PTI - Rams vs Seahawks, An Absolute Thriller!

Episode Date: December 19, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss Rams/ Seahawks, College Football previews, Jokic breaks Kareem's record for assists. 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. Louisvon, Tony, a library in Virginia says that 36 years later, someone returned an overdue copy of the book, Harry the Dirty Dog. Tony Cornheiser, weird.

The hairy dirty dog is my pole dancing man. Oh, right, all right. I never heard. Is that a book? Is that a real book? I guess. I mean, you know, do you find somebody? Remember when you were a kid and you were late?

It was like two cents a day or three cents a day. If it's that many years, do you find somebody or you're just happy that you got the book back? You find them. Find them. That's how you're just happy. Find them, really? Welcome to PTI, boys and girls.

In today's episode, the college football playoff kicks off and the NFL schedule is packed, including the Packers, visiting Wil Bond's Bears. But we begin today with last night's thriller in Seattle, in which the Seahawks beat the Rams by one point in overtime, 3837, thanks to two two-point conversions,

one of which is thoroughly controversial. The win makes the Seahawks the number one seat in the NFC and the loss kicks the Rams all the way down to the fifth. Wilbon, what is your reaction to this game? Well, I would say, first of all, that's for now.

There's a couple more weeks left, and Seattle in particular has a game that I don't think they're going to win, but let me go back to your immediate question. Tony, that was fabulous. To me, I mean, that's the game of the year. It really is.

I mean, the way it progressed, you've got a great comeback with Seattle at home, being down 16, a margin they've never made up in their history in the NFL. The way they scored, you get the punt return for a touchdown, which changes the game. You get Stafford having played beautifully through the whole game right through overtime. I mean, here's a guy. His MVP credentials did not suffer because his team lost last night. put them in the end zone and gave them a lead in OT, but yet, even while the Rams may seem to be the better team, it doesn't matter, because if you lose that game and you, and you have to play as a result on the road somewhere, and you don't have Devante Adams, and there are a bunch of conditions that come into play, that loss can hurt you for all the pundits sitting around

saying, oh, the Rams are still the better team. It doesn't matter who you think the better team is, The win counts for Seattle. Good for Sam Darnold. I was happy for him, but wow, wow, wow, wow. Yeah, so I will say right off the bat, I do think the Rams are the better team. But as you know, yesterday I sat here and said, I think Seattle's going to win this game.

And Seattle won the game. And I want to take, I want to go to the first two-point conversion, just for a few seconds here. On the field, every single player thought that was a dead ball. When the guy picked up the ball in the end zone, it looked like he was going to hand it to the referee. That should have been 30 to 28, and there was not going to be an overtime. And then you get this Deos ex-Machina call from the booth, maybe from New York City. I don't know where it came from.

And everyone has to go back on the field. Nobody understands what's going on. It changes the entire betting component because the Rams are one and a half point favorite, and they would have covered. And you may say that doesn't matter. but the league, all leagues now, have partners who are involved in betting. So it doesn't matter. Look, I'm glad it's the right call. I always wanted to be the right call, but I will tell you it made me uneasy, and it felt a little bit contrived,

and I'm still sort of reeling from that. I'll get to Sam Darnold now. He had two picks last night. That's better than the four he had in their first game, Mike, but it's still two picks. It could have been disastrous for him, but he got another chance, and he threw the ball great towards the end of the game. It's a miracle win for Seattle being down 16 with 9 to go. And Mike, it's the second incredible loss this year for the Rams who also had that blocked field goal attempt, touchdown against the Eagles. I think the Rams should be 13 and 2.

And you know, and I know you're not going to hear this. I want to see it again. I want to see it for a third time in the NFC championship games. I do. But when you lose close games, that's what you are. You're a loser of close games. It's three of them. I don't want to hear from the Rams.

they keep losing close games. So like if it's a team that people don't think it's as fuzzy or as cuddly and they don't like them because they don't like some player, they say, oh, they lose close games. That's what the Rams do. The two-point conversion, in real time, before they went to the commercial break, I thought, wait a minute, the angle we had initially makes it look like a backward pass.

If I saw it going into commercial, I don't understand why the players didn't know. And I was like, okay. Not a single player. So that's the right call. Not a single player on the field thought that was anything but a dead ball. Dead ball is what they thought. Brush up. Ram Seahawks, and I'd like to see it again, is not only the big matchup of week 16.

Tomorrow night, the Packers visit My Bears here on our frozen tundra with first place of the NFC Central at stake. On Sunday, the Bucks and Panthers played for first place in the NFC South. 10 to 4 Jaguars take on the AFC leading Broncos. That's big. Steelers and Lions meeting the battle of eight and sixes and Sunday night the Patriots take on the Ravens. Still don't know what to make a them.

Tony, which of this weekend's games intrigues you? Well, I'm going to stay away from the Bears and the Packers because I know you went out to Chicago to see this game. You wanted to see the Chicago Bears one last time before they became the Indiana Bears. So I'm going to leave that one to you. I am intrigued by Jacksonville at Denver, for one. I had no idea that Jacksonville would be 10 and 4 at this point in the season,

that they would have won five in a row in six out of seven for a brand new coach. I had some expectations of the Broncos, because I think they qualified for the playoffs last year, but they've won 11 in a row. I had no expectations of that. You know, I'm looking at the AFC, and other than Buffalo, there are a lot. lot of sort of youngish teams that we haven't seen that much of who could qualify for the

playoffs. It's possible, Mike, that the winner of this game will end up in the Super Bowl. The other game that I would focus on, and I know they're not great teams, is Tampa Bay and Carolina, because they're going to play twice in the last three weeks of the season, and the winner, if somebody wins both, they're going to win that division. And although they're not great teams, you win a division and you get a home playoff game, which the Rams might not get, with a much better record. And I will tell you, Mike, that never, ever, ever did I think Carolina would be in a position to win that division? Yeah, you know, Tampa we thought was pretty good coming in.

There's one game. You know, the league and the network didn't put those other games on Saturday night, prime time. They didn't put those other games on. This game is on. Packers at Bears, the league's two oldest teams, the league's oldest rivalry. two teams that playing don't like each other, even though, you know, I'm not going to make up some phony baloney thing about the fan bases. We all live together. I've driven the Lambo and you wind up tailgating in people's houses in their backyards when you're wearing a Bears jersey.

So we don't hate each other, the fans. I mean, we do in a W.W.E sort of way for a couple hours Saturday night. But this thing is really good. Nobody had the Bears being this far along this season with Ben Johnson in his first season. and Caleb Williams in his first season under Ben Johnson. People did have the Packers there. You don't have Michael Parsons, but you do have love who people have being the MVP. We'll see.

This matchups got it all. I like some of those Sunday games, too, Tony, and I'm going to watch them. But there's only one I traveled to go to, and that's right here. Understandable. It's totally understandable. Steelers Lions. But if Steelers any good? Like, I don't know that.

We're still to the college football. The Ravens were still trying to figure out if either one of them's any good. College football playoff now. One game tonight, Alabama at Oklahoma. Three more games tomorrow. Miami, Texas A&M at noon. Tulane Ole Miss at 3.30. James Madison, Oregon at 7.30.

Willbon, which of these playoff matchups is the most compelling to you? Tony, I want to try to get worked up for the Saturday matchups, but I can't. I'll watch them, particularly the noon game, Eastern time. But, Tony, it's tonight. It's Alabama and Oklahoma. And, I mean, look, Oklahoma already beat Alabama in Tuscaloosa. And people say, oh, well, the tide turned it over a bunch of times. Why won't they turn it over a bunch of times again?

In Norman, where there's going to be an advantage for the Sooners. So, Tony, to be honest, I'm sort of rooting for Alabama because I don't want the storyline of, oh, my God, half the people in the state want Kalin DeBore out. he's on a G6 up to Ann Arbor, and not only are you going to have the drama of the Michigan job, you're going to have the Alabama job becoming vacant. And that's what's going to happen.

You're going to get that drama if Alabama loses. So I'd like to avoid that, but I don't think we're going to. I think that game's got all the intrigue. It's got as much intrigue as all three other games combined. I'm just going to say this about Alabama, and I know that they lost to Oklahoma at Alabama. They also beat Georgia at Georgia. So you never count Alabama out.

You don't count Alabama out. Now, I walk into this trio of games on Saturday, and I think to myself, I don't give any chance in the world to Tulane or to James Madison. But if, by some miracle, one of those teams was to win, Tulane. That might be the most compelling result in the history of college football, certainly in the history.

of any playoff that they've ever had, anyone. And if Tulane were to beat Old Miss, the hatred directed at Lane Kiffin in Oxford would reach New Heights. Yeah. And again, Ole Miss could have chosen to let Lane Kiffin coach. I advocated for that, but they did not.

I'm going to concentrate on the Miami-Texas A&M game, which I would like to call the Notre Dame Bowl. Because these are the only two teams that beat Notre Dame all season. They beat them back in August. I think by a total of four points. I don't think either of them could necessarily beat Notre Dame now, but we're never going to know that.

These are both good teams. I think it's possible Texas A&M is being a little undersold now because they lost late in the season when they lost to Texas. But that's their only loss. Miami has two losses that are worse than losing to Texas. Wouldn't you agree on that? So last year, Mike, in this round of the playoffs, the home teams went four and out.

And they won by a total. total of 77 points. No game. And I think that could happen again. It's college football. It's not pro. It could happen again, don't you think? Yeah, but I don't think that'll happen like a blowout in Oklahoma-Alabama game. It's just dripping with drama tone. Then, by the way, Tulane, don't count Tulane out of this.

I think if there's going to be an upset out of the four games, it would be Tulane, beating no missing. You're right. Oh, my God. Oh. Oh, Elaine Kiffin. Let's take a break. Coming up, Nicole Yolkich breaks Kareem's record for most assists by a center. What is the word for that?

And what do we learn this week when pro golfers played in this team relay on the golf channel? What the hell was that? So you think the Rams are losers? I don't. I still think they're a Super Bowl team. I still think that. No, no, no, no. I'm just saying anything can happen when you have to play as a wild card, stuff happens.

Well, if they win their last two and Seattle loses one, what then? Time to get it on with Lexicon. What's first? It's blank that Nicola Yokic passed Kareem for the most career assists by a center. It's amazing, is my word. It is actually totally amazing. Yokic is in his 11th season. Kareem played 20 seasons. Yokic has now played 771 games. Kareem played 1,560. That's more than double.

And Yokin's just passed him. What? Kareem is one of the 10 greatest players of all time, and Yokin's just passed him. He's a seven-footer. You do not expect him to be like Tiny Archibald. Mike, at the moment, he is 28 assists behind Larry Bird, probably the greatest front court passer ever. He's 34 assists behind Dwayne.

He's going to pass them by Christmas. He leads the league and assists. It's totally amazing. It is. It's evolutionary. That's my word because the game has evolved in such a way. And, you know, even, yes, there are multiple facets of it. I'm going to still name Steph Curry as the primary person, right, character in this basketball evolution.

Because the way he shoots it and spreads the court and allows other guys like a seven-footer like Yokic to get involved passing the ball, as you know, because you knew Wilts and saw him play a little bit. Wilt did this sort of as a lark. Will did this to say, hey, you want to doubt me, I'm Willed. I can do anything. And he led the league and assists one year. But it's not seven plus a game. I don't know that Kyrie Irving, who is a wizard with the basketball,

has ever averaged 7.4 assists a game, which I think is what the Joker is averaging. I mean, Marovich. was a wizard. He an average assist like this. So Tony is evolutionary. The game's change is what? Kyrie's highest ever is 5.2. And Yolkich has him by two again. What's next? The team relay event at the Golf Channel Games was blank. My word is totally cool. Let me explain what this was last night. There were teams out there and they were trying to complete a hole as quickly as possible. So at one point,

Luke Donald, the team of Luke Donald, Rory McElroy, Purple. And Shane Lowry, they go out there and they complete a par four, a legitimate par four, in 28 seconds. They get a birdie in 28 seconds. Donald hits the drive. Rory is out in the fairway. He tracks it down, runs to it, hits a shot onto the green where Shane Lowry is waiting, hits it to eight feet, Larry waits for the ball to stop moving, because can't hit a while it's moving, sinks the putt and they get a birdie. They didn't even have to use the fourth guy. They got a birdie in 28 seconds. Patrick Cantley cannot grip his club in 28 seconds because he's the slowest golfer of all time. I will say that these sorts of weird things

with the golf channel and with that TRL or TGL, whatever it's called, they are fun for me to watch in the winter. Only in the winter. They humanize the golfers, and they're at night, and they're under lights, and I like them. I don't like them, but I got to come up with a word. It's counterculture. Because when I go play golf, I want peace.

I don't want to run anywhere. If I was going to do that, I would have stayed and play tennis. My word should have been, so what, instead of counterculture. So they did this. So what? Was it due? What does it advance? It's just... It's fun. It's fun. You're a grinch.

It's your time. You're the Grinch of Christmas. I should have what a Grinch hat today. That's the final word. Let's take one last break still to come. A reported thought in the recent relationship between Notre Dame and the ACC. I hate to hear that. We'll detail another big night from the Lakers Luca Donchage.

I got this wrong. It was 6.9 for Kyrie. It's his highest ever. It was wrong in my ear, but it's still below. It's still below. Happy time, people. Happy 68th birthday, Kevin McAil. Mikhail, Robert Parrish, and Larry Bird formed arguably the greatest front court in NBA history when they played for the Boston Celtics in the 1980s and early 1990s.

They won three championships together. Mikhail was the third overall picked by the Celtics out of Minnesota in 1980. That draft pick came as the result of a trade Red Hourback made, sending the overall number one pick to Golden State for Parrish and the third pick, Mikhail. Mikhail averaged 17.9 points and 7.3 rebounds over the course of his career, made the all-defense of team six times. When he was done playing, Mikhail stayed in the game as Minnesota's team executive, and as a coach coaching Minnesota, then Houston.

Mikhail was elected into the Hall of Fame in 1999. Kevin Mikhail, my neighbor now is Scottsdale undoubtedly on a golf course right this second. Kevin Mikhail, young dopes, have no idea how great and unstoppable Kevin McAil was. It was with Charles Barkley yesterday, who always says that at that position, at that time, Kevin McHale was the most unstoppable force.

All you got to do is look at the tapes. Go to YouTube, young dopes. Kevin McHale. Larry Bird from Kevin McHale. Happy anniversary to Sean Jackson on this day 15 years ago in a tie game with 14 seconds left to play. Eagles wide out returned this punt for a touchdown to beat the Giants at the final whistle.

This is still the only regulation walk-off punt return in NFL history. And at least on this one, Jackson held on to the ball as he crossed the goal line. As the play ended, you can see Giants coach Tom Coughlin run to Matt Dodge. As the coaching staff had told the rookie punter to punt the ball out of bounds, rather than give Jackson a chance to return. Jackson is now coaching Delaware State in the Miak, where he went 8 and 4 overall and 4-1 in conference of school's best records since 2007. It's just hubris.

You tell these punters specifically, don't punt to this guy. Don't punt it to Devin Hester. Go away from Devin Hester. Remember Tony Dungey doing that? No, you know, I don't really trust coach. I'm gonna kick it to him. Go ahead, Doe. Happy trails to the Connecticut Sun.

The ownership of the Houston Rockets is reportedly in substantive talks to acquire the WNBA team and potentially move it to Houston. The Mohegan tribe has owned the Sun since 2003 and reached a deal in July to sell the team to a Boston-based group. But the league blocked it, saying that other markets deserved a team first. The league has long indicated a desire to return a team to Houston. Houston Comments won the league's first four championships, but disbanded in 2008. There should be a team in Houston. But let me say this, Tony, there's all sorts of stuff going on in the W. I mean, there could be a work stoppage. I mean, that's a very real possibility at this point.

And I guess, you know, when you have anything new and aspirational, ambitious, you're going to have an evolution with that, too. So we don't know what's quite going on with the W for this next upcoming season. Very inside the W. Love it. One omission, Pooka Nukuwa, fine $25,000 for criticizing the officials. Fair? Is it fair?

That was last week's fine. Wait until he gets this week's. It should be 100. He's a great player and an irritant. He is. Let's go quick to the big finish. Let's do it. 45, 11 and 14 as the Lakers beat the jazz, are you impressed?

Everything about the Lakers is impressive right now. Everything. Arch Manning will take a pay cut next season. What? That money could go to new transfers or to retain other players according to something called On 3. Does that make sense to you?

Absolutely makes sense. He's not a pro, well, he's a pro, but he's not the kind of pro that Tom Brady was when Tom Brady manipulated salaries like that. Ross Dellinger reports at Notre Dame ADP Bavacqua. ACC Commissioner Jim Phillips had a very positive two-hour meeting yesterday. Do you find that significant? Probably Bavakwa is lucky that Jim Phillips is as good a dude as he is.

I'd be less so in a meeting with him. Duke quarterback Daria Mensa says he's returning for his red shirt junior year. He's surprised? No, he wants to see the NBA Cup at Cameron. Last one, your boy Jake Paul fights Anthony Joshua tonight. Who you got? I want Joshua to crush him. Out of time. Try to do better. I'm Kornheiser. I'm Mike Laubon. Have a great weekend, knucklehead.