year, Brian Thomas did not look talented. No, he did not. And there were rumors, around the trade deadline. And I think there's a lot of teams out there that would definitely be willing to take the risk on him.

Because we saw the talent at LSU. We saw the talent his rookie year. And it's really not much of a need for the Jags. So I could definitely see him getting moved. Other takeaways from the game, Josh Allen is like beat the hell up. Like I'm ready to see the injury report this week and just have it be like five different things listed. I mean, he is like. The Josh on a, Josh Allen.

on Josh Allen violence was crazy. It was crazy. He was getting after him. I like what the, there was that one sack. I think it was either late second half or early, or late first half or early second half. Like Josh Allen just got so clean off the line and just brutally like just,

I won't say shoved him and, you know, drove him into the ground. But I mean, it was a vicious hit. And I didn't even know how to react except I just like audibly said. I was like, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen, Josh Allen. I didn't even like know what I was saying. Al Michaels when he realized it wasn't Colston Loveland. Yeah, pretty much.

And you started screaming Colcomette. I actually could do Al Michaels job. That play is evidence of that. And then the only other thing I wrote down for this game is just like, what a game again. Like three for three at this point in great games. Man, I just, I loved how like last episode I felt like I was like laying out this like blueprint for why the Jaguars or the better team, why they were going to win. And you were like, well, Josh Allen.

And you were right. you just trumped my entire argument. My initial thoughts of this game, since we're on the broadcasting conversation with Al Michaels, I want to give Romo's credit because that game started and something about Jim Nance and Tony Romo that you're like, okay, we're in a playoff game. Like, they set the atmosphere so well. I think CBS does such a great job with the broadcast. And then Tony Romo actually opens his mouth and I want to kill myself.

When Breton Strange caught a pass and he goes, how strange, huh, Jim? I like, low Q is about to like mute my TV. yeah Tony is like the very best and the very worst color commentator at the same time like he does have very good insight and he's very good at explaining what happened and why it happened but then he just says certain things and sometimes they're not even words sometimes they're just noises he gave a great vintage uh jim i am a sucker for the uh jim but it was well timed i believe it was during the uh Trevor Lawrence failed fourth down conversion which that could have used an uh-jim more than any other moment in the game. My only other note is I love a ball don't lie moment. And that Cam Littlefield goal was just like so perfect. Yeah, that I was like not sure. I was like, ah, did they really get the snap off?

I don't know. And then Cam Little missing. I was like, oh, no, they didn't. Like that's just, that's- That's-that's-football divine intervention right there. Couldn't agree more. I think we have the same best moment. Well, I had two.

You tell me which one you thought was better. the Brandon Cook's catch was awesome and then the Josh Allen longest push push I've ever seen Yeah those are my two as well those are definitely the two best plays of the game I'll give it to the touch push

just because I think that's literally the furthest I've ever seen a player pushed in a pile If he had scored it would have been no competition Yeah absolutely Yeah this is probably the furthest Part of me actually wonders though Because you saw the next play it looks like the Jaguars like kind of let them score

which I do think was probably right decision. Toward the end of that play, it almost looked like Jaguars players like weren't even pushing back. Part of me wonders if they just like during the play, we're like, all right, let's just let them in at this point so we have time. I wouldn't have been shocked. Yeah. Yeah, but I mean, sick play regardless. I completely agree. My, uh, what surprised me from this game, out the gate, the physicality. Like, what a fired up. Talk about another aspect of this that made you feel like, okay, I'm watching playoff football. Like, two physical teams during the season, but the way the Jaguars came out,

give Liam Cohen his credit. I know they lost, but he had his guys fired up today. Oh, absolutely. Both these teams looked really good. They looked like they were ready for playoff football. And that was a big part of the reason it was such a great game.

I was surprised how much these offenses struggled early. Jags' defense has been great all year. The Bill's defense, not as much. But I did think we'd see some offensive fireworks. It was a slow start. both offenses eventually got it going. But also just a little surprised by Trevor Lawrence, this kind of roller coaster game where...

Yeah. I mean, he had been one of the hottest quarterbacks in football at the end of the regular season. And we saw flashes again today or yesterday where he was great. He was making plays with his legs. He made high difficulty throws. But then there were plays where missing guys

and making bad decisions, holding the ball too long. I mean, the pick at the end of the game, obviously kind of desperation. and not necessarily the worst play by him, but definitely not what you'd like to see out of him. So that was kind of a roller coaster. Yeah. My takeaways from this game, I get it now.

You win. I don't care who's better, who's worse. If it's Josh Allen, they're always going to have a chance. Do you think that on either of Trevor Lawrence's interceptions, he was distracted thinking about getting squatted again at a bar? I think that's the only logical explanation. Yeah, that had to be on his mind on that line. last one because I don't know what he was seeing. I rewatch that video yesterday. Hilarious.

His reaction to it and the presser was like so funny too. He was like trying not to laugh, but you could tell he definitely got like a shootout by Liam Cohen for being like a distraction. Oh yeah. Yeah. Like I didn't know that you would just get filmed doing stuff like that nowadays. Like yeah, dude, when you're like six foot six in Jacksonville, Florida getting like squatted by like a five foot five woman like someone's going to pull out their iPhone. Sorry. Yeah. In his defense though, I highly doubt Liam Cohen or the Jags have a policy that you're not allowed to get squatted by a woman. So how could he have known? That's going to be the new you can't play basketball in contracts.

Yeah, yeah, they're going to have to add that. My takeaways from the game, I'll patch you right back on the back for the Parker Washington pick. I mean, he's phenomenal. He is actually a legitimately very good NFL wide receiver. And then just to kind of echo what you were saying about Josh Allen, like, I don't care. how bad this bill's team is. Not that they're bad, but I mean, they definitely have some holes on this roster.

It doesn't matter. When you have Josh Allen, you will always have a chance, especially with Noma Holmes in the playoffs this year. So the bills definitely have their Super Bowl hopes alive right now. 100%. Let's move on to the 4 o'clock game on Sunday. 49ers, Eagles.

I had 49ers. You had Eagles. My big player to watch was Joanne Jennings. I said he was going to score a touchdown. Let's give me half credit. He threw one. But let's give you full credit on your Dallas Goddard pick, two touchdowns, one rushing, one in the air. Give me your initial thoughts on this game.

I think, I don't know about you. I was going in and out because I was heading to the game, but I did get to catch pretty much the entire second half. Yeah, same here. I was sort of in and out as we were both going to the night game, but caught as much of it as I could. Yeah, Dallas Goddard was great. He was maybe my favorite play of the weekend, so it was good to see him get in the end zone a couple times. The Eagles are still broken offensively. I picked the Eagles, as you said, was definitely wrong. I thought that they would play better playoff game. They have all the talent on paper. The 49ers defense is banged up. And, you know, we saw flashes, but it wasn't consistent and it still just seemed wrong. It still just seemed broken. I think they're going to have to make some changes next season. And that's give Kyle Shanahan his flowers. He's a mastermind.

I mean, the most injured team in football maybe, and they're still winning games. They're now in the division around. So many injuries. And Kyle Shanahan, actually, I saw yesterday. Every single season he's been with the 49ers where they made the playoffs, he's made the NFC title games. So shout out him.

My takeaways from this game, CMC is so good. That's just like, I just had to say that again, obligatory CMC praise. And then I talked about this. I can't say I'm watching this Eagles game. I feel like I was a little hard on the way I conveyed that about Jalen Hertz. I think Jalen Hertz is talented, but I think like you said, this Eagle system is broken. I think they need to clean out house with this offensive staff. This stat was unbelievable, though, just to like encapsulate.

the entire Eagles passing attack this season. This is from at Dante Cap Flem on Twitter. Joanne Jennings had more completed passes over 15 air yards, one, in that game than Jalen Hertz, who attempted five. What just an absolute mess? That must have been like plus 45,000 going into the game. That is horrible. There's no other word for it.

I had to give that my best moment of the game. Easy. Touchdown. That was so electric. Took me back to the most recent Chiefs 49ers Super Bowl. I believe that was 58. Yeah. Yeah. Very similar play. Honestly, a dot. Like, dot. Absolutely dot. If Brock Purdy made that throw, I'd be like, oh my God, what a throw. Brock Purdy, you ever heard of Wally Pip? That is probably the best play of the game. I'll just say, speaking of Brock Purdy, also just his last drive, just ice in his veins. Like, needing a score.

You know what we should call him? Like the Iceman? Oh, that could be pretty good. I don't think it's taken yet. I haven't heard anyone else called that. I haven't heard anybody. Call anybody that. Brock Purdy Iceman, that last drive,

touchdown to McCaffrey, his second receiving of the game. That was incredible to watch. My surprise of the game was DeMarcus Robinson Legacy game. Like, where'd that come from? Yeah, the first drive alone, I think he had two catches for,

I don't know. I don't have this statute in front me, but it was probably like 30, 40 yards the first drive was a touchdown. His first one was 47 yards, I believe. Yeah, so. It's so funny, too, because like, you know, Kittle goes down. And so if your box score watching, you're kind of like, oh, Kittle went down, they need to get some more weapons involved. DeMarcus Robinson steps up.

But like you said, it was right off the bat, the first play of the game. Yeah, that was unexpected to say the least. What surprised you from this one? For me, it's, you mentioned the kiddle injury that, I mean, horrible play to watch. You can just see his Achilles like a rubber band. Just, you know, it's, you hate to see it. You hope it's not the end of his career because he is still so freaking good when healthy. But obviously at his age, all the injuries, you kind of wonder.

But I'm just so surprised the Niners were so resilient that it didn't matter. And they kept scoring and they were able to win the game, throwing the ball, to Jake Tundjus and Kyle Eusechek was getting super involved after the kid of injury. That was a great play by him. He's good. He's good. He's good. He's got to the sideline, cut in. Like, yeah, he's so good. See that stat that he's been a fullback one in fantasy

for the past like 11 years. That is absurd. But at the same time, it doesn't even like surprise me because he's like the only fullback that catches passes and they design plays for. I take him out the 101 in my fullback premium league every year. Yeah, I don't blame you at all. I mean, if you don't get him, you're pretty much cooked.

You're just cutts. Yeah, kiddle injury was like heartbreaking. Every time you see a guy go down with something like that in the postseason, like it reminded me as a Celtics fan of Tatum last year and you're just like, well, that could be our season and that could be next season. And so 49ers get a win with a little bit of a dark cloud over it. What was your big takeaway from this one? Mine is just don't bet against Kyle Shanahan before the Super Bowl,

but always bet against him in it. Obviously, over three in the Super Bowl as a head coach or offensive coordinator. But yeah, if he's in the playoffs, like you can't bet against him, he's one of the best in the game. I was the idiot that picked the Eagles in this one. And then I was like,

why did I just take Siriani over Shanahan? So that's probably my biggest takeaway. And then just to reiterate, the Eagles absolutely need change, especially at OC, the offensive staff. They kind of need to redo basically what they did a couple years ago. after losing wild card weekend and then they brought in Kellynne Moore.

So they're going to have to bring in somebody else. Yeah. My note was just without kiddle. It's going to be interesting to see. And I think we'll talk about this a lot more on Thursday's episode about like who steps up here and what this offense looks like. CMC is a game breaker. Obviously, you're going to get him involved. But any defense is going to be ready for Christian McCaffrey.

Yeah. He's basically all they got now. I had a friend of both of ours said during the game yesterday, which is so true. It's like the Niners have to pick. They can only have McCaffrey or everyone else. That's basically how it works. And usually you just pick McCaffrey. Yeah, pretty much. All right. Let's get into the final game and the reason why my voice is gone and I feel like garbage this morning. But so worth it. Patriots Chargers, Patriots win 16 to 3. Both of us had the paths by about two scores. So right on the nose there.

My initial thoughts on the game, the defense was so genuinely fun to watch. Two first half drives within the five yard line in the first half and allowing three total points is absolutely incredible. I think a huge narrative here was Drake May playing against above 500 teams, now playing in his first postseason game. How's he going to handle it? Struggles a little bit in the first half, we had a fumble and interception. Then the second half, we have the Hooper Overthrow that was, you know,

I think his mental clock was kind of winding down and he was just letting it go. But I thought he settled in so well in the fourth quarter when it counted and when it was time to take the kill shot, he nailed it. Yeah, obviously, as a biased Patriots fan, that game rocked. I think objectively, most people would say it was probably the worst game of the weekend, but that's such a high bar. Like, every game was so good this weekend. And then we'll see what happens tonight. A huge note I had is Chargers defense is the best, the past. have seen all year, the best Drake May seen all year. Give them their credit. I mean, they did hold Drake

May to just 16 points. Really, the receiver struggled to get open downfield. They were just not getting separation. So the Chargers defense is super legit. It's just they cannot get it done offensively at all. Yeah. I agree. It's scary because my pick right now is that we're going to see Houston win tonight and it's going to be Patriots Texans next week and it's like this was a good test. This is a really good defense and you weren't perfect. You hit some adversity but you still pulled it out. And so like they got their work cut out for them if it is Houston next week. If it's Pittsburgh like we'll see in the AFC championship. Yeah, I agree. What was your best moment of the game? For me it's Milton Williams con game. That sack, just the quick swim, which by the way,

why did they call a play action pass on fourth and nine like no one is biting on the kamani fadal play action pass that whole last drive was like so mind boggling to me like it it felt like they were like stat padding i'm like what are we doing picking up like dink and dunk four yard plays and then like the sense of urgency getting back to the line like to me was not there it's like oh great the charges just marched 30 yards on us but they drained like what two and a half minutes of clock yeah they i mean they I'm sure you were bringing the same thing at the game. I was just going tick, tick, tick, tick, tick. I mean, the Patriots were like, yeah, sure, take that six-yard completion.

Not a problem. Take it. Yeah, and then a play action pass was strange, but Milton Williams, oh my God. Oh, my God. That's why you pay that, man. That's why you go out in free agency and you pay him big money because he makes plays like that. He did it last year in the Super Bowl and just an incredible play late in the game yesterday. And also, honorable mention, the Kilvan Chase on Strebsack.

that was also awesome. I mean, they were getting after Herbert last night. Poor Justin Herbert, like, I know how badly you want to win, but God, you got to have it in the back of your mind. Like, this might not be too bad, hitting Cancun, getting a breather. Oh, no, I have to go to Cancun with Madison Beer. Oh, no, this sucks. Yeah, what a horrible life that Justin Herbert has.

I think we kind of hit what surprised us. I think it was the defense, just the defense stepped up and was so incredible. but what was your like broader takeaway from this one as you look at like next round? Yeah, I think Patriots offense, I am a little bit worried as a Patriots fan. They haven't played too many elite defenses this year and they really struggled against the chargers. Obviously if they play the Texans, that's an even bigger test. So that concerns me. But what does give me hope from the Patriots perspective is they're getting guys back healthy and it showed defensively.

like the Chargers could not run the ball, which is something we talked about in the last episode. We both didn't think they would be able to. And they really couldn't. And then the first half, they weren't, the Patriots weren't generating pressure, which was super concerning against this beat up Chargers offensive line. But the second half was a different story. They were generating a ton of pressure. They were sending more blitzes, safety blitzes, corner blitzes.

I saw Marcus Jones on, I think, at least two different plays, blitz off the edge, linebacker stunts, and that was really manufacturing a lot of pressure. So that's something I could see them doing next week. But yeah, I mean, this year is so wide open in general. And I think the Patriots, despite some offensive struggles last night, proved that they're absolutely a legitimate contender, like most teams that are remaining. Yeah, I agree with all that.

I think next week is going to be really, really interesting to see if the defense can follow up that performance with something similar. All right, that is it for our instant reactions. I was going to go over our set the lines, but we do have one guy remaining Aaron Rogers. You finished 2 and 1. I am 2 and 0 at the moment by of Aaron Rogers over 13 points tonight, so we'll see how that finishes.

I did want to point this out. You had over 18.5 points for Drake May, and he finished with 18.32. That was the only one you got wrong. You set a mean line, Mitch. I was like, oh, my God. Vegas, you got my number, let me know. I set Rogers pretty low to just trying to bait you to take the over.

And you did, but I'm really invested in the Texan defense tonight, so I don't. I'm going to be popping champagne when Rogers has like 140 yards and two touchdowns, and it's like somehow enough for 13 points. Yeah, it could be. All right, that was it for our NFL instant reactions from Wild Card weekend. Before we leave, we'll be doing one more quick fantasy segment. We're going to look at a lot of guys who are performing. great down the stretch and determine if they are breaking out or breaking down.

All right, Mello, give me your first player. We looked at guys that in the back half of the season really outperformed what they were doing in the first half and may have had a little bit of a slower start in weeks one through eight. Yeah, I'm going to start with a guy on a team we were talking about earlier in the episode, and that's Christian Watson. He was one of the four receivers to get a touchdown pass on Saturday. after returning from the torn ACL injury, he became an integral part of the Packers' offense. He was really a league winner.

I know Mitch a league that we're both in. The person who had Christian Watson started him in the championship, started him a lot down the stretch, won the championship. So he was a league winner. He had 611 yards and 6 touchdowns through 10 games, had so much big playability this season, which we really hadn't seen consistently since his rookie year. And he was just great down the stretch. however his return did align very similarly with Tucker Kraft's injury and Tucker Kraft was really like the focal point of this passing attack prior to his ACL injury so that opened up a ton of targets when he went down and Watson is on a one-year deal going into next year so he'll be there but they also figure to have pretty much their full compliment of guys back with the exception of Romeo Dobbs he is set to hit free agency we'll see if the pack bring him back, but he plays a really different role from Christian Watson anyways.

But they'll have Matthew Golden back and the other rookie and Savianne Williams. And then, of course, Jaden Reed, who we talked about earlier in the episode. So there are still plenty of mouths to feed in that offense. And then Matthew Golden, who I just mentioned, theoretically, should get a ton more involved, you would think, especially after this big playoff game. He finally showed that he is so talented, which we knew, it just hadn't really come to fruition yet. He's a first round pick. You really would think that they want to give him an opportunity. With all that said, if Christian Watson ends up being priced as Green Bay's wide receiver

one going to next year, which I certainly think is possible given how great he was down the stretch, he's easily a breaking down in that category for me. Still has the big playability, but has that injury history, crowded offense. I don't want to read too much into this big stretch by him at the end of the season. So I don't really view him as a breakout. I think that's a great point. And I think that something I haven't thought about as much is what you said about a lying with Tucker Crafts injury.

And like you said, they gave up valuable resources to go get Matthew Golden. They're not just going to not find a way to work him into the offense next year, even if Romeo Dobbs is gone. So I think this is a great pick. Like you said, a lot of these are going to be dependent on where ADP shakes out. But this feels like one of those chasing a guy who, so I hate being the touchdown regression guy. But like six touchdowns in his last 10 games, do we feel confident that Christian Watson is going to do that again next year? I don't know.

Yeah, probably not. Possible, but probably not. I am going to go with somebody on the opposite side of the ball from Saturday's game. I'm going to talk about Colson Loveland, which I think, I don't know if there's anybody who's getting talked about more right now in like the dynasty space. He was drafted as the tight end 12, finished as the tight end 14. So you look at that and you're like, okay, why are we talking about him? That's because through weeks one through eight, he was the tight end 51.

And then from weeks nine through 18 and week, week 17, whichever your championship's in, he was the tight end two. I'm going to conditionally say he is breaking out. And here are the conditions. Well, let me tell you why. In the second half of the season, he was ranked eighth amongst all tight ends in PFF's receiving grade, third amongst tight ends in targets, and second in yards. I love Luther Burden.

I love Roma Dunze. I don't think that there's a lot of consistency and continuity game to game in who Caleb's trusting in that wide receiver room. DJ Moore, I don't know when DJ Moore is going to be catching touchdowns or like throwing a fit on the sidelines. So I'm looking at the ADP for next year. early rankings, Colson Loveland is slated in as the tight end five. It is a little rich for my blood, but if you believe in him and you believe in the talent, I think there's an opportunity here that he's getting like insane target shares. I mean, second amongst tight ends, I'm sure you can imagine behind only Trey McBride.

And like where does the tight end five usually go in drafts? You usually got your guys like Trey McBride and Brock Bowers, who are in rounds like two and three. I don't think you're probably going to have to go after Colson Loveland until around like, like five, six. And then the other interesting thing was he's at tight end five. Tyler Warren's at tight end six, which I'll just give a free pick in here for breaking down. Tyler Warren already broke down the back half of the year.

And I don't have a ton of confidence in that quarterback situation versus Colston Loveland's got the Iceman. And so I'm going to trust Colston Loveland. So I'm going to say breaking out that. The reason I said conditionally, if he starts rising up past that and all of sudden we're drafting it like tray mcbride brock bowers colston lovelin then i'm going to pump the brakes yeah i actually wholeheartedly agree with everything you just said um if you didn't pick

colson lovelin to talk about i would have i agree i'm all in next year conditionally of course like i wouldn't spend the capital or even close to the capital you'd spend on tray mcbride for him next year but yeah i think he is a very clear breakout uh and since i can't have him i will pivot to his teammate, you mentioned him. We love talking about these bears and packers today, apparently. I'm going to talk about Luther Burden. He was their second round pick this year, Loveland being their first round pick. Burden actually on the season did outperform his ADP. He was going as the wide receiver 59, finished as the wide receiver 50. Didn't really feel like that for the first half of the year, especially. But it really was the second half of the year where he hit his stride. Before week 10,

Luther Burden average under 16 offensive snaps per game. His most in any single game over that stretch was 19. From week 10 on, he averaged 36 offensive snaps per game, and his fewest in any game during that stretch was 26. So seven more than his most, the first half of the season. He got super involved in the offense. They started playing Zakias left. I mean, part of that was like injuries to Roma Dunezay.

But clearly Ben Johnson started to build a trust with him and he became a bigger part of the offense. He was a second round pick, like I mentioned, by this very regime. And similar to how you're buying Loveland because he's got the Iceman, I think in general, Ben Johnson will continue to evolve this offense. He'll start to trust Caleb Williams more, develop Caleb Williams. I think they're going to open up the passing game a bit more, which this year they have been a very run-heavy team. I think that'll start to shift a little bit. So I'm just kind of buying this office. offense as a whole. And also, there's pretty credible speculation that DJ Moore will not be

with Chicago next year. He's still under contract, I think through like 2029 or something, but he's somebody who's probably likely going to get moved. So that'll open up more targets. So with all of that said, I kind of view Luther Bird in as a breakout as well. Loveland is the guy I prefer for sure, especially at tight end, which is a more difficult position to fill in fantasy. But I do like the opportunity that Luther Burden has for next year. Similar to you, obviously, it's somewhat conditional. We'll see where his ADP gets. Like, if it gets anywhere close to some of the second year receivers this year,

like the Malik neighbors and the Brian Thomas, like that's way too rich for me if he somehow shoots up even close to that high. Do you want me to read you right now who he's around in APP rankings? Yeah, let's do that. That's perfect. Yeah, that's perfect. Right now he is sandwiched at wide receiver 23, between Terry McCloran and Mike Evans.

If you're staring down Terry McClorin, Luther Burton, and Mike Evans, do you take him there? That is honestly probably a really good price point. I'm not super, super enthusiastic about it, but I feel good about it. If you take Luther Burton over either of those guys, I think that's a great shot to take. Honestly, kind of similar to me,

based on that ADP there, is like Amunrah St. Brown. They're very different players stylistically. But Amin Ra was kind of similar, very quiet first half of his rookie year, second half of his rookie year, he was awesome. But he wasn't going in the first couple rounds in fantasy. He was probably going around that same range his second year. And then, of course, he was phenomenal, which not saying Luther Burden will be, but there's definitely a chance he is. Let me, let me make a call back here to our hindsight's 2025 segment last episode where we talked about ambiguous, running back rooms,

wide receiver rooms. You look at Luther Burden at wide receiver 23 and then Roma Dunezay is at wide receiver 32, which just leads you to think, like, if Roma Dunezay wasn't there, how much higher would Luther Burton be going? And if you're like in somebody in your shoes where you're feeling really confident in Luther Burton, like, on paper, he could be even better than wide receiver 23. We're just in a situation where we don't know who the one is. And that's like kind of the exact type of guy we like to take a shot on. 100%. And big U.S. situations where it could go either way. I guess that's sort of a Roma Dunesay endorsement as well, if he's the one right now going later. Obviously, so much will change over the next few months.

But yeah, just in general, I mean, we've talked about it. You want good offenses, good quarterbacks. I'm buying pieces of this offense. I completely agree. Ben Johnson's got me believe in. All right, let me jump to one of the Sunday quarterbacks, 1 p.m. Let's talk about Trevor Lawrence, the squat god. drafted as the QB20, this one's more impressive than Colson Loveland.

Finish as the QB4. Of quarterbacks that started more than five games, he ranked top five in the back half of the season in offensive and passing grades from PFF, and QB2 in total fantasy points behind only Josh Allen from week nine on. I am calling this a breakout. Normally, I would probably say this was some weird outlier season in the schedule or whatever.

blah blah. I do think Liam Cohen has unlocked something with Trevor Lawrence. And when I went to go check Trevor Lawrence's ADP for next season, I literally had to like triple check. He's going right now slated as the QB 11. I don't understand that price tag at all. I can't name 10 quarterbacks that like, and maybe it's a recency bias from watching the past few weeks, but like I can't name 10 fantasy quarterbacks I'd rather have than

Trevor Lawrence. So I'm like, for best ball, you're drafting him as like. like a really late quarterback if you're doing like a three QB build. In redraft, he's probably your backup QB. I'm absolutely hammering breaking out on this. Conditionally, of course, if we get to August and now he's moved up and he's like QB6, I'm back out. But at QB11 price tag, this is like a full on hammer for me.

Yeah. And I think a key with it is we've seen him run the ball so much more this year. And so effectively, we talk about it all the time. these mobile quarterbacks how important they are. And that's become a big part of his game and a Liam Cohen offense. Yeah, I've always been a Trevor Lawrence Hader, and I will be the first one to admit it. But I can't argue with that, Mitch. I mean, I think he could end up being a really good value next season.

Yeah. And then that brings me to my last pick here. We haven't talked about any running backs yet. So let me talk about someone who's actually playing in the game tonight. and that is Kenneth Gainwell, sort of completely off the fantasy radar and draft season. I don't think people cared. They thought Jalen Warren would lead the backfield.

And then Caleb Johnston was the rookie who a lot of people were excited about. That amounted to absolutely nothing. Kenneth Gainwell has been great. I mean, he was getting drafted as a running back 84. He finishes the running back 24 in full point PPR. Most of that damage coming down the stretch. averaging a whopping 17.75 fantasy points per game from week 11 on. I talk about a league winner, someone you could have gotten off waivers.

He had 44 receptions over that stretch. He was super involved in the passing game, obviously the running game as well. He was great this year. Not exactly, but almost in a weird way, kind of reminds me of that random like Quarreal Patterson year later his career, what he was great, super involved in the past game. But there's a lot of uncertainty going to the next year. And I'm sort of inclined to put him in the breakdown category, although admittedly that could change depending on how this offseason shakes out. But right now, that uncertainty just has me nervous. He is an impending free agent.

He could go elsewhere. We don't know what situation that would be. For his sake, from a fantasy perspective, hopefully be a team where he would be very involved in the offense, at least as third downback, but it's far from a guarantee. And even if he does stay in Pittsburgh, which I would assume they'd like to have him back, given how much they used him, this Pittsburgh team, I don't think, will be very similar next year. I would assume the quarterback will be different. Rogers is probably going to retire.

And he's kind of a checkdown king, or at least he has been late in his career, late with the Packers. Even last year, depth of target wasn't very high. So, you know, that's something that concerns me. If it's a different quarterback, could be a different offensive coordinator, if Arthur Smith isn't back, which I think is definitely in the realm of possibilities, especially if they lose to the Texans tonight. So definitely something will have to monitor throughout the offseason

because situation matters so much and things could change. But for somebody who is so dominant down the stretch, I'm just really not excited about him next year right now. Yeah, I'm with you. And that's a great point on Arthur Smith. Arthur Smith leaves the building and I'm probably out on any running back twos. Yeah, or tight end twos. That's his bread and butter.

Yeah. I wholeheartedly agree with that pick. He's going as the wide receiver 45 and a half PPR right now. Excuse me, the running back 45. Feels like a wide receiver. Feels like a wide receiver, exactly. That's probably going to shift. Like that one's one that like you said, like there's so many contingencies.

So I don't even really feel comfortable talking about. that ADP like it's like real. Right. I agree. So I'm going to be in your camp and say that's absolutely a breaking down. My final pick of the episode before we wrap everything up, I'm going to talk about the wide receiver two from week 11 on Michael Wilson. I'm going to say the same thing that got me in trouble in the middle of the season when I picked him up and didn't play him when he had his huge 40 point breakout game.

But I'm going to double down and say the production is just a little bit too much of an outlier for me. This season, the Cardinals boasted the highest pass rate and pass rate over expectation. And they face injuries all over the place in the running back room. I think that's why you didn't have James Connor. And then you had Trey Benson get banged up. And then, like, Michael Carter's getting cut and picked back up. And, like, of course they aren't relying that heavy on the running game.

And they were just letting Jacoby sling it. You also had Marvin Harrison Jr. out for a handful of games. I don't need to talk about how I feel about Marvin Harrison, Jr. I think most people know how I feel about him. Um, that being said, you invested a fourth overall pick in him just three years ago. You're not going to give up on him. Um, there's going to be a new coaching staff coming in. Obviously, Jonathan Gannon got let go just about a week ago.

And I think that to think that this is going to get replicated again is just like bad shit insane. Um, that being said, obviously, do you have to draft him as the Y receiver 2? No, he's going as the Y receiver 38 off the board. But I just don't think that you're going to see as much. offense coming from the Cardinals this season, like for receivers. And if it does come, like Marvin Harrison Jr. is going to get a way bigger piece of the pie than he got this season. So for me, this is like absolutely a breaking down. If he moves down the ADP rankings, like maybe you could talk me into it, but he's actually a guy that I'm, I'd stake my rep on the

fact that he's going to be going higher than Y Receiver 38 come August. Yeah, I think there is a very good chance of that. And it pains me, I was enjoying the Michael Wilson ride while it lasted, but I agree. I think he'll be fantasy relevant for sure. I think he'll be part of the offense, all that. But like, you're definitely not going to get what you got down the stretch this year. And you're probably not going to get, like, even a big chunk of it, especially with what you said, Marvin Harrison. Like, they're going to probably hire a coach whose job it is is to figure out Marvin Harrison Jr. in this offense and build it around him.

Trey McBride obviously demands a ton of targets. The pie is going to be smaller next year because they're going to run the ball more. Everything you said, I agree with. So we'll see how that ADP shifts, if at all, but right now that's not somebody I'm like targeting. Let's play the ADP game again. Guys going around him, how about right next to each other, Marvin Harrison, Jr. or Michael Wilson, who are you drafting? Oh, I hate this.

You know, let me give you another because I'm not drafting either of them. Yeah. Michael Pittman or Wondale Robinson. Oof. I'm taking, I know Malik Neighbors is coming back. I'm probably taking Wondale over him. I'm probably taking Pittman,

even though the quarterback situation's in flux right now. That's obviously going to depend on like what shakes out. Yeah, I agree. I'm taking either over Michael Wilson. Wondale, there's weird rumors the Giants can bring somebody else in in free agency. I don't really think they need to.

I think Wondale's good. But we'll see if they do. And then, yeah, I definitely. would take either of those guys over either of the Cardinals. 100%. Well, that was it for our instant reaction, as well as breaking out or breaking down. Thank you for watching.

We will be back Thursday morning with a brand new divisional round preview. I'm actually so excited to jump in these divisional round games. But if you haven't yet, make sure to like the video. Drop a comment what you thought about the Super Wild Card weekend games. What was your biggest takeaway? And then hit that subscribe button and hit the bell to be notified every time we drop a brand new episode. Anything you got left to say, Mello? Nothing except thank you all for bearing with me

with my hoarse voice from screaming Let's go defense all night last night. It's been a pleasure talking football more this morning. We will see you guys on Thursday.