PTI - Impact of Injuries to Mahomes and Parsons

Episode Date: December 16, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Mahomes, Parsons, and Philip Rivers. 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 Lobon. Philip Rivers came back after five years away from football, Tony. Is there anything you did when you were younger and you'd like to try again now?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. Twerking? Okay, that's scary. It was explained to me that's a dance. Is that a dance? I thought you were going to go gritty, and you might make you do it right here. You see that silly penguin dance? Yeah.

Gritty, penguin dance? Okay. Is twerking good or bad? That depends on who you are. Oh, okay. You know? Okay. I'd like a little different look

than me. Out of the person I'm watching. This is me. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, The Bills Beat the Patriots. Philip Rivers falls just short, and the Thunder finally loses for just the second time this season. But we begin today

with two season-ending knee injuries. Both Patrick Mahomes, the best football player on the planet and Michael Parsons, who was brought in to lead Green Bay to the Super Bowl, tore their ACLs, and will be out perhaps into the beginning of next season. Wilbon, What do these injuries mean for Mahomes and Parsons for their teams and for the league?

We've got to start with Mahomes, who's been, if not the face of the league, one of them, for the past, you know, eight, nine years. He's been great. He's won multiple Super Bowls. He has led a team to prominence that's been around the league 60 plus years that never had that level of prominence. I mean, Patrick Mahomes, he's everything you want, right? I mean, the talent, the leadership, the personality, all of it. He's got it all. I think I just heard someone say the best football player on the planet.

So, yeah. You've been saying that for a while? Yeah. And so, Tony, it's just like, okay. But, you know, we've seen guys do this. We've seen quarterbacks get hurt. Tom Brady in his ninth season, same as Mahomes, got hurt, came back at one, four more Super Bowls after tearing up his knee.

So we're not, we're encouraged about, Joe Burrow came back and through for like 5,000 yards. So we've seen quarterbacks do this. Right. We believe Mahomes. can do it because he wants to do it. That's right. That's right. Now, the Packers with Parsons, they were a menace. They were starting to be his win rate for pass rushing. I know he didn't,

he's not Miles Garrett when it comes to actual sacks, but his ability to zero in a quarterback and change a game is right there with Garrets. Garrett's only the only got better. And now, Tony, I don't think the Packers have that element. And look, let me declare, I got some baggage here. Sure. Because my team plays his team. Saturday night and prime time

with a division title in the playoff spot at stake. But without Parsons, I don't know that Green Bay has a good enough defense to be the Super Bowl team that he was brought in to make them. And he was getting it done.

So if I had to rate the immediate impact, I would say Parsons' impact is greater than Mahomes. Because his team is still in the playoff chase. Mahomes' team isn't.

Kansas City is now out of the playoffs for the first time since 2014. And this is an astonishing fact that I'm going to read to you. For the first time since 1998, there will be playoffs this year without Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, or Patrick Mahomes, since 1998. Now, I think that Mahomes' absence lessens the entire league, and I know you feel the same way. But like you, I also feel he's only 30. He's only 30. There's a second act, and what you said about Brady is correct.

In their ninth seasons, both now have gone out with torn ACLs. Brady came back six more Super Bowls, four more trophies. Okay? In terms of Parsons, the reason it's more impactful is Green Bay is now, are they nine, four, and one? Yes, I believe. They are. But they have been, and that's the most important trade of the year. And it was working.

It was working. It was. But now we are in this situation where they are riddled by injuries. torn ACL there, tight end. Tucker Kraft, torn ACL. Right, and guys on the line, on the offensive line are being picked off. So we both think that, yes,

Mahomes can come back. Brady did, Burrow did. My question, you know, I am a doctor, but not that kind of doctor. I don't know if you are a pass rusher if a torn ACL is worse than if you are a quarterback. I know if you are running back in your Adrian Peterson, you get back in six weeks.

Brady and Joe Burrell didn't move. Right. Patrick Mahomes. He moves. He moves. So it's going to have some impact on it. By the way, real quickly. The NFL is not the NBA.

As big as those stars are, the league, it finds other places and jerseys that people will root for. It does. No. Because there are huge fan bases out there as big as Mahomes made Kansas City. But Mahomes. But Mahomes. The Hymes is transcending. Mahomes is transcending.

Let's stay with the NFL. Move to teams with big wins yesterday. These would include Buffalo coming back from 21. points down in New England, beating the Patriots. Denver beat Green Bay, 3426 in Denver after being down 2314 in the second half. Rams went back and forth to the Lions, finally pulled away 41-34. The Ravens shut out the bankers in Cincinnati, 24-0. The Eagles held the Raiders to 75-yard, shut them out, 31-0. Wilbon, which team had the biggest win? That's easy. Buffalo. Buffalo went on the road and beat a team that's out there playing for the number one seed,

a division rival that had just strung together wins and, you know, start 10. 10. 10 around. Okay? So, no, the answer is the bills. All these other teams, and you and I talked about this on your podcast this morning, they won games where you're the favorite and you're at home, overwhelmingly, Baltimore was in the home. Everybody else is at home.

And you go out there and you exert. You know, you go and dominate an opponent you're supposed to dominate. The bills went up there. I don't know who the betting favor was because I don't care. They'd be the Patriot team that were... The bills were one and a half. They were? Yeah, minus one.

21-0, New England. And you look at that score and people thought, oh, my God. I'll give you some small pushback on Denver because Denver was not the favorite. Yeah, but they're not the favorite. I don't care about Greenback. Well, you just... They're at home. Who did I think was going to win that game?

I picked Denver to win that game. In your confidence pool, a lot of people went the other way. So let me, I will agree with you completely on Buffalo. For the exact same reasons, They go on the road. They're down 21, and they win the game. And also because Josh Allen is reestablishing himself as a great player. Last few games, just a great player.

And New England had won 10 in a row, and they were at home. So the other day we were asked on this show right now last Friday, what are your Super Bowl teams? And I said, the Bills and the Rams. I'm sticking with that right now. The Rams is Seattle. Yeah, the Rams had a very good win. The Rams had a very good win.

The Rams had a very good. Very good win. This is the second week in a row. They've gone 40 points or greater. And that combination of Stafford to Nukua is very, very hard to stop. Let me go to the other teams that we're talking about that were at home and won very big. Your bears did. Jacksonville did.

Houston did. The 49ers, the Eagles. Should have. All of them. No. And I'm leaving out Denver for reasons that I tried to allude to before. Here's the thing. They made teams that were at best mediocre.

So that's why I'm not, I'm reluctant to say the Eagles are fully back because they beat the Raiders. Houston looks scary good. They do. But they beat Arizona, okay? The one thing that I'm certain of is that the 49ers have been completely neglected in that fabulous division because Seattle and the Rams are getting all the ink. But they beat the Titans. So I don't know. The one.

And they gave them. Here's what's good. I think you will agree with me on this. For the first time in a long time, the conference race is. are wide open. It's not just the chiefs in the AFC. And in the NFC, it looks like five different teams could win. So that's good. From a fan standpoint, that's good. It is good, Tony, and all of those teams, it's good. We spent all years saying,

we don't know who's any good. Now these teams are lined up at the start line. It's like go time. Do you know what the Thursday night game is? Do you know Thursday night game? I'm pretty sure it's Rams at Seattle. That's a big game. Devante Adams may be out for that game, right? Because he hurt his hamstring. He's a touchdown machine. He heard his hammock. So you know what the Saturday night game is?

No. It's Bears? Cheeseheads. At Bears? At Bears. Okay. That's right. And now to the return of Philip Rivers.

A 44-year-old tossed a touchdown pass in his first game since 2020, then let a late drive that gave his team a chance at an upset at one of the league's top teams. But the Seahawks, before mentioned, counted quickly, rewrote Rivers' storybook ending. You got such a soft spot for the elderly. Because I'm elderly. Yeah. Yeah.

So you were going crazy over this game yesterday. What did you see watching Rivers play? Can I use the word amazing? Can I say it was amazing? You want to go that far? I'm going to tell you why. Because I thought he'd get carted out. I did.

And you did too. I thought he'd get carted out. I did. And he did not. No. He, I saw him early in the game, take a knee and then nobody touched him. So he went three more yards.

He didn't know where his knee was going to land. Another knee at that point. Look, he delivered the ball quickly. He delivered the ball accurately. You know, I got to the point where in the second half, I didn't watch with my hands over my eyes because I thought he was going to be all right. His stats are okay.

They're not great. 18 to 27 is good, but only 120 yards. One touchdown. A pick on the last thing when he was just throwing a ball in the air. But he had them in a position. to win. It's the most impressive thing. I have to say, it could have been so much worse

than it was, and he I was amazed Pynne. I'm going to be the other candidate on this one. He had control of the pocket. That's what I expect from Philip Rivers. Like if you're going to come back at a hundred and seven

years old. He hadn't played in five years. Okay, but the one thing, he's a grandfather. He's not going to sprint out. No? To the right. No? Okay. Can't. looking like Josh Allen. He's not going to do that. So he's got to have control of the pocket he did. He's got to have command.

He did. Why didn't they rush it? Why didn't they bring the house? Why didn't they do that? Why didn't Seattle do that? Maybe they went all week and they didn't even think he was going to actually start and play that much of the game. They were wrong. He did.

So I give him kudos. But after I gave him kudos in lifetime, I said to you in lifetime, okay, I've had enough now. I've had enough Philip Rivers. I know. I know. I'm impressed that he's done. By the way, it takes courage to step in and do. Do you know that he's going to start next week against the 49ers?

He's going to start. 49ers might be a little less merciful. It might be. Might be. But all I'm saying is enough. We've done Philip Rivers now. The novelties worn off. Let's not get crazy.

I understand why you feel the way you do. And I understand that they are probably not a contending team for the playoffs. They might be. But it feels in your mind this is a past story. And in my mind, they have three tough games. They have San Francisco, they have Jacksonville, they have Houston. They may not win any of them. But whatever chance they have is because of Philip Rivers, a 44-year-old grandfather.

And so I'm... Not that guy. I'm so impressed by it. Back with 28 on his jersey. It's because you're young. Oh, yeah. Because you're young. Because I'm 23 years older than Philip Rivers.

Relatively speaking to me, you're young. Let's take a break. Coming up after losing to the Spurs on Saturday is the thunder suddenly vulnerable. Get me rewrite. Do we have beef between Kevin McConnell and his quarterback? Do we? O'Connell. What did I say?

I don't know. McConnell, maybe? No. Kevin O'Connell. Philip Rivers almost won that game. He almost won that game. And they didn't cart him out. Part of the Interruption is presented by Gray Goose.

Make Time Wait. Please enjoy responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. Welcome back to Pardon the Interruption, presented by Gray Goose. part of Happy Hour. Time to find out what's rankling the riff-waffe in mail time. Let me get the first one to put on my glasses.

Real time. Spurs beat Thunder. Just one loss. Do you suddenly see the Thunder as vulnerable? Okay, this is going to be one of the great flip-flops of all time because last week on Thursday or Friday, you said to me, you're going to back down in this crazy position that the Thunder cannot win again.

And I said, yes, I'm backing down. And then I watch these two teams play. And it seems to me that Oklahoma City is vulnerable to only one team in the league today. And it is San Antonio. Not Denver. Not Denver. Who has the best player. Okay.

Tony, San Antonio has it all. I know that you think you'd still entertain that trade for Yanus because that would help you win today. Tony, I wouldn't do it. Because with Castle and Deeran Fox and Ron Harper's kid and Wimbabon Yamah, who played half a game, and was dominant. Tony, there's nothing San Antonio doesn't have now. And yes, Oklahoma's vulnerable

to San Antonio now. Okay. So I know how you feel because we talked about it last night and this morning. You love the Spurs. You love Wemba Nama. You love Castle.

You don't want to trade Castle for Janus. I understand. I think he's a new SGA. Yeah, let me get to this issue. Are they vulnerable now? I don't believe this one game means anything. I do want to see they have two more before Christmas that I want to see those games.

At the moment, what's her record? Oh, hello, 24 and 2, right? 24 and 2. This is, they just lost to a rapidly improving team. And I understand that. But I think the talk about 80 wins is insane. Okay, it's a long season. Players get hurt, motivation, ebbs and flows. me personally, I think they're the best team in the league, but I think they're going to lose 10 to 15 games. I don't want to get hung up on the game. I'm with you.

But this particular game to me has no particular meaning. Now, if they lose two more, okay. But they didn't lose two more yet. You're talking about the head-to-head. Head-to-head, yes. Okay, I want to go to this quickly before you move on. This is Yonis situation. Yonis is going to get traded.

You really believe the Spurs should bite and say, let's go now. This is Janus. Let's go. You believe that. You can only win now because we're only playing now. Yes, I would do that. Next year, you don't know what's going to happen. Go now.

Castle. I wouldn't trade Castle. Okay. All right. It's a negotiation. O'Connell versus McCarthy. What is J.G. McCarthy? What does his defiant touchdown celebrations say to you

about his relationship with his head coach? Okay. So apparently, McCarthy did this same thing. in practice. That this is his way of honoring Justin Jefferson, who apparently does this in the game. Yes. Okay?

Now, he was told by the coach, please don't do this in the game. Right. I don't know if the coach ever said to Justin Jefferson don't do that in the game. I doubt that he did that, but he said it to McCarthy. And then McCarthy, I watched it live, by the way.

Didn't know what it was. And I thought, what a showboat move that was. And then after the game, McCarthy says, as everybody says, that's just who I am. but then he backs off a little bit and he says, okay, I understand this, maybe it's a mistake and so on and so forth. Look, here's the thing. I understand why the coach is steamed. I get that.

But there's a critical factor here. It seems to me that the members of that Minnesota team love J.J. McCarthy. He doesn't have a full resume yet, but he's getting better. I suspect this is resolved by him not doing it again and it becomes forgotten. That's interesting. Two things about J.J. McCarthy's Chicago Boy, who I would root for all the time. except when he's playing my team. His Chicago team.

He didn't room from at Michigan. Rudy for. He didn't room from Michigan. He didn't. He did something that we respect all quarterbacks for doing, defying the head coach. What quarterback worth a damn have you ever known? Maybe we go back to Roger Stalback who had a different relationship with authority because of the naval life. Every quarterback who's worth the damn defies his head coach.

And we love Joe Thysman. Joe gives, at least a little bit. Come on now. I don't think that's a mark. It's a mark of honor. He defied him. You would like CJJ McCarty do? Throw a pass to Justin Jefferson

that's not 130 miles an hour. You don't need to go Kofax on every pass to Justin Jefferson. And he does. You notice how much they like him. They may like them. They really do. Enough female.

Let's take one last break. Still to come, Fernando Mendoza wins the highson. But Diego Pavia seems to disagree with the decision. That was tough. Looks tough, by the way. Kaelin DeBoer appears to give a definitive response to those linking him to Michigan.

If he had not worn the Alabama hat and worn a Michigan hat, I think we'd have a different situation. Probably. Wasn't it amazing how many people immediately said he's the guy? You and I thought this is silly. You know, yeah. Part of the interruption is presented by Great Goose. Make Time Wait.

Please enjoy responsibly part of Happy Hour. Happy time, people, happy belated 60th birthday, Craig Beggio. This was yesterday. The Hall of Fame's second baseman played 20 years for the Houston Astros and was the first inductee in Cooperstown wearing that uniform. Begio began as a catcher. He was the only player ever to make an All-Star game and win a silver slugger as a catcher and a second baseman.

Bejillo, Jeff Bagwell, Lance Bergman, were the Killer Bees, who led Houston's six playoff appearances, including the 2005 World Series. Bejillo had 3,060 hits. Wow. And when he retired, ranked in the National League top 10 ever in games played at that's run scored. His 668 doubles are the second most ever for a right-handed hitter. Bigeo holds the National League record for lead-off home runs 53, and is one of only six players with 250 home runs and 400 steals.

His son, Kavan, is a Major League infielder. When I heard these stats, it am amazed me. No, no, not just better. He's one of the great players of all time to play 20 years and do the things second and doubles. The right-handed hit was pooholson him. That's the list. Amazing. Happy anniversary Bill Parcells on this day 43 years ago.

Parcells was named the 13th head coach in the history of the New York football giants. How'd that work out? Parcells won two Super Bowls with the Giants and retired after winning the 1991 Super Bowl over Buffalo with a 77-49-1 record. The Big Tuna declined offers to come back in coach Tampa Bay and Green Bay in the 1992 season, but did come back in 1993 with the Patriots. Parcells later coached the Jets and the Cowboys. The Giants, meanwhile, have only had one truly successful coach since Parcells, Tom Coughlin. And since Coughlin, they are a disaster.

Ben McAdoo, Pat Schumer, Joe Judge, Brian Dayball, all failed. Maybe the Giants should reach out to someone with Parcells, the name Belichick ring a bell? No, they don't need Belichick. over from Belichick at that level, Parcells really was great. He was great. You know those games that we got to cover between Parcells and Gibbs? Gives, great. Just great weeks.

Happy trails to Diego Pavia winning the Heisman Trophy. Indiana's Fernando Mendoza won the award on Saturday. But Pavia took home the headlines, posting on social media, F all the voters after Mendoza's clear-cut victory. Pavia apologized on Sunday, writing in part, quote, as a competitor, just like in everything I do I wanted to win. To be so close to my dream and come up short was I did not handle those emotions well at all and did not represent myself the way I wanted to, unquote.

Move on to the voting play out the way you expect it. Pretty much. I need to do a happy trails to get up and first take. Because the Cowboys are gone. Can they have a show? Or is the show just over? No, they have a... I'm sorry, Greenie and Stephen Ate. We do this every day. Because we love.

Big finish very quickly. No Cowboys. No Cowboys. Coach Kalin-Diborne says he has no interest in other job opportunities. Are you surprised? No. But a year from now, he could be interviewing for something else. You shortened lived everything in the coaching in that league. Texas A&M upset previously undefeated number one Nebraska in the NCAA women's volleyball tournament.

That's a big deal. It is. They've drawn as many as 90,000 people. 90,000. And Dylan Rayola is in the portal. And by the way, we do this with heavy hearts for our dear friend, and memory of our dear friend Michael Releason of Nebraska. Cleveland fans booed the calves.

Donovan Mitchell said, quote, we deserve it. I boo us too. Your thoughts? I don't even know play it's way out of a funk. People don't get crazy. Monday night football, dolphins and Steelers, who you got? Game time temperature, about 18 degrees. I've got the Steelers in the cold.

Last one, Rockets Nuggets, Pist and Celtics tonight, which is the bigger game. Rockets. Rockets, Nuggets, the West is varsity. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornhite. Mike Watson, I shouldn't say that. I'm Mike Wilbon.

Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.