Sunday’s AFC championship game isn’t going as well as Patriots fans would have thought with the Broncos taking an early 7-0 in the first half. Despite backup Jarrett Stidham replacing an injured Bo Nix in the highly anticipated playoff matchup, the Broncos have looked like the better team thus far thanks to Stidham’s smart pocket presence and quarterback play and Denver’s stifling defense.
With the game still far from over, Patriots great Julian Edelman shared the perfect GIF to any fans who were sweating the result:
— Julian Edelman (@Edelman11) January 25, 2026
The iconic GIF hails from the 2003 comedy, Old School, in which Will Ferrell is trying to give a pep talk and screams, “We gotta keep our composure!”—while clearly not keeping his composure.
The Patriots later scored a touchdown in the second quarter to tie the game up at 7-7.
At the moment, it’s anybody’s game, though the Broncos have had the more favorable game script so far. After an opening three-and-out, the Broncos’ specials teams unit and defense helped pin New England deep and prevent MVP frontrunner Drake Maye from generating any offensive rhythm and stunt the Patriots’ downfield drives. Stidham, who may currently be playing out one of the greatest hero narratives in NFL history, unleashed a deep ball in the first quarter to get the Broncos in the Pats’ red-zone, and then capped things off with a nifty touchdown pass to put his team on the board.
If Stidham keeps up his consistent and efficient play (he has 84 passing yards and one touchdown at the end of the second quarter), and if the Broncos defense—ranked top-five in several categories this past season—can keep giving Maye problems, then the Broncos might just pull off the upset of a century.
But, as Edelman playfully pointed out, it’s not quite time to fret yet.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Julian Edelman Posts Perfect GIF During Tight Patriots-Broncos AFC Championship Game.
