PTI - Are the LA Rams now the CLEAR CUT Super Bowl Favorites?

Episode Date: August 31, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Frank Isola discuss Aaron Donald's return, Bill Belichick, and Scottie Scheffler. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Frank Isola, and it's a pleasure to co-host PTI, even on ESPN 2. I'm Tony Kornhizer. Wait, I came back from vacation for a show on the deuce. What?

Yep. They didn't tell me that. We're not on regular ESPN? We're not? No, that's why I'm here. I don't understand this. Why am I wearing Searsucker in the last waning days of when Searsucker is a lot? allowable. Welcome to PTI, boys and girl. Wilbon apparently has something better to do, so I am joined by our great friend from the starting lineup on Sirius XM, Mr. Frank Isola. I'm going to look as good as he does. It's a nice track. And we begin today with Aaron Donald, making it official that he will unretire and rejoin the Los Angeles Rams. Donald was the NFL's defensive player the year three different times. Now he will join the recently acquired Miles Garrett, who was himself defensive player the year twice, including this past season.

So, Frank, do you think Donald's return makes the Rams an overwhelming favorite to make the Super Bowl? You know what? I really do. I think he felt the same way. And that's why Tony, in July, we were hearing reports that maybe Aaron Donald would return. And you've got to like the veteran move. Why return in early August when you're a veteran returned as it gets closer to the start of the season? And it's a terrific team, obviously in a terrific division. Seattle won 14 games, San Francisco and L.A., both won 12. Two games, though, that stick out for me last year for the Rams. We week 16, they go to Seattle. They lose 38 to 37. They scored 37 points losing overtime. Blow a 16-point lead. And then, of course, the NFC championship game where Sam Darnel throws the ball all over the place. They scored 27 points in that game and lost. They needed to get better defensively.

adding two studs. Tony, who are you going to double team when you have Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald, who combined have 236 career sacks? Yeah, I guess I would quibble, Frank, with the word overwhelming. Because as you're pointing out, they're in a division with the reigning Super Bowl champions, Seattle Seahawks, and a great playoff team, San Francisco. And I'm also sort of wondering at what point, if at all, does Aaron Donald think maybe I shouldn't have unretired? Like when He's sitting in a cold tub, and every morsel of his body is screaming in pain, which could happen as early as mid-September. They could.

But now, yeah, they look great. They look great on paper. They've got two all-time defensive players. They've got a quarterback who's the reigning MVP in the league, Matthew Stafford. So again, they look great on paper. They are now, apparently on the betting line. They are plus 500 to win the Super Bowl. in the last 30 years, going into a season, I'm told there have been 20 teams that are plus 500 to win a Super Bowl.

And all 20 share this. They never went and won the Super Bowl. That's right. All 20. So this is the problem with on paper. Cross town. The Los Angeles Dodgers are great on paper. It doesn't look like should ever lose a game.

They're 82 and 55 and there are two teams ahead of them in Major League Baseball. And one of them, Tampa Bay, don't even look good on paper. So I think like you, I want to see the Rams play the Seahawks, played three times last year. Seahawks won twice. You mentioned a couple of those games. Want to see him play San Francisco, another really good playoff team. You know, I want to see how good they can be. That division, you're a soccer guy, is like the group of death in the World Cup.

Arizona is not winning any games at all. I was curious about this. The Rams open up in Australia. That's a long way from Marina del Rey, Australia, isn't it? Don't you think, like, you're already hearing people mention the idea of going undefeated, which is a little over the top. But I do like the idea of going into a season where you have a team that everyone looks at and is thinking they can't be beat.

Because to your point, injuries always factor in as well. Let's move to college football and Saturday's game in Ireland between North Carolina and TCU. Last year, these two teams opened the season as well. that game was in Chapel Hill. TCU won 48-14, beginning the spiral down of Bill Belichick's year. This year, Carolina was a nine and a half-point underdog, but won 15 to 10 in the rain in Dublin. Frank, does Belichick's win over TCU shift the perception of him and his UNC program? I think it really does start to do that. And you know, you mentioned, you know, they were almost a 10-point underdog in this game. Last year, they never had a lead at halftime against a powerful team. And in this game, with a game,

If Belichick taking over the defense, his son is on medical leave, they shut down TCU the last three quarters. But I don't know if you were paying attention last week, but anytime you heard anybody talk about the North Carolina program in Belichick, everyone's mocking him, ridiculing him. It's almost like we forgot the guy is arguably the greatest NFL coach in history, certainly one of the better defensive minds in NFL history. So for him, there has to be some level, Tony, of redemption. And one thing that really stuck out for me, the final play of the game.

game. TCU jumps off sides on a fourth and one, 30 seconds ago. That's right. That ends up being their 10th or 11th penalty. North Carolina had three. We always talk about coaches. The best coaches have a disciplined team. So he has 60 new players, 40 freshmen. I thought for a first time out with everybody, let's face, that a lot of people rooting for him to lose and thinking he's going to lose. That was a great job by him and his players. So I watched the last quarter of that game. I watched North Carolina bat away a pass deep in its own territory that if it goes, maybe TCU wins the game. I watched them get the ball back, make a few hard first downs, use up, I guess, the last four or five minutes of clock and get to that final play, as you say,

where they enticed on fourth down, they enticed TCU to go across the line, you know, encroachment at that point. And so it's a first down that the game is over. And I watched Belichick. a very exaggerated first down motion, because he knew he had won the game. Look, this is an old story for me. I've been over this. I'm not a fan of Bill Belichick's. We've had conversations in our life

that were tense and difficult to have. I mean, he's a hard guy when you're in the position of questioning him and he doesn't want to talk at all. But he's far too great a coach, as you were saying, far too great a coach for his legacy to be enshrined on the altar of a four- and eight season,

season in Chapel Hill. And I find myself oddly rooting for him. I never thought that this was going to happen. He doesn't have to go eight and four for me. Just don't go four and eight. I don't want that to happen. I don't know that it changes my opinion all that much because they scored 15, Frank, and one touchdown wins the game on the other side. You know, but they held on and they won the game and it was very professional the way they won that particular game. And, you know, and you're right, it would be a different conversation if they'd lost. People would be calling for his removal today. And so he gets this time. And, you know, until what is the schedule say, Act Clemson and Home Notre Dame.

And then we'll see what happens there, you know. You know, I had a bit of a rooting interest in this game because the quarterback for TCU is a kid that went to Harvard. He's from Montclair, New Jersey. And listen, he struggled in his first game. But all the focus went from ridicule. ruling Bill Belichick to now pour, you know, Jaden Craig. And I'm thinking Bill Belichick had five months to prepare for the game, Tony. He's beaten Patrick Mahomes and Peyton Manning when he's had one

week to prepare. So we now, let's cut the kid a little bit of slack. Let's give him a couple more games. No, and you're right about that and you're right about, you're right about, you're right about it's good for Belichick. Because last year, on and off the field, a total disaster, total disaster. 100%. All right. We turn now to Scotty Schaeffler, winning the PGA Tour Championship in Atlanta yesterday. Sheffler shot a four under 66 to rally from three shots back and win by three. Tony, what does winning the Tour Championship do for Scotty Sheffler's season? Well, the first thing it does, it makes him unanimous player of the year, totally unanimous player of the year. It gives him five in a row, which is the equal of Tiger Woods. Now, I know Will Bond

would go crazy if I mentioned Scotty Sheffler in the same sentence as Tiger Woods, but Tiger Tiger's first five-year run, we can compare with Sheffler's five-year run now. Tiger won seven majors. Sheffler has won four. That's a big spread for Tiger. But Sheffler, I believe, finished in the top ten in 15 of those 20 majors. And Tiger finished in the top ten, 12. So it's not a terrible stretch to put them together. He won the tournament convincingly. He got out of the gate like a racehorse yesterday. I mean, he put pressure on the people above him. Going into that round yesterday, everybody who was either ahead of Sheffler or tied with Sheffler, none of them came out under par. And Sheffler, as you said, shot 66, second day in a row. And that's how you win tournaments.

You know, you are relentless in that way. So he gets all of that. And you can, I think you have to mention him now off this five years with Tiger and Jack Nicholas. I think you do. You know, so Victor Hovlin said afterwards, you know, where there's a lot of guys out on the course, and of course he's referring to himself, that were gagging and throwing up.

And here's Scotty Sheffler, who's just steady. And that's really the beauty of him, much like Tiger Woods, it's the weak-to-week consistency that separates him from the group. You know, he finished in the, you look how we did at the majors, you know, three top four finishes at the major tournaments, and getting out of the blocks yesterday. How about the T-shot on the second hall where he dropped it? He's an inch.

It's an inch. It's an inch. And then how about the putt on the fourth hole? And then on 16, the shot out of the bunker basically ended the day for everybody. So he does it in a way. It's funny. Nothing about him, you know, the intensity, you know, how big and strong Tiger was, reminds you of Tiger.

But the mentality and the way that he plays, there's some similarities there. Well, let me go to that because I talked with Steve Sands of the Golf Channel this morning. And he compared Rory McElroyd to Arnold Palmer and Phil Mickelson saying that it's a wonderful trick ride. It's an aerial ride. It's fabulous. But he compared Schaeffler to Tiger and Jack Nicholas. And what he said is they are relentless out there. They are grinding all the time.

They are confident all the time. And they bludgeon you. And this is what Scotty Schaeffler has done. If he has another five years like this, he's going, and it's very hard to do, he's going to be in the category of Tiger. and Jack, he lacks one thing right now. He lacks the Grand Slam because he's never won the U.S. Open. But he has time. He's only 30.

It's available to him. Let's take a break. When we return, Novak Djokovic loses in the opening round of the U.S. Open for the very first time. What does that mean? And Pete Kro Armstrong hit five homers this weekend. But was Lino Messy's performance even more impressive? We'll take your emails next. I hope Wilbon's not watching because who yell at me for mentioning Schepler in the same sentence as Tiger twice.

But that five-year run, this is a hell of a five-year run. You know, other people have three-year runs. He's five. Oh, he's the richest guy ever in golf, but the money is. 130 million. Everywhere. Two in five Canadians will hear the words you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar-raised matters.

On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca. Hear that? It's your money calling. It wants a promotion. Elevate your savings with the Scotia high-interest savings account. Always earn high regular interest rates that grow the more you save and invest.

Conditions apply. Visit scotia bank.com slash h-I-SA to learn more. Scotia Bank. You're richer than you think. It's time to find out what's popping with the public in mail time. I mean, put on my glasses and get the first one here. What does Novak Djokovic's loss in the opening round of the U.S. Open say to you? They have five sets for Novak Djokovic in the first round to Mariano Nvone of Argentina.

First time, he had won 78 straight first round matches at the majors. That is a record for Novak Djokovic. At 39 years old, he got to the finals of Australia in January, made it to the semis at Wimbledon, but his body gave out. Tony, he was vomiting on the court. He was so emotional, he started crying. He only won three games, the last two sets. was up to one. That's right. So I don't know. This could be it for him. One little thing, though,

about this. How about the fact that they started his match first? It went for four and a half hours. Venus Williams and Sophia Cannon are taking the court after midnight. How unfair is that to the players and to the fans last night? What a disaster. I'll be brief about that. That's insane. You postpone that. You carry it over to the next day. You don't put people out on the court to go to two in the morning. That's crazy. Look, what this says to me is that it's over for Novak, I don't think he's ever going to win another major. Look at this year. He had no Al-Qaraz in the French, no Al-Qaraz in Wimbledon, and now no sinner in the U.S. Open. And he did not take advantage of that. He's 39. He'll be nearly 40 when he goes to the Australian next year, which he's

won the most times of anybody out there. But those two guys are going to be perfectly healthy. I just, I think it's done. There's too many times recently he's going to four sets or five sets early in tournaments. It's hard to go at that age for two weeks, going four and five sets every once in a while, more than every once in a while. Yeah, he was sick yesterday. But he lost to a kid who's an Argentinian clay quarter

who's ranked 49th in the world that had never won a five-set match. It just says to me it's over. It says to me... 12 straight majors without winning. 12 straight. Okay, here we go. More impressive performance this weekend.

five homers from Petro Armstrong, or four goals from Leonel Messi. Well, you know your friend Michael Woban wants to be here to tell you that PCA is going to be the MVP, and right now maybe he's taking a bit of an edge on Otani. But from Messi, four goals against Montreal and a 7-1 win by Miami, but he made news today announcing that he's done with the national team. So he scored, think about this, 125 goals in 207 appearances for Argentina. That includes six World Cups, three finals, won the title in 22, two Copa America championships. So it is, you talk about a changing of the guard going from Maradona to Lino-Messie.

I don't know who's going to fill that role. It's almost impossible. But what an unbelievable career. And Tony, he wrote today on Instagram, he decided on July 21st that this was what he was going to do. His dad passed away on August 8th, and that settled it for him. He decided that right now was the time to walk away. I completely agree with you that Wilbon would say it has to be Pete Crow Armstrong and he has to be the MVP and he should be unanimous. And then I would have said to Wilbon, well, what's his ERA in a reference to the other guy who's still in the race?

But yeah, I look at Messi scoring four goals. And I think to myself, well, what's the record in the MLS? Well, it's five. He almost got a record. And I think he also had an assist. That would be the biggest headline for me, the four goals, because it's harder to say. score a goal in soccer than it is to hit a home run in baseball. And it's, you know, it's far less frequent that that happens. Yeah. I mean, you're going to sell a lot of pink jerseys because of this.

And, yeah, and then I'd also be influenced by the fact that he made that announcement today that he's walking away from the national team. He is, Frank, your soccer, I'm not, but he is the Pied Piper soccer in the United States now. Him coming to the MLS has been great for soccer in the United States. It really has. I mean, everybody wants to go see him. And at an advanced age, he doesn't seem to be slowing down. You know, we just talked about two guys at advanced ages, Djokovic and Messi, and they are all-time greats. That's enough email. Let's take one last break, but coming up, the Padres fall after hitting a wall and dropping a ball. Is that supposed to be alliterative like that in rhyming? And Odell Beckham, Jr., catches on with the Giants.

That's kind of another little part. Catches on. I saw what you did there. Catch is on. See? He's got one of the most famous catches in history. And I don't recall anything in the last five years that he's done. Two in five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters.

On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation walk. Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcfwalk.ca.ca.a. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside a case that has captivated the nation. To many people, Luigi Mangione is a modern day Robinhood. People were cheering. The demise of this person they'd never met who was a father of two and a husband and had a life and was just doing a job. From the manhunt, ending in a McDonald's

in Al-Tuna, Pennsylvania, to what authorities are saying about a possible motive. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to Burdina Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Happy time, people.

Happy 30th birthday, Jalen Brunson, the new king of New York. By leading the Knicks to the NBA Championship, Brunson joined names like Namath, Mantle, Reed, Siever, Jeter and Messia in the lore of Big Apple champions. Brunson was the key to the Knicks' record-breaking offensive performance in the playoffs. In the regular season, Brunson averaged 26 points and nearly seven assists on nearly 47% shooting.

In the playoffs, he averaged over 28 points on similar shooting. Brunson came to the Knicks as a free agent after playing in Dallas. He was only a second round pick out of Villanova after being a two-time NCAA champion there. So who's laughing last? Brunson and his father, Rick, are the only father-son coach and player duo to win an NBA championship. You know, back in 99 when the Knicks made the NBA finals, I remember a young Jalen Brunson,

two and a half going on three bouncing around the locker room. The stat that you bring up, I still don't know how he was his second round pick. He won two national championships. He was the player of the year. Sometimes I don't understand what these NBA executives do. Happy anniversary, Frank Robinson. This is posthumous, but on this day, 21 years ago, Robinson won one of the all-time stare-downs in Major League history.

When as manager of the Washington Nationals, Robinson outlasted home-played umpire Jim Wolfe in what seemed like an eternal eye-lock between innings after a controversial strikeout call. You're still watching it, right? Ironically, today would have been Robinson's 91st birthday. Robinson was the first player ever voted MVP in both leagues with Cincinnati and then Baltimore,

won the Triple Crown in Baltimore in 1966, won two World Series there. Robinson hit 586 home runs, batted over 309 times. Robinson became the first black manager in the major leagues in Cleveland in 1975 and managed five different teams. Think about how intimidated pitchers were when Frank Robinson was staring them down. And you know what? This is what happens now, Tony, when you do have replay challenges, you don't get enough of that manager. umpire kind of interaction. I kind of missed that about the sport. You get a little, not a lot. Happy. Happy trails to yesterday's sure win for the Padres. San Diego was about to beat Tampa Bay

yesterday when Joy turned to anguish. The Padres were up three to one with two out in the bottom of the ninth and All-Star closer Mason Miller on the mound. Johnny DeLuca's long fly to left was loved by Samad Taylor for what appeared to be the final out, but Taylor hit the wall and lost the ball, creating a game-time two-run homer. The raise went on to win 5-4 and 11, and instead of avoiding a sweep. The Padres are now a half game back of the Diamondbacks for the last NL Wildcard. Brutal. You know what's brutal? Nats were up 2-0 in the

ninth. Loss 6-2! 6-2! I love how San Diego is under new ownership. They've lost five or six, but how about Tampa Bay? Big news for them. They're getting a new stadium by 2029 and another sweep. They're four and a half games up on the

Yankees. They're having a terrific season. Yeah, they need a new stadium. The old stadium, not So great. Let's go to the big finish if we could. Red Sox, very upset by a no-catch ruling yesterday. Did they have good reason to be upset? Yeah, that's a tough one. And there was no score at the time.

And that was a big swing game, Tony. The Yankees go on to win at 16 to 1, but the Yankees now four games up on Boston, but they won the season series. If Boston had won that, then they would have had the tie-breaker. That ended up being a big game. The Titans cut quarterback Will Levis. Are you surprised?

Not really. They got Cam Ward, but what happens to those mayonnaise ads? They were great. O'Dell Beckham Jr. made the Giants. Are you impressed? I'm surprised they gave him a second chance. Like you, he did have one of the greatest catches in the history of the franchise. We'll see if he's got something left. Your guy, Max Schurz, has struck out 10 over 7 shut out innings. Is he back? The Warrior God. That was a great game. It's probably too late for a great game, but it was. He's now ninth all time on the season. strikeout list all time. Last one, the Braves go for their eighth win in a road tonight at home against the Giants. You like their chances. I do. Bryce Seldar on the mound, 8 and 7, 3.95 ERA. And how about what the Braves did last week to the Dodgers, especially that performance by Chris Sale? The Braves have been really really good. Braves and Phillies, they don't lose,

right? Braves and Phillies don't lose. We're out of time. Try to do better than next time. I'm Tony Corneiser. And I'm Frank Isola. Thanks for for watching. Two and five Canadians will hear the words, you have cancer. That's why every step and dollar raised matters. On September 19th, join thousands in Toronto for the Princess Margaret Cancer Foundation Walk.

Challenge yourself, friends, and family to walk 21 kilometers in support of life-saving research. Together, we can carry the fire and help create a world free from the fear of cancer. Register today at pmcf walk. A.