PTI - Most Intriguing Storylines in the NFL

Episode Date: August 21, 2025

Mina Kimes and Frank Isola discuss the NFL, Jim Harbaugh, and Shohei Ohtani. 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 Frank Isola, and PTI is back from hiatus. I mean, it times. Did anyone tell Tony and Mike?

Ooh, I don't think so. That's why I'm here. I know that. They didn't get the call. I hear one of them trying to get in right now. By the way. You had never been on a late-night talk show until you and I hosted a show together. Get the, just for the record, probe.

Possation, correlation. I don't know. That's what I'm going with. That's what I'm going with. Welcome to PTI, everyone. Mike and Tony have the day off. So I'm joined by my great friend from NFL Live and the Mina Kimes podcast,

featuring Lenny, of course, it's Meena Kine. They watch Seth Myers as well. All right, let's start today with tonight's kickoff of the final week of preseason football. Thank God. The Steelers visit the Panthers while the Patriots take on the Giants at MetLife. Aaron Rogers will not play for Pittsburgh, no surprise,

while the Giants rookie Jackson Dart could put more pressure on declared starter Russell Wilson. Mina, what intrigues you most about these four teams as we head into the preseason finale? I'm going to go with the Giants QB situation because of the pressure that you mentioned there. Look, it's not surprising that they went with Russell Wilson as the week one starter. He is competent. But he's also a bit boom or bust at this point in his career. Last year in Pittsburgh, second in QBR on throws over 20 yards. 23rd on throws under.

And I suspect when it starts to bust a little and their schedule is quite difficult early on, there are going to be calls, loud calls from New York for Brian Dable to put the rookie in. And I think that's a tricky decision because the schedule is difficult, as I mentioned. The offensive line is, shall we say, dubious. And DART, as good as he has looked in the preseason

and he has looked good, we'll see how he plays tonight. He comes from a very college-y offense, so he needs some time to adjust to the NFL. Throw on top of that, Frank. The coach is on the hot seat, and we've got a pretty complicated situation there. Yeah, Dar, 26 of 35, 291 yards, two touchdown. I'm going to get back to him in a second because I want to ask you about the situation with him and Brian Daibald. But for me, you know, it's interesting with Pittsburgh.

So Aaron Rogers isn't going to play again in the preseason, and this is standard operating procedure for him. He didn't show up for voluntary workouts. So we really haven't seen him. It makes it interesting week one when he does play with that offense, medcap and we'll see how everything works. None of the stars for Pittsburgh are going to play in the final preseason game because we know the way the preseason works. The GMs and the head coaches, they keep their fingers crossed that no key players get hurt.

The one way to avoid that, don't play your key players. My thing would be, though, for Aaron Rogers. So you look last year, 28 touchdowns, 11 interceptions for the Jets. He wasn't terrible. He wasn't Hall of Fame, Aaron Rogers. He wasn't terrible. But to not play at all in the preseason when you had the two years you had, in New York. And this is the steal. The Steelers aren't the Jets. No offense to the New York Jets.

You're just not Pittsburgh. Mike Tomlin's been there forever. You would think that Aaron Rogers would say, you know what? I'm going to play at least one series in the preseason. What do you make of that? What do you make of that? I feel like the fact that he hasn't played has made everyone forget how much he struggled over the last couple of years. Like an absence makes the heart grow fonder because I keep hearing, oh, he's going to be such an upgrade at quarterback for Pittsburgh. But over the last two years that he has played. So even going back to before his injury, 29th in QBR, 28th in passer rating, 36th. Yes, 36th, and completion percentage over-expected.

It hasn't looked good, Frank. And the one thing I know about quarterbacks is they don't usually get better the further they get from 30 years old. You know, and you mentioned the thing about Dart, which I find interesting. So Russell Wilson is obviously going to start. And it's a smart play by the Giants. Why, you know, if you're bringing in the veteran quarterback, there's always a time to put the rookie in. But, you know, this is Big Bad New York, and you're right. Russell Wilson starts struggling. It could be by the second game. And the cries are going to get louder and louder. I got a feeling

we might see this guy in because remember, too, the schedule early on for the Giants is absolutely brutal. So we may see him sooner rather than later. Well, moving on to guys we haven't seen. Let's talk about the Cowboys. And Brian John Neimer's optimism, apparently, about Micah Parsons. The Cowboys coach says he feels good that Parsons will be on the field when the Cowboys take on the Eagles two weeks from tonight. This, despite there being no reported progress towards a new deal. Parsons has not participated in the team's training camp,

but he has attended meetings and walkthroughs. Frank, do you share Schaunheimer's optimism? Well, here's why. So you and I were together three weeks ago, and you and I were both optimistic, and I'm going to still be optimistic today because you had a couple of key lines in there. 14 days until the season opened.

That's still plenty of time. The guy's showing up every day at practice, and that was the other thing. He's in the meetings. He's, you know, in the walkthrough, so that helps everything. The longer it goes, does it get ugly? But come on, I mean, we've seen this so many times before. Even with the Cowboys, most recently with Dak Prescott, it eventually gets done.

To me, this has a lot to do with the agent from Michael Parsons, which I understand. And the owner, Jerry Jones, it's a little, you know, it's a game of chicken that they're playing. But when the guy's making $21 million, he's a dominant player. He loves playing football. He's showing up every day because if you're a holdout and you disappear, that's different. He's a hold in. So your threats aren't as serious to me. So I'm still optimistic.

We're going to see him against the Eagles. I share your optimism. I think a deal gets done. I think it's an overpay, part because that's Jerry Jones' recent history. That's what he's been doing as of late, overpaying players. But also because Michael Parsons is essential to this team. He's one of the most dominant defensive players in football. Over the last three years, Frank, he is the second most double-team player after Miles Garrett in the entire league.

And he ranks first in pressure rate despite that. When he has not been on the field for Dallas, they rank 32nd in pass a rating aloud. He doesn't solve all their problems. I still worry about the run defense, linebacker. They got injuries in the secondary. But those problems will be a lot worse if Micah Parsons is not on the field. And I think Dallas knows that. You know, it's funny, too, when this past week, I think it was Adam Schaefter, had the report.

maybe about Green Bay could be interested. So to me, it's just part of like the negotiating. It's part of like you're trying to get some leverage because you're throwing out a team that a lot of people think could make some noise in the NFC. It's a rival of the Cowboys. So you throw out the Green Bay Packers. To me, it's all part.

We're still 14 days away. Is there any part of you that thinks he would not be playing for Dallas this year? Well, if you were to actually hold out, it would cost him over a million dollars a game. It's why it so rarely happens in the NFL. And it would just be so silly for Dallas not to get this done. Yeah, you're holding in and then you're going to miss games. I'm not buying that.

All right. And now to the clarity around the quarterbacking situations in Cleveland and Indy, the Browns, they've named 40-year-old Joe Flacco as their starter while the cults have chosen Daniel Jones. Which decision intrigues you more, Mina? Got to be Indianapolis, because we knew the Browns were going to roll with Joe Flacco as their starter. He doesn't play in the preseason who plays after him. is the more interesting question to be decided.

But Indianapolis felt like a legitimate quarterback competition. And as this has played out, and they went with Daniel Jones, to me, it's felt like a question that had no good answers in the end. I don't blame them for moving on from Richardson or not having him as a starter. Clearly his accuracy on short throws, decision-making hasn't improved sufficiently. But I also believe with Daniel Jones, there's a clear ceiling on this offense. Literally a ceiling. He does not push the ball downfield.

So, again, while I see why the Colts did this, I do not blame Colts fans for being unhappy with where this is going from a process perspective. Yeah, and so I think, you're a coach, you're Shane Steichen, you did such a great job with Jalen Hertz in Philadelphia. You've tried it with Anthony Richardson. They want him to be the guy. So when the competition starts, they want him to be the starting quarterback. They want him to win the job. But the team also knows the NFL, I mean, unless you're getting a rookie quarterback, it's a win now league. and they feel like they have to win

and you look at the way he's played and you mentioned the decision making. How about some of the stats by Warren Sharp? He had over the last two years of the 55 quarterbacks with at least 175 attempts, Richardson is 55th in accuracy, 55th in completion rate. I mean, he just doesn't get, I understand he's young, he's explosive,

but they need results now. It's different when you're a rookie than when you're in your third year. You hit it. It's a win now league. It's not a development league. Last week, I watched Trey Lance play football in the game that I called against the Chargers. He looked really good, Frank, and it occurred to me.

He just needed time to improve. Unfortunately, Anthony Richardson, who has a similar profile to Lance in terms of not a lot of experience coming into the league, he's just not going to get a chance to have that time, at least not with Indianapolis. Down the road, we could see a revival. Well, you know, Sam Darnold, Gino Smith. It didn't start out well for them, and they both had pretty good seasons. You know, the other thing, too, about Flacco, so the only 40-year-olds to start, guys 40-year-old are Tom Brady, Aaron Rogers, and Brett Farr.

But it's not about who the starter is in Cleveland. I know you're going to be there for their preseason game in a couple of days. It's really about who's going to be the second-string quarterback and the third string quarterback. Because even Joe Flacco is smarter to think at some point I'm probably going to get replaced. So the question would be who's going to be the guy that replaces him? Oh, my gosh. Your guess is as good as mine.

And what's tricky for Cleveland is it's very hard for quarterbacks. If they cut one of these guys, Dylan Gabriel, Shador Sanders, another team is going to take a chance on them. They both look pretty decent in the preseason, so it was an interesting approach to say the least. Well, how much does this weekend matter to Dylan Gabriel and Shador Sanders, how they perform? Tune in. Tune in to my game.

Please watch. Now that's the storyline. There you go. All right, let's take a break. But coming up, Urban Meyer suggests that the NFL should suspend Jim Harbaugh for what happened at Michigan. What's the word for that? Oh, boy. And how best to describe show Hay's recent mediocrity on the mound?

Mina's leaving right after the show. She wants to get to Cleveland as early as possible. We've already given her a couple of good recommendations. Nice little hookup. You know, I just love it there. Three season week three. Mrs. Midwest, we call it. Pardon the interruption is brought to you by AutoZone.

Get in the zone. It's time to exchange words with Mina. What's first? Urban Myers suggestion that the NFL should suspend Jim Harbaugh for infractions at Michigan is blank. All right, so Urban Meyer said this on his podcast, not as popular or as famous as meanest podcast. This is what you do on a podcast.

You try to stir it up. And he's really referring to Jim Tressel, the former Ohio State coach, who had to serve a six-game suspension if you coached again in college. I ended up getting a job in the NFL with the Colts, and Roger Goodell upheld the suspension, suspended for six games.

I think it's perfect because, A, it's not going to happen, but it's Michigan and it's Ohio's. state and it's urban myer you know mr big shot football coach turn media guy stirring it up so neither these guys a coach anymore for the for those schools but they're still part of the rivalry it is great that he did it it's not going to happen and your guy jim harbore when asked about it he said i'm not engaging which i wish he would have engaged uh the word i went with was laughable look frank you know i respect expertise thank and when it comes to scandals both serious and not, Urban Meyer is a subject matter expert.

Yes. However, he is also the last person in the world I want to hear from on this subject for all of the biases that you hint at when you talk about the rivalry with Ohio State. The NFL does not care about this. No. Yes, they have in the past. You mentioned Tressel. You could also throw in Terell Pryor.

Yeah, yeah. That's silly suspension. But nobody in the league wants to get involved in this. Nobody wants to punish Jim Harbaugh. It's not going to happen. Although I do appreciate the wrestling style rivalry that Meyer is ginning up here. Yeah, the NFL owners, they also look at it. Your college football, we're the big boys.

You do your thing. We'll do ours. You know, that all relates to that whole science stealing incident with Michigan being penalized for us. So Harbaugh's not, if you wanted to coach in college, it can't happen for 10 years. So I know you were holding out hope he'd end up at Yale at some point, but you're going to have to wait until at least 2035.

All right, what's next? Last night's start by Shohay Otani was black. I'm going to go with concerning because last night, four innings pitch, five earn runs, nine hits, and then he took a line drive off the thigh. So they took him out of the game. He actually ended up losing the game. That's the only decision he's had in all the starts that he's made this season for the Dodgers. So the great showy Oatani, listen, he's great to me.

He's the guy that you want to pay to go see play. He's 0-1 as a starter for the Dodgers. But for me, last three starts, Mina, 11 in a third innings, 12 hits, seven earned runs, and two injuries. Because when you and I were on a couple, three weeks ago, he had left the game with a cramp in his thigh. That guy is too good of a player. They need to shut down the pitching for this season. I'm not doing it anymore. The numbers that he gives you offensively, 44 home runs, 83 RBIs, he's batting 284.

Let's just focus on that. I don't want to see him going out on the mound and getting hurt. I know that's not a popular football. A true New York sports guy. I'm going to bring the LA perspective in here. My word was let down because it was a letdown, but I am not hitting the panic button like you are. Shohay Otani's first nine starts is coming back from the injury. 3.47 ERA, 32 strikeouts, five walks.

He's been largely fine. In fact, his velocity is actually up. It's just his command that's been a little bit shaky. And I think that's what we saw in this last one. But you can't blame him for getting hit on the thigh. that's a freak injury. It happens in baseball. It's not likely to happen again.

If he wasn't pitching, it wouldn't happen. If he wasn't pitching, it wouldn't happen. Well, by that logic, he should never pitch because he's too valuable as a hitter. Well, I think there is a chance, though, come playoff time, that they'll start them. You start him two or three innings, because remember, he could still stay in as a D.H. It's the show hey rule that they have in baseball. It's just a little concerning. Two of the last three starts, got rocked, and also had two injuries.

So that's a little concerning. All right, what do we got next? The Philly sweep of the Mariners was blank. All right, I'm going to let you handle the Mariners here because I'm going to go with inspiring for this standpoint. Zach Wheeler, the pitcher of the Phillies on Monday, had a procedure to fix a blood clot in his right shoulder. Scary situation.

Their starters in the next three games struck out 34. The lineup produced 48 hits and scored 40 runs. The Phillies line, Kyle Schwerver, hit another home run last night. So to do that after your star pitcher goes down, for me that's inspiring. I can't get too crazy now about your Seattle Mariners. Even though they've lost five in a row, Houston's lost four in a row. So you've told me not to push the panic button, so you need to follow your own advice. How about that?

I'm going to give you a very unbiased opinion here. The word that I'm going with is revealing. Actually, the last time we did this show together, I believe the Mariners had just finished their nine-game win streak. and here they are with the losing streak. I still think they're a good team. I just think the Phillies are a better team, a dominant team, a deeper team. If there's something that concerns me, though, about this road trip in which they've struggled so much, it is the starting pitching because it has been bad.

The starting pitchers, pardon me, on the road trip, 6.4 ERA, three quality starts. Logan Gilbert doesn't look like himself. Luis Castillo's speed is down, his velocity is down. Bryce Miller is coming back off the injury. Again, they're still a playoff team. I really believe that. The lineup is still good. The Phillies are just better.

Do you see what happens when you come to the big bad NL East? You go to New York. They get roughed up. They go to Philadelphia. They get roughed up. How about the Phillies, though? They've won four in a row. Their last four games, they've scored 40 runs.

Now, the problem with them last year was in the playoffs. Wasn't they couldn't score. They just couldn't get anybody out. But that is an unbelievable lineup. All right, that's the final word. Let's take one last frame. but still to come. If a soccer coach gets a red card, can he just coach from the stands? Look at that. I love this story. At a Little League World Series rally, these kids will never forget.

It's sad when that happens. It's like the Mariners losing. It's sad sometimes. They'll be fine in the playoffs. I'm rooting for it. Pardon the Interruption is brought to you by ESPN Fantasy Football, the number one fantasy game. Download the ESPN Fantasy app. to play today. It's happy time, people. Happy 32nd birthday. Mike Evans, so underrated.

The Bucks receiver enters the season, having been a standout from day one. Evans has exceeded 1,000 yards in each one of his 11 years. An NFL record, remarkable. He's amassed a remarkable 105 receiving touchdowns, ninth all time. Evans is a six-time pro bowler

and won a Super Bowl, of course, for Tom Brady. He now enters a contract. year and he recently told Kay Adams, quote, retirement at the end of the season is not off the table and playing two to five more years is also not off the table. Well, five years, no. I'm not playing five more years. Good for you, Mike Evans. 37, I don't know. But this guy, I mean, you put it best. He's so underrated. He's so consistent. That record, the 11 seasons, 1,000 yards, one of the most impressive records in football. Two years ago, he led the league in touchdowns. Last year, he fell all the way to fourth. and touchdowns, just a guy you can set your watch too. Terrific player. Happy anniversary, Scotty Sheffler. On this day, five years ago, the then-tore rookie Bertie, four of his last five holes,

to become just the 12th player in PGA tour history to card a round of 59. At that point, Schaeffler was relatively unknown. Today, he dominates the sport. Last Sunday, he came from four shots back in the final round to win his fifth tournament of the year, joining Tiger as the only two golf. to win five plus tournaments and back-to-back seasons in the last 40 years. Wow. Sheppler's on course right now at Eastlake, a heavy favorite to defend his FedEx Cup title. So I went back and looked at the rankings from 2020 in this anniversary. He was 56 at the time when he won Northern Trust. As of today, he has been number one for over 150 straight weeks, nearly three years. It is a run of dominance that

I mean, I think his historic, frankly, and what's crazy, Frank, he's not even 30. So, I mean, just the stats that he could put up over the course of his career are going to be tremendous. Dominant, dominant player. Happy trails to last night's Leagues Cup match for Tigress. Inter Miami eliminated the Mexican team to one despite a series of setbacks. Miami entered the match without injured Star Lino Messi. Then they lost Jordi Alba in the first half after collision, then saw head coach Javier Mastirano, draw a red card.

He whines all the time. He whined about the amount of stoppage time at the end of the first half. Mastanano was later spotted in the stands above the bench, talking to the coaches, which, believe it or not, the league says, is not prohibited. Still, the red card means matcherano won't be on the sideline for next week's semifinal match

against Orlando City. Okay, important detail here. When he was allowed to say in the game, you can't talk to the coaches, but he called them on his phone. He was on the Apple broadcast using an iPhone. It looked like a commercial, sort of like a 20-25 version of Bobby Valentine with a mustache. Very funny loophole.

I don't know if he can get away with it. He should have gone Bobby Valentine. One era there had been 18 NFL quarterbacks to start a game after the age of 40, not four, as I suggested. Meaning that gave me bad advice or she just wanted more time to herself. We're running out of show. Let's go to the big finish. Sarerian and Andrea Vasisessori. The two Italians won the U.S. Open.

Mixed doubles. Are you surprised? No, but they did be. beat Igachfiantec and Casparrude. Doubles is a different game. Pagebackers had 44 points against the sparks last night. Impressed? Yes, she was 17 to 21.

The Yankees, they hit 14 homers in a two-game sweep of the raise. Is that significant? Yeah, they got to keep that lead. They're mashing lately. John Wall retired. How will you remember his career? He was a great college player, good NBA player. Didn't make it out of that second round.

The last one, South Carolina somehow faces Las Vegas in the Little League World Series. I'm going with Vegas to beat them again. We're out of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank I sold. And I'm Meena Kimes. PTI is back at the same time tomorrow.