PTI - NFL Week's Biggest Statement Win: Chiefs, Buccaneers, or Colts?

Episode Date: October 14, 2025

In this episode, Tony Kornheiser and Michael Wilbon discuss the biggest wins from the NFL this week and more. 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 a national holiday yet. We're here to give it our all.

I'm Tony Kornheiser. Speak for yourself. We're on ESPN, too. Oh, yeah, they've got those 47 Monday night games. We're pushed over. Yeah. We're on the deuce. Yeah.

Yeah. Are we with the pillow fighting or the air guitar? What do you think we're with? Well, they'll have a third game, and it'll be Monday afternoon football. Yeah, well, that's what they'll have. It's okay. Okay. Welcome to PTI, boys and girls. In today's episode, James Franklin is out.

The Jets still having won in the NLCS starts tonight, but we begin today with three newsworthy wins in the NFL yesterday. Kansas City beat Detroit last night, 30 to 17, bringing their record to 3 and 3. Tampa Bay beat San Francisco 30 to 19 as Baker Mayfield played like a magician. And Indianapolis came back against Arizona late. They finally won 31-27, and they're now 5 and 1. Wilbon, which of these victories was the most newsworthy to you? The Chiefs.

And notice, I didn't hesitate. It's the Chiefs. Because they're the most significant team, the most meaningful team to a larger part of the football public over the last, what, six or seven years? It's the Chiefs. I know they only got to three and three, but they needed to get to three and three, all right? They've got some competition, as we've talked about week after week, in their division. I don't know that the AFCs as strong as we thought it was going to be. you know, when the season began.

I think the NFC is actually slightly better. But the Chiefs needed to have a resounding victory and they did over a quality team. I know it was at home, but everybody was running around talking about Detroit's the best team in the lead. Detroit's this, Detroit's that. And Kansas City said, hold on there, sparky.

So I would say Kansas City first and then Tampa because of what you said with Baker Mayfield, who just, I mean, he would get my vote for MVP if you had one at the quarter plus bowl, it would be Baker Mayfield. And so Tampa looks very worthy, Tony. So I'm not going to say they're not an important winner, an important story. But I'm going with the recent former champs first, and then Tampa are rung below. I'm going to go in a certain order here, and I'm not going to disagree with you.

I'm going to start out by saying that I love Baker Mayfield, and he would be my MVP right now. That thing he did on what was there? Third and 14. Third and 14. Third and 14 in the third quarter. That run was thrilling. That was absolutely thrilling. This is a first time.

Tampa Bay, I think, has won by more than one or two points, and they look really good. But no, it's not the most newsworthy event of these that we're talking about. Neither is Indianapolis, although Indianapolis is now five and one. And they are the most surprising team in the entire league because nobody saw that coming. And Daniel Jones is the most surprising player in the league. because nobody saw that coming. And they have now, at 5 and 1, they have scored 194 points in six games. And no Colts team ever opened the season, six first six games and scored that many points.

None of Peyton Manning's teams. And yet, no, the answer is the Chiefs. And the answer is the Chiefs for a variety of reasons. You had it right. I did not. The main answer is the Chiefs because they faced the toughest opposition. Detroit had won four games in a row, and it averaged 40. points per game. And so that's really what they did. Detroit probably came in thinking that Kansas

City on the ropes and it turned into rope but dope and dope. And I will just say this briefly. Everybody on Kansas City played well, but nobody played as well as Mahomes who proved once again on the national stage. He is the best football player on the planet proved it again. You know what I hate hearing on Monday morning from whatever quarters is it so-and-so is the best quarter back of the league. No. Patrick Mahomes, 15 is the best quarterback in the league. In any other opinion, I don't care how much football you play or coach is wrong. How about that?

I was going to say stupid, but I didn't go there. We hit on some notable winners. Now, let's turn, Tony, to some notable losers. Your jets fell to 0 and 6 in London, posting a net minus 10 passing yards against the Broncos. The Dolphins gave the charges a game, but afterward two were ripped into unnamed. teammates for being late to players-only meetings, and the Lamarless Ravens are now one and five after losing to the Rams. Titans got doubled up by the Raiders, and today fired hit coach Brian Callahan.

Tom, which law stands out more to you? Let me take Brian Callahan out of this equation. It seems like a quick hook, but on the other hand, when you go to coach a bad team, this can happen. If you don't improve it right away, this can happen. So let's get rid of that. Four and 17 overall. Right. Okay.

Yeah. So let's go to the Ravens loss was an awful loss. They got rolled at home. As you said, they're now one in five, and most people think they're out of it. But Lamar Jackson did not play in that game. If you want to fashion an excuse because of that, I believe you can. And the two games he hasn't played this year, the Ravens have lost by a combined score of 63 to 14. And yet, as you know, they're one in O in division.

And that's not a good division this year. So there is a path for Baltimore. All right, that's one. The second loss, the Miami loss, that's another bad loss from Miami. They collapsed at the end. They got beat at the end. They yielded at the end. And as you say, Tua was critical, essentially saying that a lot of people on the team aren't

as committed as he is. The Dolphins are now 1 and 15 in their last 16 games against teams with a winning record. So Mike McDaniel, he doesn't have that much time left. The answer here is the Jets. The Jets stink. Their offense is utterly inept. They allowed their quarterback, Justin Fields, to get sacked nine times. Get rid of the ball, son. Stop holding the ball. The fact that he was minus 10 net passing is amazing, Mike, because he only completed seven passes. He only got 45 yards, and the sacks totaled 55 yards. I don't know what they're trying to do on offense. When they're went through customs at London. Did they declare they had an offense? Aaron Glenn is now 0 and 6. And Mike, I don't know how many more he gets.

I don't. Let's see. Will he get as many as a certain James Franklin? He'll get that many. The answer is the Ravens. I'm not going to go too far over the bill because you went through all of them. I'm sorry. I apologize. The Ravens. The Ravens. The answers the Ravens. The Ravens are

the team we had expectations of. Not the Jets. Yes. Not the Titans. No, we didn't have any expectations. Not the dolphins. Not the dolphins. And then I won't say, you know, I keep saying Michael McDonald because I want to see, you know, keep forgetting and I want to start singing some Doobie Brothers.

But Tony, it's the Ravens. All right. Let's go to college football. Your conference will be on the Big Ten. Yeah. You were jacked up about the Indiana, Oregon game. You did not say much about Northwestern going to Penn State. No, I did.

As their homecoming opponent. Yeah. As it turns out, Indiana beat Oregon and beat them soundly at Oregon. to 20 in Northwestern beat Penn State, which apparently found this so unbearable that they fired James Franklin despite having to pay him $49 million to go away. So, okay, Mr. Commissioner, what was the bigger deal in the Big Ten? The biggest deal in football, pro or college this weekend, was the seismic firing of Coach Franklin. That was an, oh my God, text going off, phones, ringing people screaming, even if they don't know much about Penn State.

They certainly never been there. At least you and I have done that a few times. It's his firing, Tony, because it's the accumulation. It's the heartbreaking loss to Oregon. And then losing the UCLA, which has already fired its coach, and then losing the Northwestern and then back-to-back games being a 20-plus point favorite. So it's all of it. And they're already disgusted because they don't.

beat winning teams. Let me just say this. As I always say to you, and I said to you on the phone, I told you Franklin was going to get fired yesterday. I told you that. Tony, college football fans, boosters, sponsors, people in the industry, people in the

conferences, we're all morons. We're all out of control, obsessed lunatics who are delusional about our respective programs and Penn State is too. I knew they were going to fire him. Should they have? I don't, Tony, I don't think so, but I knew they were going to.

I will tell people this story. On Saturday night, we had a phone conversation, you, me, and your brother, Don. And Don, and Don, who's also a Northwestern graduate, Don said, I don't think they're going to fire him. If he wins out, I think he keeps his job. And I said, no, Don, no, they're going to fire him at the end of the year, but they won't fire him before that because it's Penn State. They don't do that.

And you said they're going to fire him. tomorrow, you had this right. You had it right all the way. I don't want to diminish what Indiana did. That's a great win for Signaetti in Indiana. It is. They won at Oregon. They had chances of card games. They were. They lost Ohio State. They lost the Notre Dame in the tournament. They won this one. This is a really, really big win. But yes, firing James Franklin is a bombshell. He was there for 12 years. He had 10 different seasons. Was it 10?

I'm sorry. No, he had six seasons where he had at least 10 victories. His overall record is 104 and 45. He won 70% of his games. You know, a few weeks ago, Penn State was ranked number two in the country. You cannot find them with a telescope now.

Everybody knew he couldn't beat big, you know, the top 10 teams, but he beat others. Now he can't. Now he can't. Let me just say this. Here's why people are delusional at Penn State, too. They've won two national championships, both as an independent school under Joe Paterno in a different time.

They haven't won squad douche in the Big Ten. They haven't won anything for a long time. And you know what they're threatening to be? The latest Nebraska, except, oh, wait, Nebraska could lose their alumnus of Penn State back to Penn State to coach them. That's what Penn State's headed for. You don't want to win 10? Fine.

How about seven every year? And you don't even play anybody who's ranked worth a damn. They're all delusional. We're all delusional, all of us. Let's take a break coming up. What's the best word to describe Cal Raleigh's game one performance? And the NLCS stars tonight who has the edge, Dodges, Brewers, mail time. Next.

There is no protein. There's no protein that has the adorational fans of a college football team. No! There's not. No, there's not. No, the Packers come close. They come close. Pardon the Interruption is presented by the refreshing taste of twisted tea, hard iced tea.

Please drink responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. You are watching, Pardon the Interruption. Presented by Twisted Tea Hard Ice Tea, part of Happy Hour. Trying to find out what's popping with the people in mail time. Let me open a mailbox and see what's first here. What's the word for what Cal Raleigh did last night for the Mariners? It's either Inspire or Carry.

I'm going to say carry, as in carry his team. But it's not just last night. You've got to go back to the previous deciding game. The guy is out there like Yogi Berra and Johnny Bench. and the great Carlton Fis, he's out there all the time behind the plate, and he's being Ruth at the plate, oh, wait, Ruth and Mantle. He's carrying his team. They have nobody hitting besides him.

He's hitting 400. The rest of the teams are like 180. So I'm going to go, yes, he's probably inspiring them, but carrying them is more important because he's carrying them right through to perhaps the World Series. the word that I would use is leadership. That home run was huge. It was. Look, they were 15 innings with Detroit.

Then they had to fly across the country to Toronto. That was their first run, and it tied the game. But I'll give you another example, leadership. In the first inning, I believe his name is Bryce Miller was on the mound for Seattle. First pitch he throws. George Springer parks it in his stance. First pitch. Then later in the inning, pretty soon,

after he goes like a 20-pitch walk. They isolate on him with the camera, and you think, wow, he looks terrified. Cal Rolley gets up, he walks out to the mound, he settles the kid down. He settles him down. From that point on, they get out of the inning. He gives up in the next five innings, one hit.

Just one hit. This is what I mean by leadership, and winning that game, Mike, gives Seattle a cushion so they can lose today, and it's okay. I mean, that's, you look at, You look at Roley and you see leading, right? And Tony, not only that, this is why Catcher is MVP when you do all that other stuff,

because Catcher can impact a game and the people on the field more than anybody else out there. That's right. That's why they become managers as well. Cal Roley's dad is a baseball coach. So that's where it comes from. Here's the next one. Oh, do you favor the Dodgers or the Brewers in the NLCS that starts tonight? Tony, everybody's going to favor the Dodgers.

Everybody's going to do that. You know, I'll probably do that too. But let me make the case for the Brewers. Because one thing I actually do believe in my despair over losing game five to the cheeseheads Saturday night, I believe that Milwaukee, the Brewers and the Cubs are the two best teams in the National League. And one of them had to go. And the team they had the best record the entire year in the major leagues is the Brewers. And they're still in it.

And Tony, they do some things like Pins. and hit. People could think, oh, well, the Dodgers, they got a great staff. They do. The Dodgers starting ERA, starters ERA is number three in the National League. The Brewers are two. Okay? The Brewers are tied for number one with the Phillies and batting average. The Dodgers are third. So all these categories, the Brewers are right there. They have no sizzle. They don't have any particular stars. The most famous pitcher is Peralta, and he got lit up by the Cubs in his last start. It's not sexy. but I can make the case for the brewers.

Yeah, I'm going to be like everybody else, and I am going to favor the Dodgers with all of their stars, but there's another reason. What's that? Because it looks like right now their pitching has come around and it's intact, right? They're going to start Snell tonight. They're going to start Yamamoto. They're holding back on Glasnow and Otani,

whose last two starts, both of them, were very, very good, and they got Sasaki in the bullpen. And it feels to me, Mike, like they are suddenly born anew, the Dodgers. And they are rolling now. They're five and one. They're five and one in the playoffs. I'm not trying to slight Milwaukee. Milwaukee beat the Dodgers six and oh this season.

That's sweet out there with a very worthy team. Yeah. But in my mind, I think that the Dodgers have emerged from some sort of cocoon, and this is who the Dodgers really are. And, you know, that's why I favorite them. By the way, our friend David Israel says that there is a little. World Series possibility where the Seattle pilots play the Seattle Mariner's.

And that would mean the Brewers are in it. The Brewers were in it. If you're over 65, you get the reference. Enough email. Let's take one last break when we come back. Padres manager, Mike Schilt makes a surprising decision. And the Cowboys find out that the R.

Enrico Dowdell stands for revenge. You told me yesterday you refused to do this show if we mentioned the Cowboys. But we put it so Well, I can just do it in a tease because this is a cowboy free show. Unlike all the other shows on this network, this here show is Jerry Jones. 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 64th birthday Doc Rivers. Doc is our friend. Levinya knew him as a high school basketball player in Chicago. You're always telling us how you used to lock him up on the playground. Doc went to Marquette, then played 14 seasons in the NBA, but most of his fame in basketball has come from coaching. Doc won a championship in Boston.

The last couple of years, he's been in Milwaukee. And now it feels like it's swirling pretty near the drain. Milwaukee won a championship a few years ago with Yannis Anta Tocompo, but after a series of coaches and a series of postseason disappointments, there's all this talk to the championship. that Janice wants out. Wilbon, you have said on this show, he'll be out by the trade deadline. So what does this do to Doc? I don't know. I'm going to root for Doc Rivers for Glenn Rivers, no matter what, even though he's coaching cheeseheads because he went to school with the cheese heads. You know what he does? He coaches his home games in an arena where his own jersey hangs because Marquette retired it.

How cool is that? But when he goes, whenever he goes, it's time for him to pay for a lot of rounds of golf. I know you know what I'm talking about. I do. Del Air. Happy anniversary, Seneca Wallace. Around the state, 23 years ago, the Iowa State quarterback scrambled around for a touchdown against Texas Tech on a play known in Ames Iowa simply as the run. In the record book, it says it was a 12-yard score, but some estimate that Wallace ran right and left for over 120 yards on this 17-second play. Watch as Wallace runs right all the way to the sideline, then comes back left, sometimes giving ground, actually losing yardage until he picks up a great block, finds the left-hand corner of the end zone.

17 seconds. This week, Iowa State was ranked number 22, then lost at Colorado, and Colorado stormed the field. You know how great that Baker-Mayfield run was yesterday on 3rd and 14? It was great. Thrilling. It ain't that. Nobody's had a run like that. I mean, that's an all-time run. People now, because something happened yesterday, it's the greatest thing of all time. No, that's on the short list for greatest thing of all time. Happy trails, Mike Schilt. The Padres manager stepped down today with two years left on his contract saying, quote, The grind of the season has taken a severe toll on me mentally, physically, and emotionally, unquote.

Schilt, who is just 57, guided the Padres to 90 wins this season before falling to the Cubs in the wild card round. Wilbon, he followed the Padres all season. Did you see this coming? listen to the stuff out there, it sounds like people were unhappy with him. He might go that way. But I didn't understand that. I mean, okay, the Padres didn't advance out of the first round. They made the playoffs in a tough division. Maybe he'll come back. Maybe this is burnout. He'll find the fire again and come back. Maybe. One omission, Lions DB Brian Branch suspended one game for hitting Kansas City's Juju, Juja, Smith, Schuster after the Lions lost last night. Your thoughts quickly?

Overrated that whole thing after the game. Used to happen every game. Stop it. Let's go to the big finish. Let's do it. The aces swept the mercury to win the WNBA title. Your thoughts. Three championships in four years. I don't care what you call it. You can use Dynasty.

It's damn impressive in any league. Congratulations. UAV fired Trent Dilferus head football coach. Are you surprised? Yeah, but he's 9 and 21 overall, which isn't good. You know, ask Brian Callahan what it's like. The Panthers beat the Cowboys. You must have enjoyed that.

Hey, the Cowboys. How did Jerry enjoy it? On his birthday, or maybe one day apart from his birthday, got beat in Carol. That was great. Bill Belichick said any reports of him looking for an exit from UNC are categorically false. Do you believe him? I see no reason to doubt him. I think the chancellor was there with him.

Yeah, I do believe him. Last one, Bill's Falcons and Bears commanders tonight. Do you have the Bears? Do you have them? You know, I'm worried about that game because the commanders are further along in their evolution. and the Bears. You know who I'm rooting for? But I got the Falcons.

I got the Falcons beating the bills in my weekend of upsets. You didn't tell people how many I got right. You got a lot right. You're on a hot streak now. None is right as the coach at Penn State. We're out of time. Trying to be better the next time.

I'm Tony Cornage. I'm Mike Wilburne. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads.