Lineup Fantasy Football Show - Reacting to Patriots vs Broncos & Rams vs Seahawks | Super Bowl 49 Rematch!

Episode Date: January 26, 2026

Our instant reaction to NFL Conference Championship games is here! Mitch and Mello break down both conference championship games and live react to ending of the Rams vs Seahawks game Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The NFL conference championship games are in the books. Almost. We are currently live reacting to the last three minutes of the Seahawks Rams game. But we're going to jump right into things. Welcome into the lineup football show. I'm Mitch Anderson. I'm Justin Mellow. And it is time to react to both the Patriots Broncos and Rams Seahawks game live.

Let's get into Patriots Broncos. You were at the game. So I'll let you do your initial thoughts first. Great game. I know there wasn't a lot of points. I know some people, especially us in the fantasy community, are probably like, damn, that sucked. We didn't get points.

We didn't get excitement. Fireworks on offense. I disagree. That game rocked. I know I'm biased. I'm a Patriots fan. But the defenses were great. It was obviously an AFC championship game.

It was down to the end. In the snow, we need to not build so many domes. Like, domes are fun sometimes, especially as somebody who loves fantasy. But, like, being outside in the snow, January football just rocks. that stadium's awesome by the way the Broncos fans are incredible they were so it's the loudest I've ever heard a stadium in my entire life

they were super passionate and super into it but they were also super nice people which is good I was afraid I was going to get bullied a little bit not in my home territory but they were they were great people but great defensive battle Patriots it was kind of the story of the postseason for them like they won

the game with their defense and they're onto the Super Bowl which is like I still don't even believe it I'm still in denial a little bit that they somehow managed to get there after winning eight games. Four and three years. Crazy. Absolutely crazy. I'm also,

I was mad that you decided to fly away before this massive snowstorm in New England, and I'm glad that you got hit by some snow because you had to get a little bit of it. I had to get in on a little bit. My fiance is, I promise you more mad at me than you are for leaving me or for leaving her there to take care of the three feet of snow. But we got some here too. Let me give my thoughts. think the just number one thing that needs to be talked about is that fourth down attempt in the second quarter.

Sean Payton is a coach that has big balls and he decided to go for it and it didn't work out and you can do the whole hindsight thing and whatever. I don't think it was the wrong call, but like we do have to talk about it. It's a game that they could have taken three points when the weather wasn't that crazy and they lose by three points. From there on out though, I mean, once the snow kicked in, that was just a field position game completely. 100%. Nobody was going to score again, barring, like, a messed up pun, a block pun, a takeaway, something like that once the snow started really rolling.

Yeah. So, I mean, I've heard this phrase thrown around a lot, like kitchen sink game. The Broncos were going to have to throw everything they had at us. And, you know, so when you look at a fourth down like that, I think it makes sense. It sucks that they didn't get it. I will say this, though, I was actually very impressed with Jared Stidham. The minute the snow started and the game got, like, I just, I wasn't going to judge. a quarterback on that, but I thought he looked really sharp. I thought he looked a lot calmer than I was expecting from a guy who hasn't played in what, like, 795 days. So, like, we'll get into like what surprised us from both games. But for me, I thought Stidham looked a lot stronger than I was expecting. After that Marvin Mims deep ball and then the touchdown run after sudden, in my like delusional Patriots fan brain, I like fully convinced myself he was just going to have a Nick Foles game. I'm like, okay, Stimim's going for 400 yards today. And obviously the weather and everything later kind of impacted that and ended up not being such a great day yet. But early on, I was like genuinely

very scared. Not that the game was like offensive fireworks left and right in the first half, but it definitely was like a complete change of like the flow of the game. Yeah, the second half was so different. Like it's like you said, it was just a field position game. Like it didn't feel like at any point either team is going to put together an actual like full drive and go down the field of the score. And I know you were at the game so you weren't hearing it, but like Tony Romo probably mentioned 45,000 times that you don't want to be going the way the snow's going, the wind, oh, and they're going to be switching sides. It was like, and they go down at Tracy Wilson, she says the exact same thing. I was like, I need somebody to talk about something other than

the direction of the snow right now. Dude, I couldn't even, I was there and I couldn't tell what it was coming. Like, I'm pretty sure actually what I was thinking is the opposite of what they said on the broadcast from what I heard. It felt like it was just coming from every direction. It was, it was January. Yeah, from the looks of it. Honestly, that's how it seems too. I also had to give a shout out to At Oh Wow the Jet on Twitter for this tweet Tony Romo Looks like he's taking a sip of water on the bench there

Jim Nance Just as he called it Tony he's sipping that water A1 commentary I'm really sad I missed out on that kind of commentary Being at the game I also I forget I think it was Ocho Drinko I said I'd rather go to hell Than go to Gene's territory again

Give me your best moment though For me I mean like the back of his past definitely comes to mind, which actually, like, looking back on it, I actually think was a fumble, not a backwards path. I mean, either way, it's the same result. Yeah. To flee flicker to Mack Hollins was sick. The Patriots ended up not even being able to punch it in there, but that was a really cool play. And then just how about the last play of the game?

I mean, it was like probably over anyways, but Drake May, that run kind of like a naked bootleg almost pulling it when it looked like Ramandre was going to get the ball. I only found out like half an hour ago that was not the play call. Like he was not supposed to keep that ball. Crazy lore to add to that play. He's like, I'm going to call game. And he did. And that was pretty electric.

The whole Drake May experience in the playoffs has been so cool because it's not flashy. It's not crazy numbers. But every time you've needed a play from him, you've needed him to like put the nail on the cough and he's done it. and like that's all you can ask for. I feel like everyone's going to complain about the schedule and Drake May hasn't done this and that in the playoffs. He's 23 years old going to a Super Bowl

in his second year, his first real year starting, like just like an incredible story this year. I don't think anyone could have predicted this. Like Patriots fans, anyone. No one could have predicted this. And you're right, it hasn't been the same productivity we saw in regular season from him. But it's been bad weather games

against really great defenses and he's made the plays late to win the game. So, you know, credit to him there, even if it hasn't always been super great or flashy. Yeah, the prettiest football you've ever seen. I'll give a shout out. I mean, it wasn't a great throw because of the weather conditions, but Gonzo Interception at the end was awesome. And then I'm going to give a shout out. I'm going to be on bias here. My other best moment in the game. The Sittam Pass was like incredible. and it was all of New England, like, hearts sinking into your asshole for about, like, an hour there. Oh, that was maybe the most relatable thing you've ever said on this podcast for me. Like, I was like, I was full on panic mode after that throw.

I mean, it was a dot. Granted, he was pretty open. He had a good two steps on Gonzalez, but could not have thrown it better if you're jurors did him there. Yeah. Let's get into our What Surprise You. I'd like to start. I'm not sure how aware you are of this, but why is Travis Scott in The Odyssey? that commercial came on

Travis Scott's in the Odyssey I just This is the first time I'm hearing about this But I'm very interested to learn more Yeah this is like the same level As when Christopher Nolan put Roger From the Diary of a Wimpy Kid movie In Oppenheimer

But this one might be like more bizarre I love that Josh from Drake and Josh Is the one who pushed the button That's my favorite lore in any Christopher Nolan movie But we gotta trust Christopher Nolan on this one If Travis Scott is meant to be in this movie Then God damn it he's gonna be in the movie

be. I'll trust him. I'll trust him. I'm going to get back into football because I'm assuming people want to hear that. My other surprises, again, Jared Stidham looked better than I thought, probably got himself like a bag from that game and he didn't even have to win. Like, there's probably a bunch of teams that are like, wow, yeah, I could see Jared Siddon being my backup quarterback. And then the other thing that's surprising was just even the first half, like, before the weather went like sideways, just more offensive struggles. I mean, the one video of Will Campbell, like, was so tough to watch. Just like, basically diving on the ground, and just the past protection continuing to be an issue week in, week out.

Yeah, the Patriots got to be concerned about that. Will Campbell, maybe it's the injury he's coming back from, but he has not been very good in this postseason. That could be a problem. But the more optimistic news that's really, like, continued to surprise me every game is just how great the Patriots defense has been. And I know they're playing a backup quarterback this week, Bad Wither game, like kind of favored the defense to begin with. but unlike the last couple teams they played, we talked about, this Broncos O line is incredible, or at least they have been all year, and the Patriots defensive front still got disruption. They still were stopping the run.

They still were getting pressure on the quarterback. So I think we got to give this Patriots defense a lot of credit, and we sort of have to acknowledge the fact that, like, yeah, Drake hasn't been great, and yeah, they've gotten some lucky breaks in terms of the schedule this postseason. But this Patriot's defense is super legit. Like they are a very good defense went healthy and they're healthy right now. So credit to them.

Yeah. Give me your big takeaway from this game and then we've got 25 seconds left to see if Matthew Stafford's got a little magic. Oh boy. I think it might be behind you, but that's, oh, here we go. I was able to fast forward. Glad you said that. But like, damn, I'm in the third quarter right now. I'm like, damn, is you're not a halftime right now?

I think Drake May needs to play better if they're going to win in the Super Bowl. He's made the big plays like we talked about, but I don't think he's been playing at a level that's going to win against either of these teams. Looking right now like Lee Seattle, especially a great defense. So that's really my big takeaway. Drake May's got to play better. Maybe in Santa Clara better weather, that'll do the trick. But we'll see.

Yeah, I had a very similar takeaway. I know this is three incredible defenses, but whether it's L.A. or Seattle coming up, you're not going to get any reprieve here from great defenses, and the offense is going to have to figure it out. But so well-coached, so strong defensively, like you've said, down the stretch here. And let's figure out right now who they're going to be playing in the Super Bowl.

We've got 10 seconds left. Matthew Stafford, just back to with Pukunakua. What a game this was. 70 yards ago. I know. If you liked offense, here we go on this next one. have a lot of offense to talk about. I'm curious what happened the last 90 seconds or so

because my stream was evidently behind. But yeah, I mean, both these teams. I think a really interesting point in this game was when Devante Adams scored a touchdown, which, by the way, we were all over this week. Great call. Like, they did not go for two to make it a three-point game. And that could be the difference in this one.

they went for one on fourth down earlier could have kicked a field go to tie it so now they're in which i do again you know hindsight whatever but i do still support that move i thought that was the right call to go like for that on fourth instead of kicking the field goal as much as i'm a mevis head and i'd love to see mevis trot out there i did think it was the right call to go for it that one i 100% agree with to go for it there all right here we go stafford lining up and then we will finally get a chance to fully react to this game this first would be one hell of, I mean, this is like 70 yards. He's going to try taking his shot here, and he's got a man, got him out of bounds,

Pooking a Kua. They're running the clock. They're running the clock. Oh, they're running the clock. It looks like that's it. And it looks like we have got a Super Bowl 49 rematch between the New England Patriots and the Seattle Seahawks. Let's jump back to the beginning of this game and talk a little bit about how we got here.

My initial thoughts, just out the gate, Rashid Shaheed is so, electric. So fun. Just starting the game with like a 51-yard bomb and I was like, hell yeah. Like this is going to be fun. I mean, I guess we started the other game with a 50-yard bomb, but this one, we kept that momentum going. And especially the second half,

like later in the game, it felt like neither offense could be stopped there for a stretch. This was a fun, fun game. If I had a nickel for every conference championship game that started with a 50-yard bomb, I'd have two nickels, but it's weird that it happened twice. My other note...

My other note was just like JSN. I mean, I said like it's a little weird. I feel like they haven't been like leaning on JSN as hard in this like postseason and down the stretch. JSN was the offense tonight. That one-handed catch in the first quarter was disgusting. Catch at the end of the half to get them in what I thought was going to be field goal range, followed by an insane JSN catch that was out of bounds and then the touchdown. It was like every play.

I don't know how he is like getting open every time he wants. he is so good. That's one of my big takeaways, too. I just wrote down, JSN is so fucking good. No further analysis. He's just, I mean,

he's reached that status too where it's like, he can quietly have an elite stat line. And because he's so good, you don't even realize he's having such a great game because you're just used to it. And then you look and you're like,

oh, he has 120 yards in the first half wherever it was. And you're like, this is just unbelievable. They sort of stand on the broadcasts. I believe that's his third time doing that. this year having 100 plus yards in the first half.

Like, that's a stupid stat. Yeah, he is definitely catapulted himself into that elite tier of wide receivers in the league. Also, a guy who had a great game, Karen Williams, I need to stop fading him. Luckily, I won't have a chance again this year, but second week in a row, he scored a touchdown when I was out on him. So I got to stop doing that. And then, of course, you know, the Devante touchdown. And then you actually had both Puka and Devante scoring.

You hit on that as well. so some good rees by us on this. I believe, and I had the Rams falling just short by four points. You did. You did have that. That might have my snipe of the century. I want to give a shout to our co-host on the Friday show, Jack McCarthy,

who said that he was looking at the special teams mismatch year and was like, I don't know what to bet, I don't know what to pick out of this, but I expect there to be some play that we see this highlighted. And the Xavier Smith fumble just, I would

I was pointing out of TV, I was Leo, the gift pointing out the TV, being like, there it is. Let's get into your best moment of the game, though. I feel like there's a lot to choose from. Yeah, I just wrote down the word bombs because you had the Shihit bomb we've talked about, the Puka bomb, the Devante bomb right before he caught the actual touchdown. Like, there were some big plays in this one. There was a lot of scoring, and it was fun. As much as I loved the Patriots Broncos game, and I love the defense and the snow,

I like a good shootout too And we got that in this one. Yeah, a little bit of something for everyone. So that was great to see all the big explosive plays. There are a ton of plays in this game you could say were the most exciting or the most fun. My best moment had to be Tariq Wollen on the taunting call and then immediately getting burned by Pugua after screwing over it. It was like so poetic.

I'm just like, I understand the argument of like why are we calling taunting calls. in the playoffs. But then you also have to understand the argument of like, what the fuck are you doing, dude? You gotta know better. Make the play, get off the field, like, it's frustrating. Yeah.

Yeah, very strange. He's lucky his team won because he would be like the Oh my God. Worst, clown, like, evil enemy of Seattle Seahawks fans for that whole sequence if they had somehow lost this game. Yeah, that was super boneheaded, but luckily for him it didn't cost him.

Yeah. What surprised you in this one? You hit on it. Jackie was all over this, just the Rams special teams. Like, the Muff Punt actually did toss them the game pretty directly. So it's not, I guess it's not surprising to see the Rams special team, which has struggled at times this year, makes such a costly play. But it is kind of jarring to just like such a good game, two great teams. And to see it not necessarily decided on that play, but like I said, like it really did impact the outcome of that game. And one thing I want to talk about that really surprised me is it was just Donald's poise. He played great. Yes. He was getting rushers in his face and he still was delivering accurate balls, like just staying poised, making plays with his feet as well. He has

fully beat the pumpkin allegations. Like, that's done in over with, regardless of what happens in a couple weeks, he could play horrible and we can't. be like, oh, he can't win the big one, because he has two weeks in a row now. So, huge shout out to him. Darnold's been awesome. Mine was the same thing. I was going to piggyback off that. Just like, I was so impressed with him. And like, I think you texted me was at the Cooper Cup touchdown of just like, he's just like a man possessed right now. And we all want to joke about like, oh my God, yeah, Sam Darnold winning at Super Bowl MVP. How crazy would that be? And I'm like,

the man I'm watching this year, like, it doesn't feel crazy at all. Like, you can make the argument you just outplayed Matthew Stafford in an NFC championship game. That is a bizarre sentence that never would have been breathed a year ago. Yeah. Like I can't believe, I mean, he's the same guy who said he was seeing ghosts against a Patriots defense five or six years ago.

And now as a Patriots fan, I'm terrified to play him and the rest of the Seattle Seahawks team. He's really turned his career around, which is a great story. 100%. My takeaway from this game is now that it's Seattle, man, the Patriots offense needs to get clicking. And not just because of how good that defense is, mainly because you're going to have to keep up with how many points his offense is putting up. Yeah, I think Seattle's the best team in the league.

I thought that before this game. This game just gave me further validation on that. Both sides of the ball. So good. Patriots, especially if we talk about the schedule, they're the only team in playoff history to have to beat three top five defenses. which they've already done. Now they're going to have to beat a fourth to actually win that Lombardi.

That's definitely scary as a Patriots fan. And then, yeah, we talk about Donald and J.S.N. And Ken Walker's playing well. And they're getting big chunk plays from a sheet of he and Jake Bobo is catching touchdowns and Cooper Cup is converting third downs. Like this is a super complete team top to bottom. They should be favorites.

Absolutely without a question. And you're right. We talked about it with Drake in the earlier game too. Like he's going to have to step up. going to have to play better. I think playing in better weather will help him do that. But he's going to have to because Patriots events has played super well, but you can't expect him to keep doing it, especially against what I think will be their biggest test of this postseason in terms of an opposing offense. Yeah, I'm fully with you on that. And I love that you said about just like a

complete team. Like this is one of those like, you can look at every team the Patriots have played so far and you can find like some like little spots and little things that you can expose and exploit and this Seattle team like it's really tough to look at them and say like here's where you can beat him here's where you can attack them um and the Seattle team is battle tested like this Rams team was no joke I think there were a lot of people's Super Bowl choice going into the postseason and so this is going to be a big two weeks from Mike Rable and the boys yeah I uh We'll probably be a nervous wreck the next couple weeks just thinking about it. But we shall see.

I'm very excited, too, to do a little bit more research looking at the game and talk about it with you a bit more as we approach the game itself. Seahawks definitely, I think, are the stronger team, but underdogs went all the time in the Super Bowl and the Patriots having a pretty complete team themselves. So could definitely see it going either way. 100%. And we will get our first opportunity to start talking about the Super Bowl on Thursday's episode. We'll be doing our normal schedule, even without the games next week. We'll be back on Thursday, then again on Monday, then again for our big mega Super Bowl episode the Thursday before, and then we will be reacting that Monday following the Super Bowl. Anything else? Anything we miss from these games? No, I'm super excited for the Super Bowl. It's the biggest American event of

the year, really. And as a football fan, incredible. And especially when your team gets and it's pretty sweet. Don't you feel like it was just yesterday that Doc Prescott was getting spit on? Yeah, I do. Time flies so fast. You actually just gave me the worst anxiety because I'm all pumped and fired up for the Super Bowl

and now here we are talking about how the season's going to end. I'm just going to be really sad to go seven months without football. It sucks, man. At least we get to sit on a podcast and talk about it all summer. Oh yeah, there's no off season here. We're talking about this shit all year round.

I can't wait to be an absolute sicko and be ripping a best ball draft on like March 1st. Oh, that's going to feel so good. I started taking Kyle Pitts in like the fourth round. All right. I'm going to need you to shut the hell up now. You had me all the way until you started bringing Kyle Pitts into this. On that note, thank you for watching.

Make sure to like the video. Drop in the comments, your reactions, and a score prediction for Super Bowl 60. And we'll catch you guys on Thursday with another brand new episode.