PTI - Are the Dodgers Officially a Dynasty?

Episode Date: November 3, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the World Series, the NFL, and Jerry Rice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hey, sports fans, the ESPN app has all of ESPN all in one place. The ESPN app is your home to thousands of live events, ESPN shows, and originals across every ESPN network and service. And now you can check if you already have ESPN Unlimited as part of your TV package for no additional calls. Visit activate.esPN.com to learn how to access your account or sign up, then start streaming in the ESPN app. It's all of ESPN all in one place. Sign up or activate now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbar. We've got no show tomorrow, Tony. What are you going to do with your day off?

And Tony Cornhires, I got a bunch of leaves. I need to throw into my neighbor's yard. I'll be doing that. I'm sure you have like one of those big riding lease blowers. You probably have that, don't you? I've seen those. They look like great fun. They really, I got to say they look like great fun.

Yeah, they do. But more fun than the little thing I've got. the handheld. I mean, those look like a lot more fun. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, the Dodgers win the World Series. The Lions and Coats both fall, and Jaden Daniels could be out for the season. But we begin today with yesterday's glamour game, the bill's beating the chiefs in Buffalo, 2821. Josh Allen had a hand in three of Buffalo's touchdowns, one passing, two tush pushes. Patrick Mahomes was held under 50% completions for the first time in his career and was running away from tacklers all game. We'll be.

What does this result say about each team? Tony, you know, to me it says more about the league than it says about each team. Buffalo is really good and they can beat Kansas City in these regular season games. And we know that because, hello, they have. And Kansas City can blow off what happens in the regular season and get to January and win big because we know this because they have. But Tony, it doesn't, so it doesn't inform me of anything except. this. For me, the league is wonderfully balanced now. This is what the NFL going back to Pete Roselle wanted with parody, parody Pete. Because Tony, there's no great team. Buffalo's not great. You can

sit there and applaud their effort yesterday, and I do. And they held Patrick Mahomes, like you said, the first time in his life, to under 50 percent throwing is a pro anyway. But Kansas City is not a great team yet. They might get there. Buffalo might get there. There's no great teams. Tony, Buffalo's going to lose more games and they got tough games coming down the stretch. And neither of these teams, Kansas City is going to lose more. Neither of these teams may win their division. So I think that's sort of cool. And that's what that game reminded me of constantly yesterday. Yeah, you're not going to get any disagreement from me. If you were inclined to believe in the bills, you might say that this game proves.

that they have overtaken Kansas City. I took note of the fact that in the post game, Josh Allen talked about the Chiefs as the pinnacle. Any win against the Chiefs is a good win, but if you were inclined to be skittish about the bills, you will say, well, we've seen this movie. They're five and one now in the regular season against Kansas City and still 0 in the playoffs.

And I'm probably like you saying, well, you know, I don't think it moves the bills past Kansas City at all. What it says about Kansas City to me is that they have not yet shaken that 0-and-2 start. They won five of their next six, and I think they had pretty impressive wins, particularly against Baltimore and Detroit. But they're now, what are they five and four now? They're two games behind Denver in their own division at seven and two. The Denver game, not the Buffalo game, the Denver game is the big game. Two weeks from now at Denver, and they're going to be coming out of a bye week, and Andy Reid is

great after buy weeks. So much like you, I'm looking towards the rest of the season and I'm in agreement. There is not a great team yet. There may be by week 13. There is not yet. Not yet. Not yet. Although neither of us will be surprised, neither of us, if in fact, Kansas City and Buffalo meet in the AFC championship game. No. No. No. Wouldn't be surprised at all. Meanwhile, the bills weren't Sunday's only winners. The Steelers picked off Daniel Jones three times in an upset over the Colts. Sam Darnold threw four first-half touchdowns as the Seahawks just destroyed your commanders in Washington. Rico Dowdell and the Panthers stunned the Packers at Lambo.

J.J. McCarthy led the Vikings to a win over the Lions in Detroit. Wait, my bear somehow left the Bengals cussing mad after beating Cincinnati 4742 in a shootout, and Jack's kicker Cam Little nailed a record 68-yarder in the first half before the Jaguars defense closed out the Raiders in OT. Tony, which result did you find the most compelling? I thought about this yesterday. I thought about having to rank a lot of these games as I was watching Red Zone yesterday because they were wild finishes and things. I did not expect. I would tell you, Mike, that the most surprising game to me is Carolina beating the Packers in Lambo. Honestly, I thought Carolina, I thought Carolina stunk. I would have

bet the ranch that the Packers would have beaten them, even wearing those terrible uniforms. But Carolina is now five and four, and they are four and oh in the last four games that Bryce Young has started. So something is happening there. I think the game with the most implications was Pittsburgh beating Indianapolis. Pittsburgh was leading 24 to 7, I think at one point, 27 to 10 at one point. And this was in the fourth quarter. Aaron Rogers looked like Aaron Rogers, and Indianapolis's Daniel Jones looked like the Giants Daniel Jones because he had two fumbles lost and three interceptions. I would say the most thrilling game was the one you want to talk about that the Bears beat at the end of the game.

They beat Cincinnati 47-42. There were three touchdown scored in the last minute 43. The last touchdown, the one that won the game, should never have happened. Should never have happened. I don't want to steal your thunder. I'll get out on this. Joe Flacco has now produced and delivered 80 points

in the last two games, and he's 0-2. It's not possible. 80 points. But you know what, Sony? You're not stealing my thunder because that game is not the game I'm thinking of to answer this question. The two games I'm thinking of, Tony, the most compelling victories were Carolina in Lambo and the Vikings in Detroit. Those are the two. I'm staying in division here and not even getting to my own team until third.

Those are the games that to me were like, wow. And Tony, they throw that division into a jumble. And they've got to play each other a zillion times. The Bears haven't even played the Packers yet. And so I look at the Packers now as being on the verge of fraudulent, which makes me very happy because the Packers can win games. You think they shouldn't win and they lose games. You go, what are you doing losing in Lambo to Carolina,

which is five and four, as you mentioned? Tony, the Bears game is the least joy I've ever had after a Bears victory in 60 years because they committed so many penalties. and played such dumb football for four quarters, and they won. And they should celebrate, because you should celebrate anytime you win, particularly on the road, and you do the things they did. But my God, that game, they had no business winning that game. And yet, now a day later, I'm thrilled.

You know how angry I was yesterday. I know. I would have fired everybody. Everybody. Yes. With a minute to go in that game, we were on the phone before the, that last pass, the two Bengals hit each other and not the ball carrier, and you were going to fire everybody. You were going to sit the quarterback and fire everybody. Let's get back to the

World Series, which was a great World Series that ended Saturday with the Dodgers getting late home runs from Miguel Rojas and Will Smith. They got relief appearances from three starters in that game, including 34 pitches from Yoshinobo Yamamoto, who threw 96 pitches the night before. The Dodgers became the first National League team to repeat as world champions since the Big Red Machine 50 years ago. Wilbon, what did you make of what you saw? Tony, I guess in general I made of it that it's like the most exciting, one of the most exciting world series I've ever seen, and I've been watching them for 60 years. It was even the game seven I thought, this is hard for me.

I thought game seven was even more exciting possibly than the 2016 game seven. featuring my cubbies winning in Cleveland. That's going to ways. But when you say, you know, what sticks with me, Rojas and Paez and Yamamoto, as you mentioned, and a forced play at the plate, which has to be reviewed because you're not sure the catcher's foot was on home plate

and a stab of a foot at first base on a play which could end the World Series and he barely gets it down a nanosecond before the runner gets there. There was so many plays that were in charge, and the catch in the catch in center field. Come on now. And left center, the World Series is going to be over.

And I feel for Toronto, because I thought they blew it. I do. I think they blew it. They had so many chances that by the time we got out, you can't give up three home runs in a game seven at home and think you're going to win the game seven. I feel for Toronto. But it's just, wow.

That's my reaction. Wow. So I had Tim Kirchen on my podcast this morning. Tim said it's the most exciting World Series he has ever seen, and he's covered 46 World Series. Like you, I felt that whichever team won, it would have been okay. They would have been deserving. But what the Dodgers did in game 6 and 7, to win 6 and 7 on the road like that, to end 6 and 7 with double plays, you know, they were, the defense that was played,

Pahey's catch, he makes contact with Kiki Hernandez. I mean, there's, you know, people are falling. He saves the game. He saves the series. I thought, Mike, a game goes 18 innings in the Dodgers win. Game six ends on a weird double play, the line out and the force out at second. Game seven, your reliever was your starter the night before. I mean, to me, these were like providential wins.

It was like it was almost preordained. I've never seen a series where there have been so many great plays at home plate. There was contact hitting throughout the whole series, not just home runs. There was defense throughout the whole series. It wasn't just strikeouts and home runs. It was a fabulous thing to watch. And, you know, the Dodgers have a lot of money, and people have the impression that their players are pampered.

Well, starting pitcher Tyler Glassnow goes in relieves in six and seven. Starting pitcher Blake Snell goes in relieves in seven. Starting pitcher Shoahatani, pitches game seven on three days' rest and starting pitcher, you know, Yamamoto writes his name into all-time history. The hero. By going out there to do things that just could not believe. It was a great. It was great.

Let's take a break. Still to come, should Dan Quinn feel responsible for Jaden Daniels' ugly injury? And Texas beat Vanderbilt, but was that the biggest development in college football this weekend? Again, I need to stress this. You were going to fire every ball. on the Bears' staff. Starting with the special teams coach. Special teams coach.

Hand in your playbook. Time to check in with the checkered masses. Let me see what's first. Go to the glasses. Here we go. Small little writing. Is it fair to blame Dan Quinn for Jaden Daniel's injury? Oh, Tony, this is such a hard question and a harder answer.

Last night in real time, I thought the narrative that it was Dan Quinn's fault somehow was just completely overstated. I did. And then I thought about this a lot. You living in Washington and knowing how Jaden Daniels provided hope last year for a franchise that hadn't had any in 25 years. I listened to Dominique Foxworth this morning who totally persuaded me, totally changed my mind. He said, you've got to have two things in place as a team. You have to have an assistant coach who's on that sign line who can get in Dan Quinn's here

and say, DQ, it's 387, we can't put him back in. You really want to run him back in? And then Quinn's got to make the decision to answer the question with a no. We're not going to do it. Thanks for reminding me. And Quinn today apparently met with the media and took the blame. I feel bad for him. I feel bad for Daniels.

You're closer than this to me because you watch every one of these games. I just feel bad for all of them. But I guess he gets some blame. I think it's very convenient to blame a coach when a player gets hurt. and to say you're up 31 points and there's not that much time left in the game, why is he out there? Well, he's probably out there

because he wants to be out there because he's a player because he's missed almost three full games this year and if he gets a chance to play, he wants to do that. Dan Quinn's not going to put him out there if he thought he was going to get hurt. But, you know, this is tackle football.

This stuff happens. I'll point this out as somebody who's watched Washington football for a long time. This is the third injury with Jaden Daniels this year. His knee, his hamstring, and now his elbow.

These are three different body parts, three different body parts. Does it occur to anyone that maybe he's injury prone? Like this is, what's the great fear in Washington that he's Robert Griffin? That he's going to get hurt, that he's never going to fulfill the promise that is so obviously out there. I mean, I understand what Dan Quinn said. I thought originally it was a second guess. You know, I did. It is.

Tony, it is a second guess, but just keep this in mind. If he's as injury prone as you say and you point out all the proper things, then don't run it back out there 387 and at least silver lining. Let's end this note on a silver lining. At least it's not his legs, not either leg, and it's not his throwing arm.

That's right. At least it's just off elbow, something to grab onto. That's right. Here we go. What stood out most about the college football weekend? Well, Tony, to me, it was just sort of a, college football weekend.

It just wasn't great. The previous one was great. I think this one coming up will be great. For me, you know, I'm keeping track of the nerd schools. Specifically, Vandy lost. Georgia Tech lost. But Virginia won. And Virginia can keep rising up their standings.

And Virginia can get a spot in the playoff, which, Tony. It was unthinkable when we started the season, or for that matter, unthinkable in October 1st, that Virginia would be in this discussion. So with all these things happening, and I know Vandy was at least in an important game, but Vandy and Tech losing were disappointed. To me, Virginia winning is still up there.

They're carrying the banner for some of us. So I was tempted to say it was Auburn firing you freeze, but, you know, better coaches than freeze have been fired this season. And Auburn pulls the trigger quicker than LSU. They do that all the time. Three years. Get out. Maybe think about Mike Loxley at Maryland.

And what does he have to worry about? Indiana beat Maryland at Maryland, 55 to 10. Indiana never takes their foot off the gas. This is the fifth time this year. They've gone over 50. And in October and November, when the conference schedule is out there, Loxley's teams are 4 and 15 since 2023, which isn't great. I understand that Texas may have saved its season.

I disagree with you a little bit. I don't think Vanderbilt gets punished too much for losing by three points on the road to a ranked opponent. I mean, I think, you know, I think that it's pretty good. I am really excited about the committee's rankings, which come out tomorrow, right? The first time they're actually ranking the teams on the way to the playoff. I'm really excited, but I tell you who shouldn't be excited, Miami, because they're going to fall, because they've been dogs lately, Miami. They've been bad.

They've been complete dogs. But Tonya, let me just caution you about Vandy as much as I'm rooting for Vandy, they're not going to run the table. The problem is the next loss. They'd have to not lose again probably to make it in. I'm still pulling for him, though. Yeah. Enough female.

Let's take one last break still to come. College basketball season opens up. And what are the Grizzlies going to do, Tony, with John Moran? Seriously. I think it's over in Memphis. He's got to go. Right? I want to disagree with you, but I'm not.

I think you're right. It's a got-to-go situation, as we used to say in the 80s. Happy time, people. Happy 25th birthday, sort of Tucker Kraft. The Packers' terrific tight-end was led off the field yesterday with a knee injury that today was confirmed to be a torn ACL. Kraft was a third round pick in 2003 out of South Dakota State. That same year, the Packers also drafted tight-end Luke Musgrave in the second round,

clearly looking for tight-end targets for Jordan Love. Kraft won the job was on pace to have the best season ever for a Packers' tight end. Before this injury, Kraft had 32 receptions for 489 yards, tied for third best in the league for tight ends behind only Travis Kelsey and Tyler Warren of the Colts. Kraft had six touchdowns tied for second most in the league with Jake Ferguson of the Cowboys, and Kraft averaged 15 yards per catch. 15 yards of catch, what is that Mike Ditka, 1960 land? Tony, the problem for the Packers is,

He's the best playmaker they've got. I mean, if Jordan Love, you accept that as him being the best offensive player on the squad, we're talking his tight end is number two, right behind him. That's a problem for the Green Bay Packers or the rest of the way. Obviously, yes. Happy anniversary, Jerry Rice. On this day, 29 years ago, the great wideout became the first player in NFL history to record 1,000 catches. Since then, 15 more players have passed a thousand reception.

Rice remains the all-time leader with 1,549 catches. Travis Kelsey with 1,045, Keenan Allen, 1024, are the two most recent receivers to get to 1,000 catches. And Kelsey has overtaken Rice in postseason catches, 178 to 151. DeAndre Hopkins and DeBonte Adams likely will pass 1,000 catches this season. Interestingly, Randy Moss and Antonio Gates flirted with 1,000, but finished short. Moss with 982 catches and Gates, Gates. with 955.

These are all great players, all great players, and these are all astounding numbers. And yet, none of them is Jerry Rice in terms of the devastating impact he could have on a game. Just by making a catch on a six-yard slant from Montana or a young and going the distance and killing your defense. Randy Moss, oh my God, he's great. I mean, Chris Carter, there's so many great players. Jerry Rice. The goat. Jerry Rice. And a melancholy trails to Bob Trumpie, the former tight end and broadcaster, has passed away at the age of 80. Trumpy was an original bangle and starred for the franchise for his

entire 10-season career, making four pro bowls as one of the best tight ends in the game. After retiring, he jumped right to the booth for NBC, where he worked for two decades. Trumpy called two Super Bowls for the network and branched out to work three Olympics and two rider cups. Will on for a long time, Dick Enberg and Bob Trumpy were signified. intro voices of late afternoon AFC football. Tony, yeah. I mean, talking about this with our producer Matt Keller heard today, it seems like they were

the voice track for like all of John Elway's great career and those big games coming out of Denver and around Elway. And he was just a joy to listen to when you heard his voice coming through on that NBC game, you knew big game was about to happen. One omission, Chargers

tackled Joe Alt out for the season with an ankle injury. Man, they started with Rishon Slater going out for the season. And now all big blow to the Chargers. Real quick to the big finish. The Grizzling staff, John Moran for Saturday Night's game following a dispute with head coach to Olmas Lasalo. I hope I pronounce that right. What do you make of it? Tony, he's becoming radioactive. And I think I agree with you. He needs to be traded. They got to

send him somewhere else, anywhere else. Men's and women's college hoop starts today. Are you excited? Not yet. Not yet. Soon, not yet. Your Cubs had a league high. Three gold glove winners. You're surprised? Pro Armstrong, Happen Horner, I am excited. We need another hitter or two. Monday night football, Cardinals, Cowboys, who you got? I think I got the Cowboys tonight. Last one, the Thunder is the only unbeaten NBA team left. Your thoughts? Sixers, Bulls, and Spurs all started the weekend undefeated and no longer. It's appropriate. For OKC, they're the best team, period.

Yes, they are the best team. Yes. They're the best. We don't talk about the spurs with them yet. Not yet. We're out of time. Nope. Try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornheiser. I am excited for my bulls.

I'm going to go 5'0 for the first time since. Jordan. I'm Mike Wilburne.