PTI - PTI Hour Long NFL Season Kickoff Special: NFL Week 1 Storylines

Episode Date: September 11, 2026

In this hour long Pardon The Interruption special, hosts Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser provide expert analysis of the 2026 NFL season's opening week. The duo breaks down the Patriots vs. Seahawks season opener debates the outlook for the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles ahead of their matchup. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Early morning on a Manhattan sidewalk, a shooting caught on surveillance video. It was an assassination style killing, and everybody saw it. A new podcast series from ABC Audio in 2020 goes inside this captivating case. I'm ABC News legal analyst Brian Buckmeyer. Listen to Burden of Proof, Luigi Mangione, wherever you get your podcasts. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbine. We're on early. A one hour special, Tony.

Aren't you excited to try something new? Tony Kornheiser, honestly, I'm not sure I'll make it. I might nap while you're talking about it. No, it's a little early for your nap. You can go to like 8.30 p.m. Eastern? With a nap earlier in the day. I don't go and take a nap at 8.30. I go to sleep at 8.30.

I've noticed that over the year. That's what I do. Welcome to a PTI hour-long special, boys and girls. In today's episode, we will dig into the... NFL season, including visits from Steve Young and Booger McFarland. But we begin today with last night's NFL opener, New England at Seattle, in a rematch of last year's Super Bowl. Seattle quickly lost quarterback Sam Darnel to a hip injury and did not score a point in the

first half. New England was up 10 to 3 in the fourth quarter when Drake May began throwing interceptions. May was picked off three times, including one with 21 seconds left and New England within easy field goal range to tie the game. Seattle won 13 to 10. Wilbon, do you see this as the Seahawks prevailing

or the Patriots throwing it away? Well, we've had all day I know because I've listened and watched a network picking apart Drake May. So I'm going to go the other way.

By the way, I do like the fact that Drake May said, stood there before the cameras owned it. This is me. Owned it. This is on me.

So I like that. But I'm going to mention, I'm going to give you some credit because on this network also, nary a word will you hear about Seattle. You would think. you would think they got relegated.

Because, you know, after you get through the Rams in their undefeated season and Buffalo and whoever else, Cowboys and all that, you might hear about Seattle. Seattle's got every start of returning except Kobe Bryant, who's with my bears and he can't play because he's out for a long time with an knee injury. And Seattle, Tony, they look absolutely up to it. And this time of year, when defenses are so far ahead of offense, because the offense, of players have taken no snaps. The stars have done nothing.

That's right. I'll go with Seattle's defense for two or three weeks alone. Now, I know that Sam Darnold, we don't know how much time exactly he's going to miss, and I don't like that, but their backup played really well last night. So can we credit the Super Bowl champs

with having done something, and we don't have to just sort of blame the newest golden boy for being inadequate last night? Look, I think it is impossible, not to say that New England threw the game away because they did, figuratively and literally. Drake May became the first person, if I have the statistic right, the first New England quarterback to throw three interceptions

in the fourth quarter since Tom Brady, I think, in 2001. He owned it afterwards, and we both thought that was a very good thing. But I think given the fact that in last year's Super Bowl, Drake May was intercepted twice and lost a fumble, you could ask, if you were New England fan, And you could say, is he bad or is he just bad against Seattle? Or really good defenses if you take it back to the beginning of last year's playoffs. This is what I'm going to say.

I will agree with you completely. People need to know this. That's the bell already. People need to know this. Seattle was the number one defense in the league last year. Seattle was. They went out there. It is an emotional shock when you lose your quarterback in the fifth play of the game.

Asked the Jets three years ago about Aaron Rogers in the fourth play of the game. That's an emotional shock. Drew Locke came in, he was fine, but let's not get carried away. That defense kept them in the game. They gave up just 10 points to a Super Bowl team, and they created the scoring opportunities that eventually won the game. So I agree with you that that's where the credit lies. Strong and steady.

Yep, yep, yep. And a credit Seattle here on this show. Let's move to tonight's game. Niners, Rams in Melbourne. The 49ers have been down under since last week. the Rams just got there about a minute and a half ago. Okay, about 28 hours before kickoff.

The NFC West guys, the top two teams, tone, except for, oh, wait, Seattle, both finished 12 and 5 and split their head-to-heads last season. So what are your expectations for each team this season? Well, my expectations for the Rams

are a little bit lessen now that Aaron Donald is not even making this trip and is not going to play. You're making that big a deal to you? Well, I mean, everybody says they're going to be 17 and 0. Yeah, yeah.

Okay, so there are a little bit lessened and I guess I'll have to wait a week and now I'm just going to have to contend myself with the fact that the Rams scored more points than any team in the league last year and have the MVP in Matthew Stafford. My feeling about San Francisco, you will probably agree. They're never quite as good as I think they ought to be because of injuries almost all the time. Allegedly there are no injuries now. Bosa and Kiddle and McCaffrey are going to play. How long I don't know about that. I will say this, Mike. If this game were in California, I think it would be a very exciting high-scoring game. The two games in California last year,

I don't know. The Rams, 65 points, the 49ers, 52 points. But I don't know what it means in Australia. To repeat this, the 49ers, it seems like they got there last month. Okay, they've been there forever. Maybe they went to Sydney to see the opera house. They may have picked up the accents by now. Whereas the Rams, it's like, I don't know, they hailed a cab last night and said,

get us to Melbourne as soon as you can. You didn't go for the Olympics. Bondi B. No, I didn't want. Sydney is beautiful. If they could have made a diversion to Sydney, Elburn's a long way from Sydney. You're right about the injuries.

And I'm going to just mention about the 49th. I'm going to go back over something you said. Bosa, back in the lineup. Kittle, back in the lineup. Fred Warner, back in the left. These are not three incidental. Those are all pros. Okay?

Yeah. And then McCaffrey, he's in the lineup, at least for now. So the Rams, of course, have added Miles Garrett and they added McDuffey, and they don't have Aaron Donald Not tonight. Not tonight. But the notion that the Rams are going to win every single game and go unscored upon,

like this is the 1880s, and you look at the Ivy League football, I'm just offended by most of the stuff I hear. Now, if those colleagues who know a lot about football, if they wind up right, I'll be the first person that comes on. Maybe I'll wave a get-up flag on this show. But the Rams are going to taste them defeat at some point. And you know what? I'll take the 49ers tonight.

Are you curious about, I think we're going to have to wait three or four weeks to see how this works. But in terms of the travel schedule, I'm curious to see who's done it right. Who's done it right? Because last year the Rams, like this trip is about 15 or 16 hours. Last year they went to London. London is a substantial trip from L.A. 10 of the head. No, it is.

Okay. They got off the plane, went to the ballpark, beat the Jaguars 35-7 and came back and had a great year. Now, me... This is a blood rival. Yeah, there's... There's not enough ambient in the world for me to get on this one. Let's move to baseball.

The Dodgers beat Cincinnati last night for their seven straight victory. They also put Shoah Tani on the 15-day injured list. O'Tonnie cannot come back until September 23rd when there will be only five games left than regular season. Wilbon, which is the bigger deal,

the Dodgers' seven-strait win or are Tani going to the I. There's only one deal. The Dodgers winning seven straight. What did I tell you a week ago? I sat here and said, They have to shut Shohei Otani down.

They've done the right thing. What show hey needs more than five games in September? How does he do when he comes in the spring training and goes about five games? What happens then? He might hit seven home runs and nine games. This is the right way to go. The Dodgers needed to get not necessarily hot again,

but they needed to find their kick. And they don't need to have Shoahe to do that, Tony. They need Shoahe to be. as physically ready to play as he can be in October, not September. The bigger overall story to me is Shohei on the injured list because... Why? Because this means he cannot play until five games are left in the regular season. He's a big star, Mike.

We concentrate on Shohei because he is a big star. But let me go to this winning streak for a second. They have won seven straight games. Show Hay did not play in six of them. In the other game, he went 0 for 3 with two strikeouts. Okay, we talk all the... time on this show and justifiably about what the Yankees are without Aaron

Judge and generally they're awful. This year they were better than awful. They plus six in 84 games. The Dodgers were just plus six in seven games. The Dodgers are loaded. The Dodgers have Freddie Freeman and they got Ouki Bedson. He got

Max Munson. He got Andy Paheyes. Dodgers are loaded and they got pitching too. So if he gets back for the playoffs and Dave Roberts said he plays in the playoffs. Dave Robert said if the playoffs were today he plays today. They're better than everybody else in the playoffs the last two years. That's why the big

deal is the streak, not Shohei. And you know why is a big star? Because he produces when he's healthy. That's right. So get him healthy. That's why he's a big star. Do you find it curious that he had to go on the 15-day list? No. Is the difference between pitching in a

position? That's right. That's right. Position players are on the 10-day list. Show-hays on the 15. Because he's a pitcher, but he hasn't pitched in X days, right? Yeah. Does it works against him? No.

Because he hasn't been a pitcher lately. Sit him down. Nothing works against him sitting down. When he comes back, the bet is he'll be showing. You ain't betting against that either. I think that from now on you should wear a stethoscope, you know, because you know all about doctors. Did I get it right? Did I get sitting down show him right?

Let's take a break. Coming up, does Joe Burroughs attempt to manifest a Super Bowl run by talking about it work? We're going to ask Steve Young. that and whether Ben Johnson could be on to something by scripting in broken plays from my man, Caleb. They are plus six in seven games, the Dodgers. They got a lineup. Yes, they do. They do. They'll be fine. And you add this dude to it October 1st? He's just going to hit. He's not going to pitch. He's just going to hit. That's all he needs to do. He didn't pitch two years ago either. Yeah, how do you have? We've got football questions for our great friend and the only other man. besides me to throw six touchdown passes in a Super Bowl.

There we go. Hall of Fame were in college football, pro football. Tony, people are wondering about my Hall of Fame jacket. Here it is. There it is. I've seen this in the off season. This is the PTI. That's right.

Hall of Fame Jacks. PTI Hall of Fame. I want to think my parents, I want to think my parents and my high school AP Caucus teacher, Terry Lowe, who forced me to actually learn, you know, and all the people that made my life of this possible, this great award. Thank you so much, everyone. Yeah.

Like when we talk about the gold jacket, that's the gold jacket. There we go. Let's start with this. So disrespect to the other gold jacket. But this is something. This is something. All right, here we go. Joe Burrow has been talking about this being the year for the Bengals,

and he says he's trying to manifest that by showing his teammates his urgency. Did anything like that ever work for you? Well, yeah. I mean, at the end of day, football is an emotional game. You have to go ram into people. New Rockney's famous for making a speech. Everybody get fired up. Cheerleaders didn't start with baseball in 1840.

I mean, they started with football because it's an emotional game. People can get emotionally up. And so if a guy like Joe Burrow, who's the leader in the locker room, authentic guy that's going to, you know, if he's going to show everyone, look, I need you to study more. I need you more focused. I need to, he can make that new Rockney kind of feel in the locker room and make it a year-long thing.

So I, look, the Bengals need every bit of Joe Burrow and all that. But absolutely, I felt you could all. always get people, especially if you led with authenticity and vulnerability and accountability that you were like, hey, look, something goes wrong, I got your back. I'm there for you. You can do a lot of emotional strengthening in the locker room. Speaking to people who are a little crazy yet authentic in the locker room, Ben Johnson says he's been tinkering with plays that intentionally break down, Steve, to take advantage of Caleb Williams' off-schedgedule skills.

This sounds insane to me, but how does this sound to you? I mean, look, the kings of the game today at quarterback are the sophisticated passers who can run. And you have to be able to do both. I tip my captain Peyton Manning and Tom Brady, who made a career, fantastic careers, standing in one spot. And in today's game, that really is not enough. Matthew Stafford is such a sophisticated passer. He gets away with it. and Aaron Rogers will still get away with it at times.

But in today's game, you have to be that guy. But like Lamar Jackson a couple years ago, I said you're wasting Lamar Jackson's talent developing the most sophisticated running game in the world. Because in the end, if you're going to win Super Bowls, you've got to be a sophisticated passer. Develop that. So look, I'm okay if Ben wants to have a couple of plays that they automatically break down to get to the superpower. But the super superpower is being.

a sophisticated passer in the pocket and then have the legs that he has. So let's Ben, spend the time, focus on developing the sophisticated passer from the pocket because that's where the Super Bowls are. I love this and I hope you're right. I'm glad you mentioned Lamar Jackson. We're going to go to now.

He said injuries curtailed his running last season. Steve, I hope that's what it was because to me he couldn't run away from me last season. Do you see a guy who was diminished momentarily maybe by injury or do you see a guy you know you ran you know when you started to lose it is lamar losing it

nope in fact i was 38 still playing and and i could stay i still made people miss so he's not he he won't you'll find incrementally things will go away unless there's a you know a substantive injury that changes who you are which is not happened yet i remember one year i was dating a girl that was like a competitive roller blater and like so then i started rollerblading all summer and that's how I got in shape. I'd rollerblade up the canyon and back. It was like, oh, I'm going to show up in the best shape of my life. Rollerblading. Well, you know what? Rollerblading is not playing football.

The first practice, I go out and rip my groin, and the whole year, the whole year is marred with this stupid groin from the roller blade. So I'm telling you, this is real. Lamar can come back. He can make people

miss, unless something really bad has happened, which I don't think is a case. And I think Lamar needs to get back on the ship of sophisticated passer, which if he does that and finishes that swing, he will be the most dangerous man in the universe of football. So I tip my captain Lamar and hope he's full speed back this year. So Steve says I'm crazy about this.

Don't rollerblade. That's good. No, it's not rollerblade, though. Jalen Hertz has a new offensive coordinator who's going to be under center instead of the shotgun. So much is being made of this. Steve, benefits and drawbacks or what? So look, net, net, you know the shotgun's better.

Like, I spent my whole career, Bill Wals never believed. And then Mike Shannon and everyone else felt like the timing of the West Coast offense you couldn't do from the shotgun until John Elway proved that you can't. So then I spent my whole career, I turned my whole career under center. So I know that game. And I know that today's game, I would love to be in the shotgun and doing all that because it's just better. It's easier. It's more functional.

But there are things under center that are important. First of all, there's a split second, a fraction of a second when the ball is snapped where the quarterback has to drop his eyes to find the ball. Those are the most critical split seconds, and I've always found that under center, you don't have to do that. And so you can gain a little marginal advantage in watching safeties and getting a sense for what's going to happen at the moment of truth is when the ball snapped. So there is that advantage. I think you can run protection and blitz. They're better. There's things that calms things down for under center, which is maybe what they're trying to do.

So there are benefits to being under center. And so I'm okay with that. But if that's exclusive in today's game, you're not going to be in the shotgun, then you're losing a lot of advantage there too. We will stay with quarterbacks. J.J. McCarthy went from last year's Vikings opening game starter to this week's third quarterback on that team. How do you handle something like that? Look, football is the truth, especially when you have a, an offensive-minded, innovative quarterback coach like Kevin O'Connell.

If you are not thriving under his system, then it's not about him, about Kevin. It's about you. And so this is a reflection of who you are. You are third, you're QB3. And just, I think the way that you have to deal with that is absolutely own it. I am QB3. And one of the best advice my mentor gave me one day when I was complaining and moaning and, you know, just bitching about stuff, And he said, look, if there's a job that you want, the only way to get it is to be the best in the world of the job you have right now.

So I would suggest to J.J. McCarthy become the greatest QB3 that's ever been in the world. And we'll see if you can get to QB2 and then work back up. But if you're going to victimize yourself and, oh, it's not right. And this went wrong and this happened. It'll be QB3. It's going to be QB4. Right. And there's not another place that's going to, oh, if I could get.

to X team or somewhere else. No, if you can't do with Kevin, it's you. So I would just suggest become the greatest third-string quarterback that ever lived. We will get you out of here on this. We've been asking you about other quarterbacks. Now we're going to ask you about you. If you could quarterback any team in the league this season, which team would that be? Who?

Well, look, 10 years ago, the rules changed. The innovative minds took over, and the four of them, you know, Kyle Shannon, and Sean McVeigh, Sean Payton, and Andy Reid. So now 10 years later, they're all still the OGs. Why? Because they continue to innovate. And so if you said for me, I'm here in Palo Alto, California, what would I do? I'd run down the street and have Kyle coach. Because there's going to be ebbs and flows of talent.

I get that. But you cannot find a place better for a quarterback. But those four guys, I would run to any four of those and be just fine. and there are more now. I mentioned Kevin O'Connell. There are more great innovative coaches in the league than ever have been for the position of quarterback. By far, there used to be four.

Now I think there's more than 10. There's not 32. Remember that. There are not 32 places that I'd run to right now. There are 15 that I would claw not to be like scratching claw, not to go. Do not send me there. So I still did still a lot of those dynamics.

Thank you, Steve, as always. So good to have me back. Thank you. Thank you so much. Well, this is why you get that jacket. This is why. I was down to Whole Foods the other day. I was wearing the jacket the other day in the grocery store.

And someone stopped me. I said, I love you on PTI. I'm like, yeah, you know, it's the yellow jacket. Fantastic. We're taking a break on the way. Will the Cowboys actually be worth talking about this season? And what should we expect Super Bowl MVP Kenneth? Walker to do for Patrick Mahomes and the Chiefs.

You know where the Vikings failed miserably? Well. In the draft process where they were morons for taking Kevin, for taking McCarthy, JJ McCarthy as high as they did. Let me say it again. Morons. How about that? It's good because you haven't been angry in like two minutes.

So now that you're angry again, people can identify with the show. Okay. It's time to go word for word with Wilbon. What's first? There's a black chance the Cowboys would be worth talking about this season. My word is surprisingly good, which I know is two words. Look, the Cowboys will get talked about. They always get talked about.

First take, for example, has no programming if you don't have the Cowboys. But I think the Cowboys could be pretty good. There's no DAC drama this year. He got paid last year and he produced an offense, Mike. They were second in yards. They were seventh in scoring. Their defense was horrendous. They got rid of Michael Parsons.

They were DFL in points allowed. And they've worked on that. They are the NFC equivalent of Cincinnati and the AFC with an offense working on a defense. I don't think their division is that good. And I mean, I think they could be pretty good, honestly. Pretty good, yeah. So that means to answer the question, my word,

you think you had a lot of words. I got four. Oh. Fractually, more than usual. fractionally. Okay. All right. And yes, don't, don't, you know, leave, get up out. Because of those two shows that have, you know, sort of no programming three out of five days.

We have cowboys. How about them cowboys? I will just root against the Cowboys for that reason, if nothing else. Don't you like a show that parses all of Jerry Jones's words? Don't you like that? Are you think that's important worldwide? You know, no, I actually don't. And, Tony, plenty of things can go wrong with the season.

It means the offense could let them down this year, like the defense's, it last year. Yeah, I don't think so. Coaching could let them down. It means the star players will get paid a lot of money. You know what? There is in every season

from half the teams in the league underperformance by big stars. But I'm just saying that this year, the Cowboys look like they've gotten better. Fractually.

Okay. Okay, you're going to talk about them anyway. At least this way you can justify talking. Well, they're going to justify it anyway. How about it Cowboys? What's next? Super Bowl MVP, Kenneth

Walker will be a blank addition to the chiefs. Would be a welcome edition. He can run the ball. The chiefs need somebody who can run the ball. Listen to this stat. In 2004 and 2025, Kansas City had 27 designed runs of at least 12 yards or more. Last year, Kenneth Walker had 28 of them himself. Okay?

The last time Kansas City had a thousand yard rush. It was Kareem Hunt in 2017. They just depended since then completely on Patrick Mahomes, and he's never let them down. Three Super Bowl wins since 2017, but coming out of a torn ACL, right? You don't know how he's going to look in his return. If you're Andy Reed,

you don't want him running all over the place. That's why you got this guy. Antonio, I'm going to go further than you did. I'm going to call this edition of Kenneth Walker bodacious. Really? I mean, I think this is really potential MVP kind. Maybe not that much.

But they're going to, if he looks like he did in Seattle, they can go from, oh my goodness, to depending on him if he can stay healthy. And then you get Patrick Mahomes back to being Patrick Mahomes by midseason. You don't need him to start there. But having that running game, we're finally seeing teams come to their senses and say, you know what, that guy that we can hand the ball to somewhere between 16 and 22 times a game, he can help us win.

No matter how brilliant we are offensively with three-yard swing-pass. You need an offensive line for that to happen. Okay, but he could also make the offensive line look better. That's right. He can. That's right. No, I think he's a great pickup. I mean, because what Kansas City did for years is just hand the ball to Mahomes,

and my homes kept the ball, and they were not designed runs. They gained a lot of yards, but they were improvised runs. By the way, they start with the left tackle being injured, but not supposed to be. Next, how many are we going to do? Let's keep going. Jim Harbaugh should feel blank about the combination of Mike McDaniel and Justin Herbert. So my word is enthusiastic, which is exactly how he's saying he feels. Here's a quote, he said of McDaniel.

Quote, he reminds me of a young Jimmy Harbaugh. So it's like looking in the mirror and I just kind of smile. Let's say great quote. McDaniel comes with a reputation as a wonderful offensive guy. Justin Herbert is said by people on this show to throw the most beautiful pass in the entire league. But what's happened? McDaniel had Tua last year. Tua wasn't very good.

They were 25th in points scored last year. year 22nd the year before. Herbert 0 and 3 in the playoffs with two picks, you know, and I'm sorry, with two touchdowns and four interceptions. So it may not work right away. There is the potential for magic, but you don't want to go overboard.

Yeah, I'm not going to go too far. My word is collaborative. Because you've got Mike McDaniel and you've got Harbaugh, and they sort of, you know, maybe you know, this is going to fit, Tony, if it just fits. What did I just talk about with running back? The people aren't familiar in the main with Hampton, Omarian Hampton, who was a rookie last season,

Godher did not show his stuff, but he's got his second season now. And if they can run the ball and they need some offensive line help too, as they've already lost their center, my goodness, the chargers and offensive line injuries have really submarine them, sort of like some other teams. He talked about the 49ers and injuries. But Tony, Justin Herbert, I want to see Herbert with a fully double. developed inventive running game out there as well. He's not a kid. He's been in a league five, six years. Yeah, he's been around for a while.

Everybody says how beautiful the ball is. They don't actually... But don't just turn it over to him. That's why they need collaboration, Holmes. What's more? Is there another one? Is there now how many do you do? One more. Let's go. One more? Last one. Lions coach Dan Campbell seems blank heading into the season. My word is reserved. I was told he's no longer doing any commercials. He was good at commercials. You know, he didn't do what a lot of teams do when they have the schedule reveal and they have a big deal about it and there's bells and whistles and lots of optimism. You know what he did? He let himself be filmed taking the schedule in his hand, pinning it to the board

and walking away. Less is more. Yeah, there was not, as we say, accoutrement. There was none of that. Now, maybe this is a smart thing to do because the lions have gone backwards. Two years ago, the lions were 15 and two when they were in toast to the league. And last year, they were simply toast. They were four and one on what point and they finished nine and eight. They are in a tough division. Not like the Cowboys. They are in a tough division. So maybe this is the wiser way to

go dial it back a little. And Tony that leads right into my word, again hyphenated, intentionally gray. That's what he's being. And you know why he needs to be that? Because if the Lions don't get to the NFC title game this year, I expect him to be

fired. Yeah. Okay? You know, we look at the guy who has his nature. His nature is to have bluster. His nature is to be big. Your nature goes as far as your team. And then your nature is out the door. That's true.

Sean McDermott, he did a hell of a job in Buffalo, didn't he? Yes. I was a little surprised. Okay? That's what's going to happen in Detroit because they're looking at this. You've got to deal with those same faces.

But Detroit, Detroit hasn't won in 40 years. This guy has won. But if the Bears stay beyond you, and by the way, they've got an easier schedule, so it should help Detroit. I don't believe in the Vikings,

because I don't believe in their quarter of the United States, quarterback situation one bit. Packers? I think the lions are good. I think the lions and bears will finish one, two, in some order. I don't know about the Packers and that. I would just say that Campbell, larger than life is fun.

Intentionally gray for now. Maybe. That's the final word. Back it up, Holmes. We got a break. Next up, should we give the edge on Sunday to Josh Allen or the Texans born to defense? We're going to ask Booger McFarlane.

We're also going to ask him whether we're a certain Aaron Donald and Miles Garrett will work as well as everybody says. out loud. How many more minutes do we have to do? I'm exhausted here. I'm just getting going. Really? I think we should another half an hour. Yeah. 90 minutes, baby. Let's go. To me, 60 minutes is only 30 minutes too long. Let's go. 90 minutes. 90 minutes is 90 minutes too long. Do I hear two hours? I do two hours live when I go to New York in the morning. Well, I'll tell you what. I'll stay here and take a nap and you go do two hours. Let's get defensive with our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst, Bougar McFarlane. Today, wearing a shirt from the Everglades Club

in West Palm. Have you? I've not, have you? No. Okay, but you want to. Booker can get us on. Well, I don't want the shirt. I want the 18. Let's start with this. Do you see last night's three fourth quarter interceptions, three of them, more as a product of Drake May's

issues or Seattle's defense? You know, usually the answer is a combination of both, but this isn't usually. I'm going to lean toward Drake May. Because if you go back to the Super Bowl when Drake May's struggle, it was the pressure, the past rush. They sacked him several times. Last night, the offensive line of the Patriots played pretty good. This was on Drake May. He had a 10-0-0 lead late in the second half, and he threw three

picks. I think if you're Drake-May, you have to go back and ask yourself, man, what in the heck am I doing? Okay, no Sam Darnham on the other side. My team is playing pretty good. The only way we lose that game is if I turned the football over and he did, I think Drake May has to go back and examine himself because after the game, he said, I just lost patience. Well, guess what? You can't lose patience. There are 52 of the guys on the active roster that are depending upon you to have patience. And I think if you look at that game, because when you get to the top of these conferences, it's only going to be one game here, one game there. I think the Patriots may look back on that game and say, how did we lose a game where we're up double digits in the

second half to a team without their starting quarterback? That one's going to hunt Drake May for a long time, Tony. Let's go to greatness of defense, burger. Say with me here for a second. I can only come up with two people who've ever come back out of retirement, come back and been truly great. Jordan and Lemieux, that's the list, that's all I got on my list. So now I transition to Aaron Darnold to, are you sure who he's not playing tonight, of course, but are you sure this is going to work out as well as the hype? Because the hype hasn't been the greatest defensive player ever, even though he's 35 and coming out of retirement. Here's the one thing I'll say. The last time we saw him, he was arguably a top 10 player of all time.

That's offensive, defense, special team. He's a top 10 player of all time. But to your point, he hadn't played in two years. And I don't really remember Lemieux. The only cat I've seen is that black cat that owns the Grove 23 down in West Palm, and that's Michael Jeffrey Joy. That's the only cat I've seen take two years off and come back and still be great. Now, Aaron Donald is in the same elk from a football standpoint.

But I think we'd be doing the players that have played the last couple years of disservice to say you can be on your couch and not playing football and then come back out and be the same guy. Is he going to take a step back? Absolutely. It's going to be a step back. But eventually what the Rams are hoping is come playoff time, come time to win championships, Aaron Donald will be back to Aaron Donald type form. He's not going to start off that way. That's impossible. Michael Jordan didn't look like Michael Jordan the first game he came back after he took two years off and played baseball. But by the time the playoffs came, he looked like that black cat again. So I think if you look at

everything else the Rams have, Miles Garrett, defensive player the year, I think we can see how easily that's going to translate. Matthew Stafford, MVP, that should translate well. So I understand the height. But as far as Aaron Donald is concerned, I think they're hoping by the time we get to December and January,

he's close to Aaron Donald, even though I don't think he's going to start that way. Booker, Josh Allen, has gotten his butt whip pretty good by Houston's defense in his career. They're going to start the season against each other. What do you see when you look at Josh Allen versus that Texans defense? I think it's going to be more the same. And I'm going to

give you a couple different reasons. Number one, usually when the season starts, and these guys haven't played a lot of football, it's been preseason. But usually when the season starts, the defense is ahead of the offense. So that's check number one. Defense is always going to be ahead of the offense. Just look at the game last night when you talk about the Patriots in Seattle. It was a defensive ball game. Number two, we're talking. We're talking about. talking about one of the better defenses in football when it pertains to the Houston, Texas. D'Amico Rines has that group humming. And for as much love as we're talking about the Rams and Miles Garrett and Aaron Donald,

what about the Houston Texans? Oh, by the way, they only had the best defense in football last year. They got Daniel Hunter and Will Anderson Jr. Two pretty good defensive linemen themselves. So I think for as much love as we're giving the Rams, the best defense in football last year was the Houston, Texas. And I see no reason they won't be. be the best defensive football so far this year.

And I think because of that, Josh Allen, it's a tall task to go into Houston and get it done. You know, I love all this defensive talk. You know that. I understand. We've done a couple questions with our quarterbacks. I'm going for another one, Booger. Is there a defense out there anywhere in the league

as we kick off this initial week that you are particularly fired up about positively or negatively, just a defensive unit? I think it's the defense, with the most pressure on the mic. And that's the defense to Cincinnati Bengals. Because everybody continues to talk about all the offense that Cincinnati has.

We got Burrough. We got Chase. We got Higgins. We got Zach Taylor, an offensive genius. If only the defense will hold their weight. So you go out, you get Dexter Lawrence, you sign Jonathan Allen, you get Cassius Howling into the draft, you sign Boyet, Mafei, and now the Cincinnati defense is supposed to be fixed.

Well, as Lee Corso would say, not so fast, my friend. I got to see it. I got to see this defense show up. and be the missing link and not the weak link. They've been the weak link the last couple years. And here's the reason I say this defense has more pressure than anybody else because Zach Taylor's job is riding on it. We've heard Joe Burrow intimate that if they don't get this thing done,

he may start to look elsewhere. So you have a quarterback that's kind of half in, half out. So this defense, in my opinion, has the most pressure on them of any unit in football because if they don't get it done, people are going to lose their jobs and people are going to be looking to go elsewhere. Let's go to the immediacy of the game tonight, the 49ers, the Rams. What are you looking forward to seeing in that most of all? I think it's two of the better teams in football.

Like, we all know the Rams are the favorite. I don't care what book you look at, draft teams, sports, whatever book you look at, the Rams are the favorite because of all the people that they have. But when you're a favorite, there are two things that are sitting on your back. One, it's a burden. It is a burden to be the favorite. How do they handle being a burden? How do they handle that?

I have no idea whatsoever. And from that standpoint, what are they going to do when it's time to perform? Can they perform week in and week out? Can they handle the bull's eye that's going to be on their back? So you got the pressure of being the favorite, and you got the bull's eye that they're going to get every week because they're going to get every team's best shot because they're going to say, this team is unbeatable.

We're talking about 17 and 0 and they don't get up. Hello? If they can go 17 and 0, let's see if we can get them. them. So they're going to have a burden. They're going to have a bull's eye. I want to see what they can do with those two things on them. And then the 49ers. I think Kyle Shanahan is a top three coaching football, without a doubt. But his teams are always hurt. So is this the most, is this the healthiest version of the 49ers we're going to get tonight? And if that's the case, I want to see what it looks like. The bottom line is you're going to have two of the better teams in football. I just hope that people down in Australia appreciate it on an early Friday morning. is they're eating their eggs and bacon or whatever they eat for breakfast in Australia. We will get you out of here on this, and it's not about what they eat for breakfast in Australia, though that would be a good question. One college question, number one, Ohio State at number four, Texas on Saturday.

In your mind, is Ohio State clearly the better team? No, I don't think Ohio State's clearly the better team. I think Ohio State is a really good team. I think Texas is the most talented team. I think Texas should win this game. You know what, Tony, I'm from the South. You and Mike may not be able to run. relate to this. I checked the weather report

and the high temperature on Saturday in Austin is 100 degrees. I don't know much about Columbus, Ohio, but I know it's not 100 degrees with that kind of community in Columbus. So it is going to play a key factor Saturday night in Austin, Texas. I think Texas is the better team. Texas has home

field advantage. Texas is going to have the weather in their favor, and now the pressure falls on Arch Manning. Because they went out, they got two new running backs, they got the best receiver in the transfer reporter, they got the best lineback in the transfer reporter. They're spending $45 to $50 million on this roster. So if you're Steve Sarkesian and you're Arch Manning, what are you going to say now? What's your excuse? To me, this is a game

that Steve Sarkisian has to win. Ryan Day has his championship. He's won his national title. Sark, at some point, when the people on the 40 acres give you everything you want, you got to start to produce. There is a lot of pressure on Sarkesian to win this game at home because this is the year that all the Texas people have pointed to. You got everything you needed. he's got to get the job done. So I think Texas should be the favorite. How do they handle that on Saturday night? I can't wait to watch.

More importantly, I can't wait to see the kids from Ohio when it's 100 degrees. I'm going to be counting the number of IVs they have to get on Saturday night. Fabulous, Bulger. Fabulous to have you. Thank you so much. Booger, appreciate you. Thank you. Anytime, guys.

Always look forward to it. Let's take one last break. Still to come, should Clippers Guard Bradley Beal be allowed to switch to Chris Paul's number? Is that a real question? Is that a real question? I bet you have an opinion about that time. Will Cocoa Golf and Jessica Pagula pull off the upsets in advance to the women's final? Tonight in the semifinals of the U.S. Open Saturday.

What number do you think Bradley Beale should wear? What number did he wear? He wore three here in Washington. How about the amount of money he's been paid to never win anything? That's the longest number to go around his whole chest and back. Now, you used to like Bradley Beale. I didn't say I didn't like him. I said he hasn't produced, am I right?

Spotify advertising connects you with an audience that's engaged and ready to discover your brand. Launch a campaign with Spotify Ads Manager. Happy time, people. Happy 78th birthday Charlie Waters. Cowboys Safety played in five Super Bowls and won two in Dallas. One was Super Bowl six when the Cowboys beat Miami and Roger Starback was MVP. The other was Super Bowl 12 and the Cowboys beat Denver. and the Cowboys defense pressured Craig Morton into four for 15, 39 yards, and four interceptions.

Waters forced to fumble in that game. Waters and Cliff Harris formed a formidable safety tandem. Waters made All-Pro twice, but his most notable distinction, that he is tied for the most postseason interceptions ever, nine, tied with Ed Reed, Ronnie Lott, Bill Simpson. That's a list. Waters also has the unique achievement of blocking four punts in two consecutive games. And Waters also was the Cowboys holder on place kicks. Tony, they only had 43-man rosters, not 53, 43, 976.

I was surprised he was the holder. He had to do everything. Football player described those guys as much as any position. Happy anniversary, Stan Musial, this is posthumous, but on this day, 63 years ago. Stan the man, in his first at bat as a grandfather, hit a home run to become the first player in Major League history to hold that distinction. The 42-year-old Muzio was in his final season was admittedly exhausted, as he and his wife barely slept the night before awaiting the birth of their grandson. Since Muzul, only Julio Franco has hit a home run as a grandfather.

Dennis Martinez pitched as a grandfather. In football, Brett Farr played as a grandfather in his last season in Minnesota. Philip Rivers joined the NFL Grandpa Club last year in Indianapolis. In basketball, Robert Parrish was a grandfather his last three NBA seasons, And in hockey, Gordy Howe played 162 games after becoming a grandfather, including 24 playoff games. Doesn't Gordy Howe seemed to stand out to you on that list of people who played forever in a distinguished way? He played into his 50s in hockey. Amazing.

It's, yes. It's just. And delivering him. Yes. Tough guy. Yes. Can you imagine? But, I mean, you don't expect an athlete to be a grandfather.

You just don't expect that. And a melancholy trails to Barry Melrose, the former NHL player. coach and ESPN analysts passed away yesterday at the age of 70. Barry was a regular guest on this show. We loved having him. He was insightful, tough, funny, and as Wilbon often says, explain things in ways that everyone could understand them. In addition, he cut a dashing figure.

I always saw him more as a hockey savant than an analyst. For me, he was the face and voice of hockey on television. Tony, in 2010, 13, and 15, and maybe even in 14, those four seasons, I went to every single Blackhawks post game, I mean a postseason game I could go to. And I got to sit and hang out before and after games, a lot of after games, with Steve Levy and Barry Melrose.

And it was a complete hoot. Every night. First, I learned a hell of a lot more about hockey than before and after in any other time of my life. But to be around Melrose with the other players and people in the industry and people in the NHL, it was a complete and utter honor. There is Jeremy Schapp did a beautiful piece.

Yes, he did. If you can watch it on this network, watch it. Let's go to the big finish. The Brewers swept your cups. They now hold the 10-game lead. How are you feeling, big boy? I'm looking forward to the Bears. Because we could miss the playoffs altogether.

I don't want to say that, but Ellie Della Cruz is homered in five straight games. Is that significant? He's really good. Did you see the throw from center? 105. Did you see that? Wow. Bradley Bill, your boy, is switching from number zero to number three.

three with the clippers. Is that really okay by you, Chris Paul's friend? No, it is not okay with me. Come on. Team USA beat hungry by 52 in the women's basketball World Cup. Impressed or not? Oh, we're supposed to beat hungry. We're supposed to do that. I am impressed with the women who are out on the floor and how well they're playing. Let's see what happens. Last one, U.S. Open Women's semis tonight. Who you got? I'm going to surprise you. I'm going to take Pugula to meet Sabalinka. Sabalank. Now, golf, that made me a numerical surprise.

They ain't a surprise. Right. But I got golf and Pagula. You're stunned? Well, that would mean- You think Saba-Linka's going to win the whole thing, right? I just think she's the most exciting player out there and probably the best. But I'm rooting for Pagula. We're out of time. We'll try to do better the next time. I'm Tony Kornizer exhausted after 60 minutes. He's not tired. I'm Mike Loevan. We're back on the deuce. 530 Eastern tomorrow, knuckleheads. You know what's coming next. And now. Sports center.

PTII.