PTI - Can John Harbaugh get the Giants back in the NFC race?

Episode Date: January 16, 2026

Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss John Harbaugh's move to the Giants, plus a Clippers comeback attempt against the Wizards. Additionally, the show discusses the NBA and college football, including the Chicago Bears' late game success and Miami's chances against Indiana. 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. Victor Wimba-Yama shaved his head tone. Should we welcome him into the Bald Brotherhood?

I'm Tony Kornheiser, no way. Club rule number one. It's got to fall out. Okay, no, that is not a rule because mine never fell out. Shave, not fallen. Okay, if you grew it back, would you have any hair on the top of your head now? Doubtful. No.

Doubtful. You would not. No, you would not. Got to fall out. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Clippers are hot. The commanders released renderings of their new stadium, and Bougarman Farland joins us for five good minutes.

But we begin today with reporting by ESPN's Adam Schaefter that the Giants are working to finalize the hire of John Harbaugh as their new head coach. Harbaugh was fired last week by Baltimore after failing to make the playoffs, but he is a Super Bowl winner, and he has the 12th most coaching victories in the NFL. The Giants finished 4 and 13 this season.

They've had a run of short-term failed coaches since Tom Coughlin left in 2015. Wilbon, do you like this fit for both sides? Tony, I like the fit. I'm not going to go as crazy as a lot of people on various networks I hear. You know, they should just start planning the parade, you know, out near MetLife.

I like the fit. First of all, it represents something that Giants haven't had for a few years, 10 plus, stability and hope. And John Harbaugh certainly brings those. And yes, there's a level of expertise that is not to be

denied or made fun of. But, you know, I mean, there's a lot of things that have to go right. And they didn't go right for John Harbaugh lately in Baltimore, which is why he's not selling Baltimore anymore, where he had a quarterback who's better than the one that the Giants are going to trot

out there right after Labor Day. And they only won three playoff games with him in seven years. I'm talking about Lamar Jackson teamed with John Harbaugh. So I like the fit, Tony. I think people should Giants fans should be excited. You'd know more about that being a New Yorker. But let's, let's, you know, pump the brakes a tiny bit. Yeah, I feel the way you do that, like, let's have a little bit of caution here. Let's not speed into the playoffs, as I was hearing this morning on a variety of shows. That was an overly rosy outlook to me. Look, the Giants have.

been awful for about the last 10 years. Not as stinking as the Jets because nobody has been, but the Giants have only won more than six games twice in 10 years. They went through, let's see, Ben McAdoo and Pat Shermer and Joe Judge and Brian Dayball. Not one of them had been a successful head coach prior to getting that job with the Giants, and not one of them had a winning record there. The Giants had great success, obviously, with Bill Parcells and then with Tom Coughlin, but that's it in the last 40 years. It's a while. Nobody else has had any success. So this is not a surefire ascendance. No. All right? You're not taking over a great franchise. You're not people managing the Yankees. It's not that. All right? Is it a good fit for the Giants?

Great fit for the Giants. A guy won 193 games. It's a great fit for them. He's got a pedigree. Is it a great fit for Harbaugh? I'm not sure about that. I'm assuming since he wanted this job that he likes Jackson Dart and thinks he'll be there for a while. There are other players, Malik, neighbors is out there he's a good player. Maybe Scataboo becomes a good player. Maybe. Maybe. But they were, Mike, they were four and 13 this year, three and 14 last year, six and 11

the year before. That's 13 and 30. Ain't ways to go. Okay, so don't put them in the playoffs just yet. Don't put them in the playoffs just yet. There's some real work to be done. Yeah. But it's an upgrade.

It is an upgrade. It's an upgrade. Yeah. No, we agreed down the line, Tom. Yep. Let's move down I-95, south, a couple hundred miles, where the commanders have unveiled the first renderings of their new back-in-town, clear-roofed stadium, a roof, Tony.

Pictures show the stadium built literally upon the foundations of the old RFK where Washington play while winning three Super Bowls. The team hopes to complete construction of the venue by 2030. Tone, these renderings, you look at them. They make you feel what? they make me feel, as I'm sure they make you feel nostalgic for RFK. Yeah. All right, where you and I covered games for almost 20 years, you know, in that particular stadium.

RFK, it looks like RFK. There's a sweep like RFK. It's not going to be the same stadium. As you say, it's domed. Clear roof would be very, very nice, actually. I think the people who have designed it, designed the really beautiful stadium in Minnesota, designed SOFI. But yeah, it makes me. nostalgic for RFK. And like everybody else in Washington, I hated that dump in Maryland that

Jack Kent Cook built. All right. RFK was vibrant. RFK was welcoming and FedEx Field had raw sewage leaking out. RFK, it actually bounced. You and I were there when it actually bounced when the team was winning. And the other one, the FedEx Field sits there sort of like an open sore. Look, it's very deliberate what is going on here. They're building it. inside the District of Columbia. They're building it on the RFK's site. This is a deliberate attempt to attach themselves to their great past. And their great past is pretty much long gone.

And so they have to recreate it. And this stadium, this stadium is a step towards that recreation of a once great franchise. Let's keep in mind, RFK's a dump. RFK's long been a dump. It's just a charming dump, which we like as opposed to. to FedEx Field, which was just a dump dump, which nobody liked after about three weeks. So let's get that straight.

I looked at this and the columns that they use. I mean, it really looks like, wow, the columns, the saddle top, which is just like R.S.K. If you go, if you're in Washington, D.C., and you stand in front of Abraham Lincoln, and you look out away from the district, you know that they're in line that the Washington monument

and then the capital of the United States and then RFK they're in perfect alignment the angles are perfect and so yeah it conjures up a certain warmth that hasn't been felt for that franchise until it was sold

until Dan Snyder got out of Dodge but it's cool I think we can agree the roof thing I hate roofs I hate roofs on all these stadiums play outdoors but you know nobody's listening to me looks good

it looks good looks good, and the fact of the matter is that in the last five, six, eight years, people from Washington were outnumbered by people from visiting teams because people in Washington hated the owner and hated the stadium. All right? Let's move to the NBA. While everyone was busy slamming the clippers, including us, for their miserable six and 21 starts, somehow the clippers have awakened that might be good. Well, last night they beat the terrible Washington Wizards, but that ran, that was their fourth straight game in a row that they won, their 11th of 13, They ran their record up to 17 and 23.

The Clippers are now just one half game out of the play in. And James Hardin says, and I'm quoting here, we can come all the way back, unquote. Wobon, do you think they can come all the way back? No, Tony. And I think they're, look, when this season started and I looked at the personnel, I think we all thought the same thing, which was, wow, this team is old and wow, these guys have been great.

Can they summon this again? And if they can, how sustainable is it? When Kauai Litterd is out there, and he's been out there a little bit more lately than I think I thought he would, when he scores 30, they're winning the game. The Clippers are winning the game. Kauai looks like he did in 2019

when he all led a team to a championship in Canada. So I like what they've got, but we're talking about hardening Kauai, essentially, and then a cast of people. San Antonio's too good. Denver's too good. Houston, when they play some home games because they haven't, they're going to be really too good.

And we know OKC's too good. So all the way back tone, I can't see them climbing ahead of any of those teams. We are in agreement on that. I don't see them climbing ahead of Minnesota. I don't see them climbing ahead of the Lakers either. I mean, I see them finishing, like, at best, somewhere around 8th. So when Hardin says we can come all the way back,

no, because the other teams are actually better. It's funny. For some reason, I always, when I think of the clippers, I analogize them. to the Philadelphia's 76ers. I think because they have big-name talent that's been there for a few years and big expectations and stuff like that.

Philadelphia got off to a mediocre start. I think they were 10 and 9 at one point. Clippers obviously got off to a terrible start. And now they're working their way back up to where they should be. But last night, I watched the Sixers a little bit get destroyed by Cleaver. Let me get the exact score here.

133107. And so what I'm reminded of is in the euphoria of a winning streak, then you get a bad loss to a pretty good team. And so you want to say, oh, stop for a little while now. Like, let's not get crazy. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. Yeah.

Let's not get crazy. And particularly in the West, where a league, I know, we're not used to young people dominating the NBA. It's always older guys. And so that's why I wanted to believe in the Clippers. That's the history of this league. But, man, you got a lot of great young players, particularly in the West.

on those teams we mentioned. It's good that you use the word young. I love James Harden. He's 36. He's going to hold up after 82 games in the playoffs because he likes to play 82. He's old school to. Let's take a break.

Coming up to Texas, have the best defense in football. We're going to ask Booger McFarland how the Patriots offense matches up. We'll also ask him why teams stop my bears early in the games, but not late. Not in the fourth quarter.

No. Is it seven wins when you're behind? We have football questions for our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst, Booger McFarland, wearing a shirt from Old Memorial, one of his local tracks in Tampa. Let's start with this. Texans defense, awfully good. How does the Texans defense match up against the Patriots? You know, Tony, for the very first time you asked the wrong question because you're asking

how does the Texas defense match up to the Patriots? You need to ask it the other way around. How does the Patriots offense match up to the Texans? Mike Tyson never got asked. How do you match up against the opponent? The opponent was always asked how you're going to deal with Mike Tyson. And I make that comparison, not joking. This is the best defense I've seen the last couple years, guys.

Pay attention to what they did on Monday night to the Pittsburgh Steelers. They're going to send Aaron Rogers into retirement. Mike Tomlin has retired. It's an unbelievable speed that they play at. Everybody talks about the two ends. When you talk about the Neil Hunter, Will Anderson Jr. But it's everybody. When you watch their tape, it's almost as,

if somebody has hit fast forward and they're playing at a faster speed. D'Amico Rines, the head coach is an outstanding defensive mind. They do a really good job of rallying to the ball. They don't give up big plays. They can cover on the back end. It's the best defense I've seen in football in quite a while. And so the question should be not how are they going to deal with the Patriots, but how are the Patriots who are going to start two rookie offensive linemen on the left side guys?

They got to block the Houston, Texas. To me, that is a mismatch on the offensive line for the, for the Patriots and the defensive line for the Texans. Tony, sounds like Boogers leading toward a little road dog situation here. Sounds like that from the way he's talking up to those Texans. They do look fearsome.

The Broncos, Booger, have a very good defense, too. And, of course, the bills have Josh Allen. Are you leaning defense again here? You know, I'm leaning more complete team because I think the Denver Broncos have the better team. And when you look at Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills, it's Josh Allen, it's Cook, and then it's a bunch of guys that kind of work well together.

When you look at the Denver Broncos, they're a more complete team. Defensively, they led the league in Sachs this year, offensively, Corden Sutton, the running back Harvey. I think if you're Sean Payton, here's the question you've got to ask yourself, how much am I going to put on Bo Nix's plate? Because Bo Nix is the key. The last time these two teams played each other, which was in the playoffs last year, Bo Nix wasn't ready for the moment.

Now, fast forward 365 days or so. Now, Buffalo is coming to Denver's house, and Denver's the one seed. If you're Bow Nix, are you going to perform better? Are you going to play better? If you're Sean Payton, how much of the meat potatoes do you put on Bo Nix's plate? I think the defense will play well, but you're not going to beat Josh Allen, 17, 14. They're going to have to score in the mid-20s, and if Bo Nix can do it and he can play turnover-free football, they'll win. If Bo Nicks can't do it, then Superman, along with James Cook, they'll come into Denver and they'll get the win.

I'm going to ask you about the most mysterious team in the league, at least to me, the Chicago Bears, and why it is that teams can have success against the Bears for as many as three quarters plus, but not late. Is there some secret sauce? What the hell is going on there? Well, I don't know if there's a secret sauce, Mike. I think early in the game, the Bears kind of beat themselves. And listen, and when I say the Bears, I'm at a lot.

actually talking about this offense because the defense is terrible. Yeah, they've led the league and turnovers all season long, which has masked some of their deficiencies, but the defense is not good. And so early in the game, it takes a little while for this offense to get going. It's almost as if Ben Johnson, who's the head coach and the play caller, has to kind of figure out what the defense is doing against him. And then when you get Caleb Williams backed up in the corner, DJ Moore, those guys get to go on. And Caleb Williams has that it factor, Mike. You've seen it. Tony, you've seen, we've been around sports a long time, guys. Sometimes you can't quantify it, you can't describe it, but you know when an athlete has

it. And Caleb Williams has it. And it's almost as if late in the game, he tries to wheel his team to victory. He's not a perfect quarterback yet, but he's got the if factor. He's a star. So I think against the Rams, he's going to have to play more consistently. He can't wait three quarters and then coming into fourth quarter because Matthew Stafford, the presumptive MVP might put up 35 against their defense. So he's going to have to play a little bit more consistently throughout the game, but make no mistake about it. Early in the game, it's typically the bears beating themselves. We will get you out of here on this, and it's a college question.

We've talked about the pros. Now let's talk about college. It's Monday night. Miami is playing at home against Indiana. What kind of chance do you give Miami against Indiana? Well, first of all, I truly hope the paramedics are around because Michael Irvin may just pass out at some point during the pregame. Like between he and Ray Lewis, he may just pass completely.

out because he's going to be so on cloud nine because his hurricanes are playing for the championship. It's another case, guys, where you look at Kurt Signetti, and we've talked about this on the program all season long, he's got his guys believing that we're the best team. It's not about the number of four or five stars because they don't have many. It's about to complete team. They got the presumptive number one picking Fernando Mendoza. He can go ahead and start buying real estate in Las Vegas. He's going to play for the Raiders. Brady and Spitech are going to pick him number one. This game comes down to can the team known as the Indiana Hoosiers led by Signetti and Fernando Mendoza, how do they compare with some of the star power that Miami has?

Carson Bet, took the four million bucks came to Miami. You got Malacot Tony. You got Ruben Bain. You got Akeen Mesidor. They got first round picks everywhere on this team. But here comes a little old Indiana, who's 15 and O, who's favored by eight and a half points. Can the star power of Miami play more consistently and play turnover mistake-free? free football. Miami's biggest issues, they beat themselves in a lot of game when they lost

to Louisville, Carson Beck through four interceptions. Is he going to be able to play mistake-free football? If he does, and Miami plays to the level, we're going to get an all-time classic. If he doesn't, then we're going to be talking about the Indiana Hoosiers as the 2025 national champions of college football. And I don't care who you talk to it. Nobody had that before the season started. Absolutely nobody. Nobody knows. One of the great seasons. If they win, it's one of the great seasons of all time, of all time. Booker, as always, thank you so much.

Thank you, sir. Appreciate you. Anytime. Appreciate it, fellas. Let's take one last break, still to come, a trio of buzzer beaters in college hoops. If Jonathan Comingo reportedly demands a trade from the dubs, is that going to happen?

Does he have that kind of status? No, no, but they got to trade in Tony to get better this year. Tonight on SportsCenter at Sixeaster. Adam Schester with the latest on the Giants' pursuit of John Harbaugh. Plus, what will it take for the one-seat Broncos and Seahawks to advance on Saturday? And why Indiana's defense may be the key to Monday's CFP title game against Miami. Sports Center coming up next on ESPN. Happy time, people, happy 77th birthday Bobby Gritch.

History lesson, kids. Gritch was a terrific second baseman, first for the Baltimore Orioles, then for the California Angels. Both franchises inducted Gritch into their home. calls of fame. Gritch was a six-time All-Star, three for each team, a silver slugger winner, and the American League Home Run Leader in 1981. There are a lot of big stars you go through on the Orioles before you get to Gritch, like Brooks Robinson, Frank Robinson, Boog Powell, Ball-Lair, Jim Palmer, and later, Cal Ripkin and Eddie Murray. But Gritch was a solid second basement, a position that is often overlooked. Tony, it is, but also overlooked. How about

the staff, if we're talking about Orioles stars of Palmer, Quayar, McNally and Dobson, Gadsu all won 20. I mean, the Baltimore Orioles, they have to be described as small market team, but they had big market stars for years. Happy anniversary, Bill Sharman, this is posthumous, but on this day 69 years ago, Charmin tried to send a long pass to his fellow Boston Celtics All-Star teammate Bob Coosie near the end of a quarter at the All-Star game. Sharman's pass ended up going in the Basque, counting as an 80-foot.

shot for what is still considered the longest made basket in all-star history. After the basket, Coozy said to be joking, asked Charmin, don't you ever pass? Charmin and Coozy with the Celtics original great backcourt giving way to Sam and KC. Jones. Sharman is in the Basketball Hall of Fame as a player and coach. Won four NBA titles as a player. One is coached the Lakers and four as a Lakers executive. Greatness everywhere when you mention those names. I'm going to ask you this.

Is the Laker team that won 33 in a row? and won the championship with Wilt and West and Goodrich. Is that the greatest team in your mind ever in the NBA? No. No. No. No, the Wilt team. The Wilt 76ers team that won.

Oh, okay. In the mid-1970s. That one team. All right. Happy trails to several teams at the buzzer last night. Let's start with Ole Miss beating number 21, Georgia in Athens, on a putback in the lane at the end of overtime. Next, Kentucky beat LSU in a way that was very reminiscent of the legendary Christian

later shot that. beat Kentucky in the 1992 East Regional Final. I was there. And then SMU took down Virginia Tech on a half-court heave as time inspired. Also of Milton College Hoops last night, Texas handed 10th ranked Vanderbilt its first loss of the season. And Stanford fans rushed the court after the Cardinal beat number 14, North Carolina and Palo Alto. I'm trying to warm up to men's college basketball. I'll eventually

get there. Try my best. By the way, I'm wrong. I was off by a decade. team was in the mid-60s, not the mid-sevon. That was a great thing. Big finish. Here we go. Jonathan Comingo, reportedly demanding a trade from the Warriors. Does that make sense? I don't care if he demands it or not. It's time for them to park company. It's just not working between the dubs and Cominga, and I don't understand all of it. The feds indicted 20 people, including 15 current or former players, in an alleged college basketball point-shaving scheme,

is it significant? Of course it's significant. But there is a significant. But there is a None of the basketball power schools are in it. I don't think. The Sony Open begins a PGA tour season today. You're intrigued? Real golf, not indoor, whatever that is, domed golf. Real golf, yes. The recently retired Clayton Kirchow will play for Team USA and the World Baseball Classic.

Your reaction. It's sweet. It's a valedictory. Last one, Women's College Hoops Tonight, number four, Texas, and number two South Carolina. Who you got? I know who you got. A mystery. It's on Staley and Gamecox.

You know who I got. It's always dawn. I'm still on Staley all the time. We're out of time. Try and do better the next time. I'm Tony Corrinheim. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.

Until dawn, you don't like me picking our team. And now, you're a sports center. BTI.