PTI - Kirk Cousins Feels "Misled" by Falcons: Fair or Foul?!

Episode Date: July 8, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Wimbledon, Kirk Cousins, and the Orlando Magic. Plus, Tim Kurkjian joins the show to break down the latest in the MLB! 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 cow appreciation day, Tony. How should we celebrate that?

Tony Cornhizer celebrated with a limerick. A cow is simply so stellar, such a productive farm dweller, but it's also aces when it comes to tight spaces. In fact, I keep three in my cellar. What do you think? The limerick is good. Cow appreciation day couldn't be dumber. I like cows.

Who comes up with this jump? I enjoy driving by places where there are cows on the side of the road. I always like to look at cows. I just, I like cow. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, Kirk Cousins felt a little bit misled. The magic of putting the pieces together. And Tim Kirchon joins us for five good minutes.

But we begin today with Wimbledon. Taylor Fritz, the five-seed, becomes the first American man to reach the semifinals at the All England Club. since John Isner did it in 2018. Number one-seat Arena Sabalanka was pushed to three sets but advanced. American Amanda Anasimova won in straight sets to advance to the semis where she will meet Savalanka. She has a winning record against Sabalanka.

And defending champion Carlos Alcaraz breezed into the semis. Wilbon, what stood out to you? Tony, I think a few things. The Savalinka match I watched in its entirety. She had no business winning that match. and her opponent Sigmund, who's 37 years old, the easy person to sort of have a sentimental rooting interest in, just couldn't finish.

It was like the moment was too big, and you sort of feel bad. And the Sabalink is the big star. It's interesting. She said she learned a lot in France, and she wasn't going to sort of behave as immaturely as she did there, at least a lot of us thought she behaved wildly immaturely.

And I believe that there's an uptick there in that behavior. So that stood out. And Al Carras didn't, because he just went out there and blitz somebody, and it's like, boom. But Tony, as you know from having covered Wimbledon and you and I have covered some tennis, some of what you do is look forward.

And I can't help but look forward to, and Fritz, Todd Fritz, I'm going to let you get to mostly that. But Fritz and Al Caraz is going to be, it figures be one hell of a match. American men have not been on the big stage in a long time. And then if we're lucky, we're going to get Shelton and Center

tomorrow in a quarter final and then could get Joker and Shelton, if you're rooting for Shelton like me. There's a lot going on and today was a set-up day in that regard. Yeah, I'm going to start. It's Taylor Fritz. It's not Todd Fritz. It's Taylor Fritz. And I always have trouble with his name

because I always think of Taylor Swift. But I'm going to start with him because a week ago he was out of the tournament. In his first round match, he was down two sets to zero. And then he got to a fourth six. and was down 5-1 in a tiebreaker. And I thought to myself, he's out.

He's always out. He was out in the first round of the French. Now he's out in the first round of Wimbledon. He hung in there, Mike. And they had to postpone the match overnight, so it took a period of two days, and they were probably out on the court for four hours. And the guy's name he played against,

and I don't know the name very well, Giovanni Impec, Perricard. I had never heard of him. And I just thought, okay, he's going to win this match. Good for him. He's going to win. He's going to justify his scene. you know, and if he, now he's in the semifinals, you mentioned Shelton, if Shelton, and it's a real

rough road for Shelton. But if he got there, it'd be the first time in 25 years, Mike. The two American men were in the semifinals in Wimbledon since Sampress and Agassay. And I'll just take about 10 seconds on Sabalanka. I know you're not crazy about her. I've watched her play twice in this tournament. She's come from behind to win both times. The first time was against Emma Radicano, and I thought she was out of that. And somehow she steals herself. She wins a point. She wins another one. She wins a game. She gets a break. And she wins.

She plays like a champion. She plays like a champion. She does. Playing like number one. Playing up to the scene. And if I don't get the text from Todd Fritz later, I'll be disappointed. Now, to the confessions of Kirk Cousins, Captain Kirk opens up

on the Netflix show quarterback, revealing that he felt a little bit misled in quotes, when the Falcons drafted Michael Pennings Jr. 8th overall just weeks after signing him as their new starter to a trillion dollars. He implies that had he known, he would have stayed with Minnesota. Cousins also admits he didn't want to rest his injured arm last season because he was afraid of getting while he pipped. What a great reference tone. What are you hearing all of this? So what I hear from Kirk Cousins is he feels completely betrayed by the Atlanta

Falcons for drafting Michael Penningson in the first round. What I also hear is that if he knew then what he knows now, he wouldn't have done it. He would not have left Minnesota for Atlanta. And if, in fact, that's the case, then the great year Sam Darnold had wouldn't have existed. And Sam Darnold wouldn't have this lovely contract in Seattle. Now, what Cousins is saying, on the record, a lot of it, is exactly what you're supposed to say. We have to be grown-ups. be adults. You're not promised anything. But what I'm also hearing from him is that, you know, I hate the Atlanta Falcons. I hate their owner. I think they are duplicitous. And I'm also hearing what everybody said at that moment, Mike, which was, what do you mean? You're drafting Michael Panics.

You're just signed Kirk Cousins. What are you people doing? And I think that's what I'm hearing and what Cousins is saying. I'm hearing the process, the everyday process of modern day, sports in which there's a Netflix documentary or somebody's got a podcast or 8 million people have a podcast and we hear more of people's inner thought process than we ever have. So we, yes, you have that also. We hear more from athletes about what they really felt. And it's not that people didn't feel these things a hundred years ago that Terry Bradshaw didn't feel and there was no place to air that.

And so it's 100. Hundreds and hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars, and this is the business of sport. And you can find this anywhere somebody opens their mouth, whether it's a quarterback or a tennis player or a point guard or a race car driver, this is what you have regret maybe. So I agree with it. And second thoughts and all of it.

I'm going to tell you this about cousins. I'm not going to sit in a corner and cry for cousins. Okay, he leveraged his situation in Washington to get a, a great contract in Minnesota. He leverages situation in Minnesota, get a great contract and land. $296 million. $296 million. But as the Beatles said,

money can't buy me love. And he does not feel any love in Atlanta right now. He can buy me love. He feels betrayed in Atlanta. He feels betrayed. Buy me love. Let's move to the NBA. Specifically, the Orlando Magic,

who haven't won a playoff series since 2010 when Dwight Howard was on that team. Orlando just signed their best player, Palo Boncaro. to a five-year $239 million extension. Orlando has locked up their core players, Boncaro, Franz Wagner, and Jalen Suggs for the next five years. Plus, they just traded it for Desmond Bain.

He's locked up for four years. Wilbon, do you like Orlando's chances this coming year of becoming the Thunder of the East? No, not this coming year. No, the Thunder didn't do this overnight. The Thunder got Hartenstein and they got Alex Caruso this year. After having all J-Dubb and, of course, SGA, the MVP and Lou Dord.

They already had those guys. And even then, Sam Presti had to add more to get them over to top to the championship. So, no, this doesn't happen in a year. I love where Orlando is going with all the people you just mentioned. And we know that the Celtics and the Pacers are going to take a step back in all probability. So what that leaves is largely the Knicks and Cavaliers. And somebody else could emerge. I think it's too soon for Atlanta, but somebody could emerge in the East.

So I think Orlando's going to be in the mix. Could they threaten for a while? Would they look good, particularly after the all-star break? I believe so. Next year? No, it's going to take a while for that. So I'm going to do a comparative study here. I mean, what is implied to me by being the Thunder of the East is that you are a team,

a young team with selfless players and one potential great star. You've been not very good for a while. and then through a series of drafts and trades, you got to be very good. Could Orlando do that in the East? I would tell you they could, but Detroit has a better chance of doing it than they have. Detroit, that's what I'm glad you mentioned now. They're the same sort of team, and Detroit won three more regular season games last year than Orlando, and they got a guy in Cade Cunningham who fits that same bill.

Now, I mean, I dread talking about the NBA for 12 months of the year. I'll make an exception today and talk about it. What we are seeing on the east is not teams rising, Mike. As you alluded to, it's teams falling. It's Indiana falling. It's Boston falling. It's Milwaukee falling because they are not a cohesive team. It's Philadelphia having fallen because Embed and George don't get on the court.

It's Miami having fallen because Jimmy Butler sabotaged the team. So it's just a vacuum at the top other than Cleveland. Cleveland is a genuinely good team. The Knicks. I don't think the Knicks are as good as. I don't think they're as good as you think they are. I don't. I mean, I think Cleveland is,

but nobody's rising as much as everybody's falling. Let's take a break. Coming up, what's wrong with the Yankees? Hold on there, Sparky. Hold on. Before we go to a break. Go ahead. Go ahead.

Not everybody's falling. Detroit's not falling. The Knicks aren't falling. They just got to the conference final. What? I don't think they're as good as you do, and I don't think they're as good. I think Cleveland's good.

I think they're good. We got eliminated. Good. Everybody got eliminated at some point. We also ask them whether a team could put together a trade offer for Paul Skeens that the Pirates could not refuse. Did you just mention Detroit? They're not falling?

I mentioned Detroit. I should get credit, extra credit, and I have a podcast. We've got some baseball questions for our great friend, ESPN MLB analyst, and a man who knows more about Avalvon. than Alacados than anyone I know, Mr. Tim Kirkton. Let's start with this. The Yankees, Tim, have lost 16 of their last 23 games. They're now three and a half games behind Toronto in the American League East. Is this a blip on the screen or is something broken with the Yankees? Well, it's a little of both, Tony. They can't be this bad. I think they're going to recover. I still think they're going to win the division. But they were not a great team to start the season. I think they played the game. I think they played the game. I think they played the game. a little bit over their heads the first couple months. But now with their pitching so injured, no Garrett Cole, no Luis Heel, and now Clark Schmidt now for the rest of the season. That is catching

up to them, plus some injuries in the bullpen. And also, Tony, they lead the league and run scored, but you could still pitch to this team. It's still certain nights an all or nothing team. Remember, earlier this year, they got shut out three games in a row, and in a six-game span, They scored seven runs. When Aaron Judge isn't great, this team really struggles offensively. But I think they're going to pull it back together in a very ordinary American League East and still find a way to win it. All right, Tim. Let's get out of New York and go to Houston with the Astros of 1, 11 of 14. They keep losing people. Don't have Alvarez now. Breggman gone, All-Stars somewhere else. Of course, an All-Star.

in Chicago who is glittering and we want to hold on to from the Astros and the trade? Is their scouting? They just keep replacing people, Tim. Is there scouting that much better than everybody else's? Well, they're really good at that. But what they do, Michael, better than anyone, really is they pitch exceptionally well. They have the fifth highest, fifth lowest ERA in the major leagues. The league is hitting 24 off their pitching staff. They have nine shutouts. Hunter Brown, who most people aren't sure who he is, he has a 182 ERA. He leads the National League, American League, and he is going to the All-Star game. Framber Valdez has won 10 games. That's the most in the American League. I don't know how anyone ever gets a hit

off the combination of his sinker and his curveball, plus they have power arms all the way through the bullpen. I can't believe they are this good with the injuries they've had to their everyday lineup, and yet they just pitch their way through as they've done many times the last 10 years. Speaking of pitching, we keep hearing that Pittsburgh will not even entertain trading Paul Skeen's.

But Tim, is there anybody out there trying to put together some offer that will just knock the pirates down and at least make them listen? I'm not sure that team is out there, Michael, because we're talking about Paul Skeens. He is the best pitcher that I've seen come to the major leagues, at least for the first, like, full year, 45 starts or so, that I've ever seen in the 45 years that I've covered. That's how good this guy is and is going to continue to be. I mean, he's huge, he throws

100, he added a cutter in the offseason, he's wildly competitive, and the pirates are in such hot water with their fans. He is the reason you come to pipe. If they were to trade him now for like a package of great young players, I just don't think that's going to work. You're going to have to get major league ready players for him. And how many of that going to take? And how are the pirates going to afford that? So I just don't see at this moment a scenario where some team comes in, bowls over the pirates and gets Paul Skeens. We will get you out of here on this.

Umpire of Phil Cousy appeared to miss a lot of balls and strikes last night in the Phillies Giants game. Formal appeals could be coming next year, you know, with that robotic screen like in tennis. And yet we are told that players are against this. Why are players against this formal appeal? Well, the ones that I've talked to and others in the game feel like the players don't want the responsibility and the accountability. of being in charge of a challenge on a ball or a strike. Because they worry, do I know the strike zone well enough in order to be in charge of a challenge?

And what if I challenge in the second inning and we lose a challenge? I had a major league manager tell me this year that in spring training, he thought the overriding point was that most players realized the umpires are better than they think, meaning a hitter goes there's no way that's a strike. And then they run the replay and it is a strike. That's my feeling that a lot of the players look at it and not sure they're confident enough in their

understanding of the strike zone to therefore be in charge of a challenge system. They want somebody else to do it for them, but the manager can't do that and the manager shouldn't have to do that. Yeah, they don't want to put themselves on the line, obviously. Thank you, Tim. as always. Thank you, Tim. Appreciate it. Thank you, fellas. Let's take one last break still to come. Manny Machado hits a milestone. And a big matchup, Young versus Old on the mound tonight in Milwaukee.

Tony, it looks weird at Wimbledon when you don't have lines people out there. What about a diamond with no home plate umpire? Wouldn't that look crazy? Yeah, but you'd have to have a home plate umpire for a, play at the play. Happy time, people. Happy 29th birthday, Marlon Humphrey. The Ravens cornerback has played all eight of his NFL seasons in Baltimore. He was drafted 16th overall in 2017 out of Alabama, where he won a national title in 2015. Humphrey was first team all pro this past season. He has been a pro bowler four times. Humphrey said last month that he has let the defensive

standard of the Ravens slip. He said, quote, obviously we love Lamar Jackson. He's a great player, I want the Ravens identity to be defense like it was when I got here, unquote. Humphrey is right. The most famous Raven ever is Ray Lewis. Next is likely Ed Reed. That's how the Ravens won two Super Bowls on defense. Yeah, there's no arguing that, and those are the two. I guess Lamar Jackson in the fame game might rise above Ed Reed,

but Ed Reed was so great people should not forget. And we know how great Ray Lewis was, and yes, the Ravens' calling card is defense. Happy anniversary, Ted Williams. This is posthumous, but on this day, 84 years ago. With the American League All-Stars down to their last out, Williams hit a three-run walk-off homer to end the 1941 All-Star game. Among the first to greet the Splendid Splinter, as he crossed home plate, was his Yankee rival, Joe DiMaggio,

who reached second base on an error to keep the game going right before Williams came through. Decades later, Williams wrote in his autobiography, quote, I've never been so happy, and I've never seen so many happy. eyes. I had hit what remains to this day the most thrilling hit of my life, unquote. That summer of 1941 may have been baseball's greatest, as Williams hit 406 and DiMaggio hit in 56 straight games. The All-Star Games of my youth were so exciting, and I'm talking about now in the 60s and the 70s, maybe into the early 80s. I couldn't sleep as a kid before an All-Star game, and now even though baseball's all-star game is the best of what's left. It ain't what it used to be either.

We've seen so much and we see people play each other across leagues. I don't know what's left. Yeah. You know what else ain't what it used to be? Me and you. Happy trails of Annie Machado's wait for hit number 2000. The Padre's third baseman singled in the fourth inning of last night's lost to the Diamondbacks for career hit 2000. Machado had been struggling recently admitted the quest had been hurting him at the plate. But he went three for five last night, including an eighth inning home run for hit number 2001. Machado tuned 33 on Sunday.

He still has eight more seasons left on his Padres contract. He would need to average about 115 hits per to make 3,000. Said Machado, quote, that's the plan. I'm going to shoot for it. Well, with health, he ought to get there easily. Tony, I mean, you would think he'd average 130 or more hits the season, if healthy. I agree.

And they got some sense with that team. That team is good. They should be good for a while. He's got some reason to go. Running out of show when we go to the big finish. Caitlin Clark and Nefisa Collew will reveal their WNBA all-star teams tonight. Are you intrigued? No.

I don't like that format, whether it's the NBA or W-NBA. Put teams together. Stop with that. Anthony Davis reportedly had surgery to repair a detached retina. Your thoughts? I hope he gets better. He's had so many surgeries. No more surgeries.

Brad Stevens says the Celtics reached out to the Pacers to offer help with Tyrese Halliburton's Achilles' Achilles' terror. He's surprised. No, no, no. Collaboration is everywhere, particularly in healthcare and across sports, the whole industry. No, it's a great thing to have this kind of collaboration. O'Neill Cruz joined the home run derby. I bet you're excited.

I'd be more excited if they put him out in center field and timed them, throw into home plate, with about five other guys. Last one, Clayton Kirschaw, take them. Clayton Kirshort takes on your boy, the Miz tonight. Who's got? I know the Brewer's shell Yamamoto last night. Let's see if the Dodgers can put forth the effort. I got skin in this game.

We're out of time. Try to be better the next time. I'm Tony Corny Hodge. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.