Just in time for the Super Bowl, Colleen Bement caught up with Joe Theismann, braving some chilly temperatures in Orlando, FL, at the first of the 2019 LPGA events. The former Washington Redskins star quarterback has been busy on ESPN for the past 20 years and has lately been stretching his acting legs. His latest role is in the new Hallmark Channel movie "Snowcoming" airing Saturday, January 26 at 8 PM ET.

No stranger to film and TV, he has been in “The Man from Left Field,” and “Love on the Sidelines,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine,” and “Necessary Roughness.” Filmed in beautiful Squamish, British Columbia, Theismann stars opposite Lindy Booth, Trevor Donovan, Joe Theismann, and Ed Marinaro.

When Calls the Heart will also have a spin-off series.

A little bit 'Jerry Maguire' and a little bit 'Ballers'

Colleen Bement: You play Lenny in Hallmark Channel's newest movie "Snowcoming." Tell us about your character, and what was your experience like on the set?

Joe Theismann: Lenny is a classic type "A" personality who is always running deals, trying to get Jake, his client, what he can. Jake won a championship a year ago but didn't have the same success this year. I let him know how much I care. It's a little bit of "Jerry Maguire" and a little bit of "Ballers" and different agents that I have had, trying to create a character. It was a lot of fun to do. To be that type of a character. I loved it.

Peter DeLuise (the director) was phenomenal to work for. He's an incredible director. He knew exactly what he wanted, how he wanted it, the way he wanted it, and he gave us the flexibility to be who we needed to be inside the character.

Memorize football plays and movie lines

CB: Are there similarities in preparing for an acting role versus a football game?

JT: Yes. Obviously, there's the memorization part of it. It's one thing to memorize plays as a quarterback; it's another thing to be able to communicate them to everybody else and to understand how they apply to particular defenses. I read the script probably 15 times.

I wanted to understand not just my character, but all the characters and how all the pieces of the puzzle fit together.

As a quarterback, you not only want to know your position, but it's good to know everybody's position. You want to know what the guards are going to do; what the wide receivers are going to do. To get a better picture of what the play's going to look like, you want to understand where everyone is and what their responsibility is.

When you read a script, at least for me, I study my character to see how my character fits into the scope of the movie. Does the character change at all? Is the character the same at the beginning of the movie, or does he modify or morphe into something different? There are tremendous similarities between the world of acting and the world of sports from the quarterback's perspective.

It's challenging because you can't just learn lines, you have to own them. You really need to own the plays.

Who will win the Super Bowl?

CB: Let's chat a bit of football. What are your Super Bowl predictions? Who will make it and who will take home the trophy? For my readers, here is the schedule for Wild Card Weekend in the NFL.

JT: I think that, right now, New England is playing its best football. I like New England. The temperatures are going to be miserable. I think they're going to be -7 to 10 degrees in Kansas City, with an arctic blast that's coming in for Sunday's game (January 20). I don't see a high scoring event. You got one of the youngest guys in football, Patrick Mahomes going up against the oldest quarterback in football, Tom Brady.

I think it's hard to go against the New England Patriots. It's just hard.

Inside there are a lot of people who don't want them to win, but I have a philosophy if you don't want someone to be successful then stop them. If you don't want the Pats to win, then beat them. It's that simple. It's not easy to do that. On the other side, the Saints, for the last six to seven games, they haven't scored more than 19 points. They have not been the juggernaut that they were before.

They have home field advantage, but I think the Rams have the ability to be able to points on the board and I'm taking the Rams in that one. So it'll be New England and Los Angeles. As much as I think the world of Sean McVay is a great coach.

Not a good coach but a great coach, I think I'm going to take the New England Patriots. I think what's really stepped up for them is their defense. Defense wins championships.

CB: Do you have any charities or causes close to your heart?

JT: Yes, as a matter of fact, St. Jude Children’s Research Center in Memphis, TN. It's one of the most incredible facilities in the world. All the children there don't pay at all. The parents don't pay to stay. The research that is done there is unbelievable. Of course, the Jimmy V Foundation for cancer research, and the other is the Wounded Warrior Project. I just think that we owe so much our military, and we owe so much to the families of our men and women that defend our country both here and abroad.
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