PTI - Are the Yankees BACK in the Series?

Episode Date: October 8, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Yankees, the Eagles, and the Panthers. 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 Wilbon. It's National Salmon Day, Tony. Name your favorite fish.

Tony Pornhizer, Mike Trout, Catfish Hunter, Tyrese Halliburton, Un, Tuna, Tunga Viola. You like any of those? You skipped him salmon. Oh, I did. Yes. Yes, I forgot about salmon. Come on now. You like salmon?

Yeah, love it. Good, because there's so many things you don't eat. You don't eat. Like you don't eat anything green, am I correct? And no. Okay. But you eat no fruits, right? Apples.

That's it? That's it. That's the list. Fantastic. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls in today's episode. The Eagles meet. The Panthers pick up where they left off, and Steve Young joins us for five good minutes.

But we begin today with last night's dramatic comeback by the Yankees to beat Toronto 9 to 6 and keep their series alive. Toronto scored quickly on a Vlad Guerrero Jr. Two-run Homer in the top of the first, then stretch that lead to 6 to 1 by the third inning. knocking out starter Carlos Rodone. The Yankees got two back in the third

and then the fourth tied the game on Aaron Judge's dramatic three-run homer off the left field foul pole. The Yankees won as their relievers shut down Toronto for the last six and two-thirds innings. Wolbon, what is the word for how this game played out?

It's not even a game. It's the home run. It's Ruthian or it's the natural. Take you the one. The foul pole made it more than natural. And it was hit to right field from a pull, right? No, no, left to the ball.

Right hand hitter. Ruth would have gone... Way inside pitch. To right field. And it just... Tony, it was majestic. When he hit that thing, I was watching by myself

and started screaming because as you know, I said arrogantly for two days, the Yankees are going to win this game. And at 6-1, I'm not looking real good. But when he hit that, that's got to be right now.

It's early. For a guy who hasn't won a World Series, he's not Jeter. He's not DiMaggio. He's not Mantle. He's not Ruth or Garrick. Nope, nope. He's not Barra.

This is his moment right now. So I thought that game was pretty much lost early, but the saving grace is that it was too early to be lost. The Yankees came back quickly. The Yankees came back quickly. And that home run is a fabulous visual moment when it knocks off the foul pole. And it is a symbolic moment because he's their big man. But it only tied the game.

They still had to win. the game. But didn't you feel they had every bit of more? They go out, they get a home run from Jazz Chisholm. They get another run in the fifth. They get another, that same meaning two runs. And they get one in the sixth. And they win the game. They keep their season alive. And maybe it is a reset here. Because I was given the statistic today that Toronto was 39 and 0 this year when they had leads of five runs or more. I mean, and I want to, the word that I would have used for the Yankees is determination. I would have said collective determination. And I would have included the bullpen. Mike, the bullpen's ERA in the playoffs was nine, was one run and inning.

Now it's only 6.46, but you shut down a hot team. Do you know by the end of the top of the third last night, the score differential in that series was 29 to 9? So this is, I don't think you can overstate the potential meaning of that win. But Boone said during the on-field interview, or whatever they call that thing, in Doug out interview, we had a whole whole. him down a little bit. No, he held him down completely the bullpen dead. It's still on judge. How great must

that dugout have felt? You could see it. When that ball, forget the foul pole, when it came off the back. You could see it. But again, Mike, it tied the game. You still have to go win it. You had to go win it. I felt like it was over at that point to me. Let's move to the NFL and the Philadelphia Eagles. Jalen Hertz,

Seekon Barkley, and the always peaved AJ Brown, met Monday to discuss how to move forward. after Sunday's first loss of their season. Hurts and Barcliffe downplayed the meeting and said it was not contentious. Ton was this summit of stars in Philly a big deal, little deal or no deal?

I love how much you hate wide receivers. It is the pleasure of my life. You just think they're all awful. They are all. I love them, but they're crazy. So I would say of this, what matters is what was discussed and if there was resolution.

And then it could be a very big deal. I mean, we've been told for a while that A.J. Brown is unhappy about not getting enough passes. And then he goes on social media and posts cryptic messages. And we've been told Sequin Barclay is upset that he doesn't really get the ball anywhere near the way he got the ball last year. And we've been told about Jalen Hurtsy, very conservative as a quarterback out there. So if they come to resolution and they're all happy, it could be a very big deal. Conversely, if it doesn't work out at all, it could go the other way with this team. I took these notes because there are some numbers here.

A.J. Brown, five passes, 43 yards against Denver. He's averaging 38 yards. He's under 50. That's four out of five games. He's under 50. His first five games last year, he averaged 88. Barclay, one carry in the second half as they passed 23 out of 24 times.

Six carries in the whole game. It's the lowest amount since 2010. My problem with this is this. They're four in one and they're defending Super Bowl champions, so I don't think we're on the eve of destruction. It's no deal. None. First of all, when you're a practice every day all day and some people get to the compound, I'm sure Hertz does at like 5.30 in the morning.

What else are you supposed to do but meet and talk to each other? What the hell are you there for if you can't talk? I realize two generations now can only text to each other. Maybe they're in the room and they actually talk. Maybe they sit in the room and text. That's a breakthrough. Get me headline writers. It's no deal.

This is what they should do. They should talk about it. It's one loss. The Philadelphia Eagles, let us remind all the other. They won 20 out of 22. They're not going undefeated. They weren't going undefeated. Are the Philadelphia Eagles going to make the playoffs?

Yes or no? Oh, sure. Yes, they are. Oh, sure. Okay. So let's stop. The NHL regular season opened yesterday. One of the featured games had the two-time defending Stanley Cup winners,

Florida Panthers beating your Chicago Blackhawks 3 to 2. The last time the NHL had a three-peat was 1982, when the Islanders did it on their way to four in a row. The Panthers raised their banner. yesterday and their rings are inscribed and I quote here, we apologize to no one. Wilbon, what do you think of their three P chances and the inscription

on their rings? I don't give a damn about their rings. The three P chances, I don't see that either. I don't. I mean, I could think of a couple of teams that came close. A lot of teams won multiple championships. The Penguins have done it. The Kings did it. The Blackhawks

did it with a loss in game seven at home in overtime of the Stanley Cup semi-final, keeping them from having a shot at three. So people have come close, but nobody's done it. I don't think Gretzky did it. Gretzky didn't do it. So, I mean, if Gretzky didn't do it. No, I don't see it.

And I'm not saying it doesn't take away from Florida's greatness to have done what they've done so far. But no, teams bubble up. Edmonds is not going away. If McDavid and Drysidal and gang are healthy, they've been in the finals. I expect them to sort of catch them and pass them. I'm going to deal with the inscription very, very briefly here. I think it comes from the fact that both Matthew Kachuk and Sam Bennett said this stuff in the various championship celebrations.

It's pretty chasty to put on a ring. They were reacting to the notion that they were not just a physical team, but a dirty team. Okay, they won. They can do what they want. That's fine. I agree with you about the three-peed. And I've thought about this. I mean, I agree with you because it's over 40 years since it's happened.

I think it's harder in hockey than in any other sport. And I think so because something in hockey is different in this regard. Small things change everything. The bounce of the puck. The shot that hits the post and doesn't go in. So I thought it was harder. The Lakers did this in 2002. The Yankees did this in 2000.

But I was surprised. I had to go back to the Packers in 1967. For football, for the NFL. Yeah. So I was surprised at that. But I, no, I don't like this. There's one of the thing about the NHL. their rules preclude you.

It almost forces you to get rid of up and coming or already great players too quickly. It doesn't matter when you sign. You've got players who know how to win. And you can't continue to win because the rules make you get rid of them. That's the NHM issue. One of the problems there is inside that locker room.

Maybe there's a change in attitude. Maybe there's a change in motivation because you've just won two in a row. Yeah. Let's take a break. Coming up, what makes you? It's Kyle Shanahan's offense so easy for quarterbacks to pick up, we're going to ask Steve Young. We'll also ask him about Trevor Lawrence's admission.

He was panicking on that touchdown run that beat the cheese. I just looked in the wrong camera. I just looked at the red light. And I was at the wrong camera. And then I get a hand saying, look at this camera. But I'm trained to look at the red light. I was trained to see. Pardon the interruption is presented by the refreshing taste of twisted tea, hard iced tea.

Please drink responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. Welcome back to Pardon the Interruption, presented by Twisted Tea, hard ice tea. Part of Happy Hour. We've got some NFL issues to discuss with our great friend and the man who threw Ritey before I suggested he tries South for. Back in the summer in 1981, All of Fame quarterback Steve Young. Let's start with this. Mack Jones, he looked pretty good.

Subbing for Brock Purdy as a quarterback. what makes Kyle Shanahan's offense so friendly to a wide variety of people? Let me just quickie a quick anecdote. So I'm at the, you know, night before the hotel at a home game where they go through the first 15. Bill Wall started that back in the 80s where the head coach is going to introduce the first 15 offensive plays, go through the reeds. So everybody goes to bed with what's, you know, they're clear-minded.

And so I'm sitting there watching him introduce the first 15 classically. And I'm thinking the plays, I'm like, man, that's cool. Oh, that is ingenious. That is amazing. And so at the end of it, I go up and he says, you didn't mention Blitz, Kyle. You didn't say anything about Blitz. He goes, no, it's good against everything. And I was like, what?

You're telling me you got it and all that cool stuff and I don't have to worry about Blitz. Like, you know, so that was my response to your question is that's the genius of innovative football that Andy Reid and he and Sean McVey and Sean Payton started about 10 years ago in a tactical advantage because he's made the job of quarterback, not simple, but, man, like, it helps you be better. The full measure of who you are as a player can come out is the way I would say. And you're seeing that with Jimmy Garapolo. You're seeing it with Mark Purdy. You're seeing it with Mac Jones.

Like, yeah. Then, Steve, why don't more people copy it's supposed to be a copycat league? Why don't more coaches say, let me do this? You're getting, well, track everyone that's come out of those guys's coaching trees, Mike McDaniel in Minnesota, green, like, just crack it. It's throughout the, it's better than ever, Michael, because they're all been trained in this way, but not everybody is elite innovator, right? Because Kyle has to keep reinventing himself all the time.

And that's, Andy Reid, 67, 66 years old is reinventing himself every week. It's a certain spirit of, that's why you're a genius coach. And to me, there's not 32 genius coaches. There's a handful. A few, a couple. You mentioned Mike McDonald. I'm going to follow up for him for a second. The Dolphins are one and four.

And Mike McDonald said today about Tua and all quarterbacks, quote, Mike McDaniel. I'm sorry, Mike McDaniel. Who did I say? Mike McDonald? Like Yamo be there? No, Mike McDaniel. And he said about Tua and all quarterbacks,

quote, a bottom line, black and white is that you're held accountable for the results while you're trying to get better, close quote. Is that fair to all quarterbacks to lump everybody like that? It's a rock, solid, foundational truth that you have to take in as a quarterback. Every play starts with the ball in your hand. And think about all the mitigation that happens every play.

It's football's too many guys. It's chaos. How many things go wrong? You throw interception and how many reasons why? True reasons. There's a truth. The guy turned the wrong receiver turned the wrong way. The guy didn't block the defensive end.

The ball was slippery. The son was my. Like, they're all true things. But there's, I think what Mike McDaniels talking about is it's a, there's a truer truth. And the truest truth is the quarterback, the ball was in my hands and now it's in their hands. And a quarterback that takes that on and owns that can now collect everybody else on the team, especially the offensive linemen are getting paid a third or a quarter or a tenth of what he's getting paid. They're not on TV.

have them go fight for you every week because I know my guy is going to stand for it. And so young players watch your language after a losing game when the media asks you, what happened? You don't use words of mitigation, use words of accountability. I love Mike McDaniel saying that. Man, that says it. One quarterback who owned his situation when it was difficult the other night is Trevor Lawrence, who described his touchdown scramble, which he, of course fell down twice,

as sheer panic. Steve, you played a long time. I don't remember you falling quite like that on the snap of a ball. But did you ever have a situation like that? And what were you thinking when you watched him? We've all had, I got stepped on when I threw a tarolone's to beat the Packers in the playoffs.

Half of the secret of the play is I got stepped on by the center and almost fell down. But if you actually go to the ground and then you get up and you go to the ground again, I think Chris Jones, the defensive lineman, was so baffled by it. He just watched. But I guess I have scrambled around. And I remember scrambling on crazy, crazy, crazy, straightening up, throwing a ball, two linebackers.

Instead of catching it, they did the typical linebacker thing and batted it and batted it back to me. And I caught it and almost scored. And I was like, this is insanity. I don't know if it's panic, but weird stuff happens on the football field, ask the Cardinals. But I thought that was the most bizarre thing that you could fall down. biggest play of the game of the goal line, fall down again, then scramble up and then go score,

makes you just say to yourself, the league is different. It's different than it's ever been. It's a wild last 10 minutes of the game, last two minutes, last 30 seconds. It's like it's changing. It's a closers league. I said it's the NBA.

It's a closers league. And who can close in the last few seconds is going to win. We will get you out of here on this. The Jets are now 0 and 5 to start. You were on two. really bad teams at Tampa Bay that went two and 14. What is the experience like as a player, and you know this when you just cannot seem to win? I'll own one of those full seasons.

But anyway, it was bad. And really, we're talking about accountability. I want to be accountable. It's the culture of the place, Tony. It devolves. And people, there's always little whisper groups in the corner, finger pointing. It's all the stuff that I just didn't. say where the mitigation and all the blame game and then no one no one stands for it from the owner to the head coach to the offensive coordinator to the quarterback to all the way down it's a terrible situation but the thing i learned from going through that is that you might have lost a lot of games but i played with james wilder and i play with jimmy giles and i play with kevin house those freaking guys were not losers like that's the thing about it they were not like we lost a lot of

James, but they were, James Wilder is one of the toughest human beings I ever played with. And so I just want to honor the effort despite the losing that a lot of times you miss, the sacrifice that people make and the quality of people that might have been two and 14, but, you know, that don't get, you know, you have to, it's brutal, but they, to me, I wasn't playing with losers. I was playing with incredibly inspiring people. We just, the culture of the place was, was not good. That's really good to hear.

It is so good to have you on this show. Thank you. Much appreciate, Steve. Thank you. You guys are the best, thanks. Let's take one last break. Still to come, Bill Belichick's docu series goes kaput. It's probably a good thing.

The Bengals aren't wasting any time with Joe Flacco. Under Sinner, what are they going to do? Have a special schedule game today to play Flacco? Is there any point in trading for him and not putting him in right away? Well, what are you doing? Pardon the Interruption is presented by the refreshing taste of Twisting. tea, hard iced tea. Please drink responsibly, part of Happy Hour.

Happy time, people. Happy 55th birthday Matt Damon. Yes, the wonderful actor. And no, we don't have a specific sports connection, except that he and his buddy Ben Affleck are insane Boston fans. I know someone who was at a Super Bowl party with them when Malcolm Butler intercepted that Russell Wilson passed in New England won, and Damon and Affleck went crazy.

Damon played driver Carol Shelby and Ford versus Ferrari, a terrific movie. He played basketball entrepreneur Sonny Vicaro in Air, the Michael Jordan Sneaker movie. He does beer commercials with David Beckham, and in his breakthrough movie,

Goodwill Hunting, Damon gets into a fight on an outdoor basketball court. Plus, he has the great line. You like apples? I got a number. How about them apples? I don't remember the line.

I remember the movie. It's in the bar. I don't read this. He's talking to the Harvard kid. How could you not remember that? Why did you get invited to that party? Who said I did?

I said you did. Good job out of you. A not-so-happy anniversary, Brad Wing. Wing was the punter for LSU, and here is his moment of glory. On this day, 14 years ago, LSU's freshman punter, had his brilliantly disguised 52-yard fake touchdown run called back because Wing stretched out his arms in joyous celebration during the last few yards of this run.

Technically, this was unsportsman-like conduct. This has to be one of the worst calls ever. Wing is Australian. What does he know about this dopey rule? LSU won this game 41 to 11 over Florida anyway, won the SEC and ultimately lost to Alabama and the BCS championship game, and Wing is currently punting in the UFL.

I hope this call was made by a zebra unofficial that I know and buddies with. Let me just say this in retrospect all those years later. If that guy is working now, he should be called into an office now and fired retroactively for the dumbest, meanest, stupidest call ever. And you should have to give that years of pay.

You should have to do that. Absolutely. Happy trails to the Bill Belichick docu series. The behind-the-scenes effort which Belichick announced in late August is reportedly no longer in development at Hulu. According to Inside Carolina, no clear reason was given an earlier project that HBO never got off the ground. Belichick's arrival at UNC was met with huge hoopla. But the results so far have been underwhelming.

Victories over Charlotte and Richmond, but losses to power for opponents' teams. UCF and Clemson by a combined score of a low 120 to 33. No specific reason was given. I'll give you a reason. They stink in a way you and I did not think was possible. Even if they were losing, we thought there'd be some drama to it. There'd be some. You interested in watching that?

We won't even watch their games, much less a look behind the scenes. Let's go to the big finish. The Cardinals find their head coach, Jonathan Gannon, $100,000 for his behavior toward running back Amari, Demerado. Too much, too little, just right. The fact that they found him at all took some guts. Let me applaud that. The Bengals will start Joe Flacco

and quarterback against the Packers. You think this is good, right? You're going to trade for him, put him in there. My problem is they couldn't protect the other guy who's younger and can move. How did they protect Flacko? Browns coach Kevin Stefanski did not commit to making Shudor Sanders

the backup to Dylan Gabriel on Sunday. He was surprised. You know nothing that happens with Cleveland is even worth discussing, right? they're irrelevant forever and ever more with that franchise. Phillies Dodgers tonight, which way you lean in? I'm leaning to the Dodgers.

They've been very impressive. I think the Phillies are a terrific team, but this is the game in L.A. Last one, Aces at Mercury. Game three tonight, who you got? Mercury, at home. Mercury, you have to win this game. You can't go down 0-3.

That's a hometown pick for you. They're a worthy team. They're in the final. Aptown team's in the final. You only pick the Aces to sweep? Is that what you want? If you had any guts? If you had any guts.

time. We'll try to be better than next time. I'm Tony Cornhus. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. I'm going to give a shout out to Bernie Co-Star. Is he the last quarterback who mattered in Cleveland? Like, we like Bernie.