PTI - Is Tonight The Raven's Last Chance at Saving Their Season?

Episode Date: October 30, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the Thursday Night Football matchup between the Ravens and the Dolphins and Austin Reaves recent success for the Lakers. 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 Text Your X-Day, Tony. Have you texted any X's?

I'm Tony Cornerheiser. I shot a sup. The Dame Judy Jens, but she's blocked me. What? She's blocked me. Yeah. I mean, I know Dame Judy's like 90-91, but she's still hot. Yeah.

She'll need you. Yes. She's not waiting around to you. Oh, no. She's dating James Bond, right? Yes. She's involved with James Bond. Man, so cool.

Cheers, she is. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Lamar Jackson has a sense of urgency. Austin Reeves delivers again, and Bougar McFarland joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with Toronto heading home with a 3-2 lead in the World Series, thanks to a 6-1 win over the Dodgers last night. Blake Snow was greeted by a first pitch home run by Davis Schneider. Two pitches later, Vlad Guerrero Jr. hit a second home run.

Boom, boom. Toronto got a masterful 12 strikeout, no walk, seven innings out of rookie Trey Yassavage. Wil Bond, what did Jamaica, Savage's performance, where it puts the Jays, and where it leaves the Dodgers? Yeah, the story of last night is Yassavish. The story continues in this series, Tony, to be of starting pitching. And whoever really gets it that night, and there have been a couple of masterpieces, they seem to just, you know, take control in that game is a rap. And so you're savage, you sit there and you're thinking, okay, he's not going to be able to stay in this kind of control.

No walks with those strikeouts. And they, you know, I know this matters to you because it matters to me. And maybe 80% of the people out there don't know who this person is when they cut to the dashing older gentleman who looks like a bond character with the silver hair. You know? Yeah, yeah. And it's Sandy F. Kofax. I'm always screaming whoever I'm with, like to Matthew.

It's Sandy Kofax. Shut up and bow your head. And they show Kofax, and I know your savage is on the other team. But it's so cool when they do that. And you put your name in the books in postseason play, specifically the World Series, with Sandy Kofax.

That's what I make of it. And the Dodgers are in trouble going to Toronto. That's what I make of it. Yeah. So, I mean, the Dodgers. say that they have to hit more. I watched Mookie Betts say that in the post game. And yeah, because at top of the order,

last night, Otani and Will Smith and Mookie and Freddie Freeman, they were one for 15 and they had eight strikeouts. Yeah, they have to hit more. But it's not like you can just will that to happen. The other team's pitcher has something to do with that. Yassavage is a revelation. I mean, he started out this season, not last season, this season, in single A, in Dunedin, Florida,

Pitching against, let me get this straight, the Jupiter Hammerheads with 327 paid in attendance. He now has more starts in the postseason than had in the regular season. And that performance by a rookie in the postseason, 12 strikeouts and no walks surpasses names that we've heard of, like Smokey Joe Wood, Don Newcomb, and as you're alluding to, Sandy Cofax. Are you kidding me? Mike, I sit on this show a lot, and when I get something right, I said, I believe I had that. not have been more wrong with this. I thought Blake Snow would be terrific, and I thought your savage would crumble under the pressure. I did. In those first two home runs, they took

the air out of the balloon. Now, I will say this, in the third inning, on a three-two pitch, I believe, the umpires squeezed Max Muncie. The pitch was a foot and a half low, and he called it a strike. The next batter up, Kiki Hernandez gets a home run. It could have been two-two. We could have had a different game. And I don't think, I don't think the Dodgers are necessarily out of it. I think Yamamoto gets them to game seven. I do. But Toronto's, what, were they, 54 and 27 at home in a

regular season? They're good there. They're good there. Great home record. By the way, you weren't wrong by yourself. You and Derek Jeter. I mean, Jeter told us why X was going to happen, and it was the reverse of X when the game got started. The great Derek Jita to Jeter. Number

two, the captain, Derek Jita. Let's move to tonight's game between the Ravens and Dolphins. Lamar Jackson returns to Baltimore after missing three games with a right hammy. The Ravens are just two and five, and Jackson said this week, quote, each and every game is going to be like a winner go home game. It's do or die right now. Each and every week, close quote. Tom, you agree with that? No, not at all. That division stinks. Nine and eight can win that division, if not eight and nine can win that division. Cincinnati at the moment is three and five,

and they don't have a quarterback, right? Flacco was hurt. They may have to go back to Jake Browning. Cleveland is 2 and 6. They supposedly have a defense. They have no offense. Third worst offense in league, 15.8 points a game.

Pittsburgh is 4 and 3, but have you seen them? They do not pass the eye test. They do not. So Baltimore is 2 and 5 with 10 games to go, right? 10 games to go. They can win seven or eight games,

and I believe they can win the division. And you can't have a winner go home game. you know, 10 times in a row. I just, I don't think that that's possible. You know, here, let me bear with me, this is who the Ravens have left. At Miami tonight, at Minnesota, at Cleveland, who they beat in a row, home jets, home Bengals, home Steelers, at Bengals, at Bengals, Patriots at home, at Packers, at Steelers. Seven wins there is realistic. And even if they only win the five division games, Mike, and they set everybody else in the division back, they can still win. They got to get to nine or ten. The next, the next

three are do or die. And they have to treat it like that. Look, a lot of the country may not have been paying attention to last week. I was because they played my team. That was a playoff game coming off a buy without the starting quarterback for Baltimore. They passed that test. Now, they got to win the next three. They win the next three. They're going to more than likely be on Pittsburgh's heels. And they can be okay from there. But the next three, I think, our do or die, I think that's the only way for Baltimore to approach this. They got to get Lamar Jackson back

in the form that we are accustomed seeing him, which is MVP form. You don't always jump back into that when you've missed three games. I understand this. I'm just suggesting to you that, and I may have to revise this tomorrow if they lose to the dolphins, because the dolphins

aren't very good at all. They're not losing. The dolphins are 21st in points scored and 26 in points a lot. If you have Lamar Jackson and he's playing and you can't beat them than it is over. And I don't think that's the case. They're going to win. Yeah, I think so. Let's move to basketball. The Lakers last night got a buzzer beating floater from Austin Reeves to beat Minnesota at Minnesota 116, 150. Those two points gave Reeves 28 for the game with a career high,

16 assists. This game follows two games where Reeves got 51 points in Sacramento and 41 at home against Portland. Wilbon, what is the word for the week that Austin Reeves is having? player player that's the word look I was going to use breakout but Austin Reeves did that a year ago

when he averaged 20 in the NBA but now with no LeBron and even with no Luca this is what Reeves has to he has to lead and so now he's a guy could go out there and put up 50 are you kidding me

by the way this is great coaching okay on the part of JJ Reddick who met with Reeves I'm sure during the summer to say anticipating it. And anticipating is part of great coaching. Okay, yeah, I know we got LeBron and we got Luca, but dude, you're no longer some guy who's out there that people are going,

oh, my God, we didn't know he could play. We know you can play. It's time to do it every night, and it's time to lead. And Austin Reeves is doing that. So that's fairly persuasive. I mean, the word that I would use is the word that I think most people would use, and that is, really? because, you know, let's face it.

He's had a great week, but he's not getting those numbers if Luca and LeBroner play, and he's getting the 18, 20 to 22 that he gets all the time. He's a very nice player. I would love to have him. This to me is symptomatic of what's going on in the NBA right now. Now, I'm not paying a lot of attention because the World Series is on and the NFL is on. But I am looking at scores, Mike. And it seems that every night there's three or four games that end in 140 to 130,

and somebody gets 40 or 50. Austin Reeves got 51. Markinen got 51. Aaron Gordon got 50. Luca in one of the games he played got 49. I know you love Tyson Reese Maxi got 43. He's averaging 38. Yannis is averaging 36.

He's a 24-pointed game guy for his entire career. You know, I mean, there's a lot of the wizards who are terrible, average 121 points a game, and they're trying to lose. They're trying to lose. and getting 120. It's 19, look, it's 1962 in terms of team offense. We're talking about Reeves specifically.

You mentioned Luca, Luca not out there. LeBron's not out there. For the Lakers to stay afloat. Somebody's got to step up there and it's Reefat. I give you that. Let's take a break. Coming up,

the Chiefs and the Bills meet on Sunday. Which team has stronger prospects? We're going to ask Booger McFarland. We'll also ask him about the chaos surrounding the LSU head coaching search. I might say nonsense surrounding that search. Nonsense. So only three teams aren't averaging at least 110, and one of them is Dallas. Another reason to fire Nico, I'm sure.

You are watching. Pardon the Interruption. Presented by Twisted Tea, Hard Ice Tea. Part of Happy Hour. In a story we broke wide open in our first segment, week nine 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, Bougar McFarland, wearing a shirt from Pine Valley, and I hope you tried the turtle soup. Let's go to this. The Chiefs are at the bills this week.

Which of these teams are you more bullish on moving forward? Well, I'm going to choose the team that has more talent, Tony, and I think that's the Kansas. City Chiefs. I think if you look at them now that their whole, now that Rishie Rice is back in the fold, I go with Hollywood Brown, Xavier Worthy, you got Travis Kelsey. Patrick Mahomes has been playing really good football and I think it's only going to

get better. And let's not forget, last year they were carried by their defense. And their defense hasn't quite played to that level yet. So when their defense gets back to where they were last year to go along with this offense, I think the Kansas City Chiefs are the team to beat. I will say this about the Buffalo Bills. I'm going to throw this

right in Will Bond's Now, the Buffalo Bills remind me a little bit of the Utah Jazz. Like, they were really good. We stocked them alone, but they never could get quite get over the hump. I think the Buffalo Bills are going to be that team. They're really good, James Cook and Josh Allen, but I just don't know if they have enough firepower to get over the hump. Oh, I like that analogy, booger.

Let's go to the Broncos for a second because they're six and two. But they're going to be without rainy defensive player of the year, Patrick Sartan, with a peck strain. his defensive coordinator, Vance Joseph, says, quote, everything we do starts with Pat. Dude is a cornerback bugger. Why has he ruled the chess board? Because he is, he's like the ultimate chess piece

because he can take away one side of the field. Remember what Dion Sanders used to do and how he kind of tilted the balance of power when he went from San Francisco to Dallas? Sir Tan is not Dion, but he's in that same category of a corner that can take your best receiver and wherever you put him at, he can cover him. And what that does is that now

you can take the other 10 guys and you can deploy them. We're not going to count the quarterback. Then it turns into 10-09. And I think that's where the numbers game becomes a great advantage for Vance Joseph because you have a guy that almost acts as if you have two guys. We've heard people say you have to double cover some people.

Well, they don't have to double cover the number one receiver because you can put the reigning defensive player of the year and it just give Vance Joseph almost a half a guy that he can put on somebody else. Let's move to college football in a matchup that none of us thought in August, late August, would matter like it does now. Number 9, Vandy, at number 20, Texas.

I know who I'm rooting for, Vandy, as if I went there, Booger, is this, what does this mean? I mean, I know as the SEC guy, you look at this and say, Vandy, seriously, how big a matchup? is this? This is a huge matchup, Mike. If you think about it this way, Texas is favorite, even though Vanderbilt is the higher ranked team. And I think perception and reality come into play right now, I think if you're Vanderbilt for the national media to kind of take you seriously,

you need one of these wins against one of the Blue Blood. Yeah, you beat LSU, but it's kind of a down year for LSU. And so now you go on the road, you go to Texas, big bad, Archmanning and everybody there. I think Clark Lee, the head coach has done a masterful job. this quarterback Diego Pavia, he is a force multiplier. I told you guys, he reminds me of Cam Scatterboot. Like if you put them side by side, they almost look alike. They bring the physicality to their team, their alphas. They make everybody around them better.

And I think if you're Vanderbilt, the reason this game is so big, number one, it's got playoff implications on it if you want to make the postseason and get into the 12 team playoff. And number two, I think from a perception standpoint, if you're Vanderbilt and you can win on the road in the SEC against 10, Texas, one of the greatest blue bloods we've seen, it just gives you a little bit of street cred, if you know what I mean, Mike. Absolutely.

And we'll get you out of here on this. And thank you for mentioning LSU in the lead up to it. Louisiana's governor, the governor says he will not let the LSU A.D. Scott Woodward hired next coach, to which I add parenthetically, what? Bougar, you starred at LSU. How do you feel about the school's chances of hiring someone definitely better than Brian Kelly? Well, first of all, I didn't know the governor's plate was so empty that he can start talking about football, but we'll be on here all day if we get into that. Let's move on to the,

let's move on to the football aspect of it. You know, Brian Kelly came to LSU as a CEO head coach. And I think his biggest downfall was the reason he got the job, which is he was the opposite of coach. He never really had a relationship with the players. He was a CEO, a top down coach. He never got in the trenches with the guys. And so to your point, point, Tony, I think it's going to be a relatively tall task to maybe find a guy as, maybe as organized as BK, but I think we'll find a player's coach that'll be better and will be a better fit down in Louisiana. See, when you're coaching the South, it's about fit. You have to be able to look at your players in the eyes and relate to the players. I want somebody that's going to be

in the locker room with me, not somebody that calls down from the fifth floor to the locker room if you follow me. And I think when you're in the Southeastern Conference, that's the way it has to be. I know it's a lot of names being thrown around. We're a long way from this coaching search being over, but there's no doubt in my mind. LSU is the best job out there. I think when it comes to finances, when it comes to facilities,

when it comes to recruiting, Louisiana's in the best position. Somebody just tell the governor, hey, pipe down a little bit, worry about politics, let the football people worry about football. But I truly believe LSU will be able to get a better coach

for the reasons I laid out. Bigger, pleasure as always. Thank you so much Speaking truth, Booger. Thank you. Anytime, fellas. Y'all have a good one. Let's take one last break still to come. The Nats are hiring the youngest manager in the major since 1972.

Wow. And did Matt Rule just rule himself out of the Penn State job? Do we believe this bit of news, Tony? Well, I don't know what it is yet. I'll wait for the next second. Pardon the Interruption is presented by the Refreshing Taste of Twisted Tea, hard iced tea. Please drink responsibly.

Part of Happy Hour. Happy time, people. Happy 77th birthday Mickey Rivers. History lesson, kids. John Milton Rivers was a center fielder for the New York Yankees on their championship teams in 1977 and 78. Rivers was a 2.95 lifetime hitter who led the American League in steals once and triples twice.

It's not a home run thread and was therefore lost on a team with power hitters like Reggie Jackson, and Thurman Munson and Greg Nettel. But Rivers had a terrific comic touch. He once said of owner George Steinbrenner and manager Billy Martin, quote, me and George and Billy, we're two of a kind, unquote. And when Reggie announced to the press, he had an IQ of 160. Rivers cracked, quote, out of what?

A thousand, unquote. In the 1978 playoffs, Rivers batted 379. Yeah, when you're doing that, I don't think you're getting lost among those power hitters. You set the table for those power hitters. and you score a lot of runs in front of those power hitters. So he had to have been appreciated on those Yankee squads. Absolutely.

Happy anniversary, Herm Edwards, on this day, 23 years ago, during a midweek press conference after his New York Jets had dropped to 2 and 5, Edwards was asked whether he had to talk to his team about not giving up on the season. Yes, the Jets were terrible back then too. Edward's response became the phrase most associated with him over two decades later, quote,

you play to win the game. Edwards leaned into it saying, hello, as if the questioner was from outer space. Hello, you play to win the game. Herm Edwards was an NFL player, an NFL coach, and a college coach. He is our colleague at ESPN, and it goes without saying that we love him.

I love listening to Herm Edwards, love talking to him. His presence here in the desert where he spent some years is missed, Tony. I think I hit a T-shot in his backyard one day, but that's another story. But yes, more Herm Edwards is appreciated. I know you agree. I do.

Happy trails, Anthony Davis. Dallas's star Big Man left Wednesday's win over the Pacers in the first quarter. Did not return. After scoring a bucket, Davis started hobbling, and soon thereafter looked like he was reaching for his left ankle area. He had been probable for the game with, quote, bilateral Achilles tendonopathy, whatever that is. I'm not that kind of doctor,

but any time an NBA player reaches for his Achilles, red flags go up. Davis played in only nine Babs games last season after they acquired him in the Luke Godanchich deal. Now he's heard again five games into the season. Tony, he doesn't help things in Dallas that Cooper Flag has had like a good game and a half. Okay, he's not in the top three or four at all in rookie of the year.

It's early, though. It's early. Three games. It's three games. Let's go 25 before we make rookie the year. Let's go to the big finish. Nebraska and Matt Rule agreed on a two-year extension. What does that mean?

It means he can go like, I don't know, two weeks without being asked about Penn State any longer. The Nats, your Nats, are reportedly hiring 33-year-old Blake Buntara to be their manager. Does that make sense? This tie is older than Blake. This tie.

The twins picked Derek Shelton to be their manager. Is that okay with you? EA's had the requisite experiences, manage the Pirates, been a bench coach with the Twins. You know, I guess so. The NBA fine, lamello ball 35 large for apparently flipping off a ref,

your thoughts? You can say something to a ref, but when you have a gesture that everyone can see, that's no good. That fine should be higher, higher. Last one, the 4-0 Spurs and 5-0 Thunder both play tonight.

Do you like them both to win again? I like watching win by yaw. The rest of it doesn't matter. If you don't have Shohei on tonight and you don't, you ought to be able to watch Wimbanyama. We're out of time. We will try to do better the next time. Here's my Binghamton doll.

Harvey Stanger, you did a great job. And good luck. Congratulations. I'm Mike Robine. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. Tony, you know, you can say that to the rep. You can't show that.