PTI - Does AJ Brown Care More About Himself than his Team?!

Episode Date: November 13, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss AJ Brown, the NBA, and the CY Young winners. 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 Wilbonne's National Actors Day, Tony. Have you ever wanted to be an actor? I'm Tony Cornizer. I was.

I was the lead in three homemade adult films in 1974. Oh, no, we can't start the show with that image. What are you doing? I think that's sort of funny. I think that's a funny line. It's a funny line. It wasn't in 1974. It was 1977.

Welcome to PTI, boys, and girls. girls, in today's episode, The Thunder Roll, scubal and Skeeons win size, and Booger McFarlane joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with A.J. Brown, the off-discrundled wide receiver on the Philadelphia Eagles, who never seemed satisfied no matter how many times the ball is thrown to him. Brown, who had just two catches in Monday night's win over Green Bay, was critical yesterday of the Eagles' offense in general. While saying this was not about his situation, he said the Eagles were slacking on offense. Brown said, quote, he can't keep slapping a Band-Aid over that, unquote. Eagles coach Nick Siriani expressed exhaustion with this,

saying he was nearing the point where he won't talk about Brown anymore. Well, on, does Brown come off as caring more about himself or the team? I don't think Brown gives a damn about the team. I mean, the secondary way he might, but I'm with Siriani. Look, Tony, there's some people you just can't pay attention to, even on great teams, even on championship teams. even on championship teams. I can go back to a team that won six championships

with Michael Jordan, and at times you just couldn't pay attention to Dennis Robbins. You just couldn't, whether it was the coach or Jordan. You had to say, okay, he's going to play. He's going to play, in his case, great. And then you have to set that aside. That's what you have to do in this case. If you're the Eagles, you want a championship.

If this guy wants to do stuff on social media or play video games at his pals that are just like, internationally broadcast. You let him do whatever he wants to do. And then you can just decide to set him aside in a separate place, which is what I would do.

You and I know a lot of quarterbacks in our day. And those quarterbacks, almost all of them, have said they have to manage their own huddles. Steve Young has told us this. Troy Aikman has told us this. Joe Thaisman's told us. They play with Hall of Fame receivers. And at some point, you've got to say,

I'm ignoring this guy for the good of the team. Yeah. Yeah, no, I mean, I am like Siriani reaching the point of A.J. Brown fatigue. In this particular case, I do think he was mostly talking about the team, but, and there's always a butt. I think we both know that, honestly, it's about him. It's always about him. He's identified that the offense hasn't been very good and the defense has been very good. And, you know, but the hidden agenda here is throw me the ball. Yes.

I can fix everything. He's been doing this dance all season long, and it is truly about him. Now, here's the problem for the Eagles. What he is saying is fact-based. The Eagles are 25th in passing yards. They are 23rd in total offensive yards. You know, they go three and out more than 27 teams in the league, Mike, so they can get to the Super Bowl this way,

but it would be easier to get to the Super Bowl if the offense was doing better and if that means throwing the ball to A.J. Brown a little bit more. If. That's probably something they should consider. Let's go to the NBA and do one of our most famous pot-peri questions because we do them all the time. Last night, Oklahoma City blew out the Lakers. Nicola Yokic scored 55 points against the Clippers.

52 in the first three quarters. Steph Curry got 46 as the Warriors beat the Spurs who got triple doubles from your favorites, It's Victor Wambayama and Safon Castle. Yep. The Mavericks lost again, and Jason Kidd urged the fans to move on from the Luca Dantra's hand-ringing. The Pistons won their A's straight game, and Jalen Brunson left the Knicks, left that game on crutches with an ankle injury. Wilbon, which is the biggest deal?

Let me applaud J. Kidd, first of all, you know it's not the biggest deal, for having the stones to say, enough. Enough. You people have whined enough now. Let's move on. There's a million reasons I love J. Kidd anyway, but this is just the latest one. Now, to answer your question, it's Steph Curry, scoring 46, not that the number itself means anything. The Warriors were stumbling around without Steph Curry out there offensively.

They were struggling. We know they know how to get past struggle with Steph and Draymond Green and Steve Kerr. Jimmy Butler now, too, we know they know how to do that. But they did it against San Antonio. Antonio still figures stuff out, but you mentioned those two triple doubles. The spurs are coming to get you. And Wimbanyama knows how to, he's figuring it out along the way, but he's figuring it out quickly.

The warriors needed to win that game, even though we're only approaching mid-November, and they did it, and they knew they needed it. Yeah, so I'm going to disagree almost all down the line on this one. The biggest deal will be if Jalen Brunson is actually heard and has to miss games. Okay, that's the biggest deal if that happens. When you leave the garden, in a boot and on crutches from a sense of optics, that's pretty scary. I think the most important

thing here is a trend. I think it's the Detroit Pistons winning eight games in a row at this point. They won last night. They didn't have a single starter playing in that game. They didn't have Cade Cunningham playing in that game, and they won that game. They are now 10 and 2. They have the best record in the east, and I think I will bookmark this and say down the road, if they become a really good team, I'll go back to this thing. Because, you know, They have not won a playoff series since 2008. The other things are smaller to me. Yokic scores over 50 a few times a year, and they beat a lousy team.

They usually lose. Steph Curry, this is his 73rd time going 40 or more. I agree with you. It's a nice deal that he's done that. Just because you get triple doubles, that doesn't mean you win. They don't correlate the victory. If they did, Russell Westbrook would have five rings by this point. I will disagree a little bit on Jason Kidd in this sense.

I think that is the recognition that this is a big deal in Dallas. It hovers over this team. So move on. It's possible Nico Harrison sunk this team. Well, what I'm suggesting, Mike. So Jay Kidd didn't give in to that. Jay Kidd said, I'm a big guy. I'm telling you people to shut up and move on.

Okay, you're not listening to what I'm saying. Okay. I'm saying it may have reached the point that because of the fans, their anger and frustration, That it has infected the team. That's what I think you have to consider. No, we agree on that. It has.

So who says move on? What we're going to do? We're going to wallow in this garbage all year, all season next year or two. Hey, Dallas front-running fans, cowboy fans, shut up and move on. And now we're going to move on. Not that easy. Well, somebody's got to start it. I didn't say it was easy.

Let's move to baseball Cy Young winners. Tony, your guy. Paul Skeens won the NL Award unanimously last night. Just the fifth pitcher ever to win it in his first or second season. And in the American League, Detroit's Terrick Scuba won it for the second straight season. The first time that's happened in the American League says Pedro did it, 25 and 26 years ago. Tom, whose win was more significant to you? I think Skeens' his win is more significant.

He is 23. Scuba will be 29 next year. Scoobla is a great pitcher in his prime. Skeen's trajectory, though, it may be all time. It really may be. He was rookie of the year. Last year, started the All-Star game. He's a Cy Young winner this year, also started the All-Star game.

He's a unanimous winner, even though he only won 10 games. This is the voters saying, we understand he pitches for a bad team, and he's still out there doing fabulous work. He's won, as you mentioned, one of five guys to ever win in, in his first or second year. Here are the notes. In his first 55 starts, he's had 55 starts. His ERA is 1.96.

That's the lowest ever. I mean, we may be looking at an all-time guy here. And this is a problem for me, because I value wins. Same here. He only won 10 games. I value wins. But the pirates were shut out in five of his starts. They only gave him one run in five starts.

So how is he supposed to win? Mike, in 18 games, he gave up either no runs or one run and only one eight of those games. Worst run support, imagineable. Tony, I get that. I understand that. I still want to win the games. And, you know, there's some conditions that are to be met. And so I have no objection.

I'm going to go to glasses, too, because you mentioned what Skeens did. But, Tony, if I had a vote, I would have voted in the National League for Freddie Peralta, who went 17 and 6, and his ERA is 2.7, he's the ace of the best team in baseball. The team with the best record in baseball, the Milwaukee Brewers and cheese heads I hate, Peralta was the ace of that team. And in the American League, I would have voted for Gary Crochet,

who was 18 and 5 with the 259. Don't tell me 259, and he led the league in strikeouts, Major League Baseball strikes, don't tell me 259 has to be sneezed at. I don't want to hear that. So winning 35 games between those two dudes matters to me. It's not schemes his fault. It's not Skeens' fault that he was drafted by this team and the team can't produce at all.

And the fact that he won it unanimously indicates to me. That his team hits and he can give up 2.7 and still win the damn game. It's not his fault. But you need to be, I think you need to be impressed that this was a unanimous vote. I don't know. Unanimous. Let's take a break. Coming up.

The Patriots can win their ace straight tonight. What are they doing that's been so tough on defense as we're going to ask Booger McFarland? We'll also ask him how vulnerable the dogs and the tide are this weekend. Mike, MVP votes. MVP votes tonight. Who you got, Judge of Rawley in the American League. Raleigh. Catcher.

Wally. I think baseball. Part of the interruption is presented by Bullet Frontier Whiskey. Please drink responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. A PTI investigation has learned that week 11 of the NFL season kicks off tonight, which makes it a perfect time to welcome back our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst, Booger McFarland, wearing a shirt from Fox Chapel in Pittsburgh.

Nice course. Let's start with this. The Jets are at the Patriots tonight. The Patriots have won seven in a row, and they have made a lot of big plays in winning these games. Why do defenses have such trouble stopping them? Well, Tony, it's a couple of reasons. Number one, it's amazing what coaching will do, right? Josh McDaniel may not have been the best head coach,

but he is one hell of an offensive coordinator. And I think the combination of Josh McDaniels and Drake May with Mike Brable supervising is a very dangerous combination because Josh is doing a great job of taking a second year quarterback in Drake May, who's super talented, super athletic, and he's kind of making sure that the quarterback succeeds. He's not giving him too much. He's giving him just enough.

And as the quarterback continues to grow, then he gives him more. I think they're doing an outstanding job of offensive coaching. Drake May is playing like an MVP. He's not Josh Allen yet. But he gives you Josh Allen's field at 6'4 and 230 pounds. He's a super athlete. He's super accurate with the football down the field. And I think coaching and premier playmaking out of the quarterback position

are two of the reasons why they're super successful on the offensive side, Tony. All right. So the Patriots, we know are worth watching. And the Jets, maybe not so much but-bougar. Two huge matchups this weekend. Seahawks Rams, Chiefs, Broncos. Does one of these intrigue more than the other? And if so, why?

It's got to be the Chiefs Broncos. You know, there's an old saying, and I'm sure you've heard it. In order to be the man, you've got to beat the man. Well, the Broncos have an opportunity right now to beat the man. The Broncos are 8 and 2. The Chiefs are 5 and 4. If you do the math, as John King said, it's just math. add the numbers up.

If the Chiefs lose, that'll give them five losses. The Broncos win, that'll be nine and three. So nine and three to five and five, I think the Chief season might be just about over. And so I think if you're Denver, and you want to ascend to the top of the AFC West, and you want to be amongst the big boys and Sean Payton's tenure there,

I think now is a prime opportunity. Not only do you get to ascend and take complete control of the division, but you get to, I think, almost put a nail in the coffin of the nemesis, and that is the Kansas City Chiefs. And who would have ever thought that before we got the Thanksgiving,

the Kansas City Chiefs would have five losses? So this is a premier opportunity for the Broncos to make a statement to basically end Kansas City season, and I think announced to everyone that they are legitimate championship contenders. Well, the college weekend has these massive SEC matchups, as you know. Texas at Georgia, Oklahoma, at Alabama, Are Georgia and Alabama vulnerable?

It seems like that to me, but if I'm crazy, tell me. They might be as vulnerable as the opposing quarterback's can be good or consistent. And I think when you look at Georgia, it comes down to Archmanning. I remember a time when we said Archmanning was going to be the number one picking the draft, what that seemed like a long time ago, because he's been very inconsistent this season. The highs have been pretty high, but the lows have been pretty much more of the things that we've been used to seeing. And I think in order for Georgia to get upset, Texas is going to have to play really good football. I don't know if Texas can run the football against Georgia.

So that means that Arch Manning is going to have to be at his very, very best. He has the talent to do it. The question is can he. And as far as beating Alabama, regardless of whether the head coach is Nick Saban or Kayla DeBore, one thing remains true. In order to beat this team, your quarterback is going to have to play at an extremely high level. And there was a point in time where John Matier was doing that, remember? Before the thumb surgery, I haven't seen the same guy since the thumb surgery. time tells me he will be as healthy as he has been since he had that thumb operated on.

And so maybe John Matier can turn back the hands of time and give us one of those pre-thum surgery performances. If he does, Oklahoma will have a chance. If he doesn't, I think the song will be the same most song in Alabama rolls at Tuscaloosa. We will stay with college and get you out of here on this, and it's about Notre Dame, which is now number nine. This could be the last real test of the season at number 22. Pitt, do you think the Irish have any real cause for concern? Well, if you listen to Pat and Arduce, he said he didn't give a darn about this game. He said he didn't care about it.

So, like, if that's the case, then I don't think the other day it should be worried about anything when the opposing coach said he's not concerned. Now, I do think that was tongue-in-cheek. I think he was saying that basically to kind of let everyone know that, hey, we're going to give it our best. However, our focus is on the ACC game. But if you're Pittsburgh and you have a chance of winning this game, it comes down to this freshman quarterback.

Mason Hinchel. Since he's been in the game, Pitt hadn't lost. And I think if you're Narduzi, who by the way is one of the best head coaches in the country, he's been at Pitt a long time, you got to get your freshman quarterback to calm down early because this will be the most talent that he's seen on the opposing side of the football.

Notre Dame's won seven in a row. It's amazing how they lost the first two and everybody starts saying, no, what's wrong with the Irish? And all they've done is ripped off seven in a row. I think Notre Dame wins. I think Notre Dame wins out. I think Notre Dame is 10 and 2 and get into the college football playoffs.

But if Pitt wants a chance, number one, the coach better convince the team that the game matters, even though he told us it didn't. And number two, this freshman quarterback better realize that, hey, the same high school, no more buddy. Those are the Notre Dame fighting Irish on the other side. And it'll be the most talented team that he's seen so far this year. Booger as always a pleasure. Thank you very much. Thank you, sir.

Pleasure is all mine, gentlemen. Let's take one last break. Still to come, NFL owners are apparently fed up with getting embarrassed by the union's annual team grades. And Notre Dame's Hannah Hidal delivers an unprecedented performance. It was prolific. Tony, boogers got Notre Dame running the table.

Yes, running the table. But you know what, though, Notre Dame should run it. You didn't interrupt them. No. You didn't interrupt them. No, because I agree with them. I agree with him on Notre Dame. Part of the interruption is presented by Bullet Frontier Whiskey.

Please drink responsibly, part of Happy Hour, and in part by UFC 32. Saturday. Buy now at ESPNplus.com slash PPV. Happy time, people. Happy 62nd birthday Vinnie Testa Verdi. Long Island's own Swannica High School, South Shore. Testaverty followed Bernie Cozard. to the University of Miami and won the highsman there in 1986.

Testi Verdi was drafted with the first overall pick in 1987 by Tampa Bay. In his second year there, Testa Verdi threw 13 touchdowns and 35 interceptions. Testi Verdi played in the NFL until he was 44, going from Tampa Bay to Cleveland, Baltimore, the Jets, Dallas, New England, and Carolina. As a starter, Testa Verde was 90, 123 and 1, with 275 touchdowns and 267 interceptions. When he retired, Testa Verdi was top 10 all time in passing yard and touchdown passes and completions, but had the most losses of any starter. The playoff game he won for Cleveland in 1995 was the Brown's last playoff win until 2021,

and they've had none since. If we're going to excuse pitchers for having no run support, can we excuse quarterbacks for playing with dreadful teams? He wasn't on the early 90s Cowboys on any of those games. He wasn't with the Joe Gibbs Redskins with. any of the other. He played for some bad teams, so I'm paying no attention to the one lost record for Vinnie Testiverty, one of my favorite college quarterbacks ever. Happy anniversary Ricky Williams, no, not the Heisman-Wing Texas Longhorn, Ricky Williams,

but the one who was running 375 miles away in Lubbock at Texas Tech. On this day, 27 years ago, Red Raider Ricky, outrushed Longhorn, Ricky, 148 yards to 141, to lead Texas Tech to a 42 to 35 win over the number 18 Longhorns. The two Rikis faced each other twice in 1997 and 98. Texas Tech won both games in Red Raider, Ricky, outrushed Longhorn Riki both times. Longhorn Rookie went on to rush for over 6,000 yards. Red Rader Ricky tore his ACL in 1999 and was never the same. He was inducted into the Texas Tech Hall of Fame in 2012

and remains the fourth leading rusher in school history. So that torn ACL really must be largely responsible for, Red Raider, Ricky, not having any real pro career, played 23 games with the Colts. And you've got to think if that had happened closer to now with health care and medicine and technology being what they are, that he'd have fared better. You could hope, right? Should have had a long ago. You can hope.

Yep. Happy Trails, Mack Rhodes, the chairman of the college football playoff committee, stepped down from that role today for what are being called personal reasons, and we'll also take leave as Baylor AD. Baylor told ESPN that it had received allegations involving Rhodes on Monday that did not involve Title IX, student welfare, NCAA rules, or the school's football program. The school had previously investigated Rhodes for his part in an altercation with a player over the color of his game day undershirt. The CFP replaced Rhodes this afternoon with the AD at Arkansas.

It's murky tone, murky at best. Big finish if we can very quickly. Let's do it. Notre Dame's Hannah Hidalgo, 44 points. college record 16 steals in a win over Akron, big deal? I've never heard of 16 steals anytime, anywhere. That's amazing. The NFL has filed a grievance against the union asking it to stop the annual team report cards.

Your thoughts? Stop it. Come on. It's free speech. Lamar Jackson back in practice today after missing yesterday. What does that mean? They got the Browns and into winnable games after that got a win in the race. They're going to move back to the drop next season, okay?

By you? It's a dumb. It's better in a minor league place, though. College hoops tonight, number two, Purdue at number eight, Alabama. Intrigued? Alabama on a run against ranked teams. Yes, I am. We're out of time.

We'll try to do better the next time. On November 13th, Felix Unger was asked to remove himself from his residence. Ah, tough.