PTI - Should Joe Burrow Risk Playing in Week 12?

Episode Date: November 20, 2025

Michael Wilbon and Tony Kornheiser discuss the reports of Eagles possibly frustrated with Jalen Hurts, if it's reasonable to start Joe Burrow this Sunday, and the Mavs ongoing struggles. 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 Wilburne. I'm told it's world philosophy day, Tony. What's your life philosophy?

I'm Tony Kornheiser. Live, laugh, load. Lode. Emphasis on the load. That's kind of rudeness. I would have to say that. I got one rule. No.

I got one rule. Just be home from the club by 3 a.m. That's it. That's a good rule. That's all I got. That's, no. Is that what you told your son? One rule in life?

my life, Maddie, one rule, be home by three. Good for you. Welcome to PTI Boards and girls. In today's episode is Joe Burrow back. Should the Mavs keep Anthony Davis and Booger McFarland joins us for five good minutes. But we begin today with more swirl around the Philadelphia Eagles. Today it's not wide receiver A.J. Brown specifically. Today it's quarterback Jalen Hertz. There was a report on local Philadelphia TV that, quote, a lot of people in that organization are frustrated with the quarterback situation, unquote. The athletic further reported that Hertz was being criticized for, quote, not throwing into tight windows, unquote. Hertz responded by saying, quote, I'm not surprised by anything.

This is kind of the nature of the position, unquote. Wilbon, what do you make of the reports of the Eagles' frustration with Jalen Hertz? You know how your world philosophy, your life philosophy includes the word loathsome? I find any criticism of Hertz right now to be loathsome. any criticism. Because last I checked, he's got a touchdown to turnover ratio of 16 to 1.

Let me say it again. 16 to 1. His team's record is 8 and 2, which is the best in his conference. He last was seen standing on a platform holding the Vince Lombardi trophy.

So to me, Tony, that's the bar. And if you have another bar that is dictated or you're, led there by some stupid statistical fanaticism, I find you loathsome. I'm tired of Philly.

I'm tired of Eagles fans, or at least those who criticize Jayland Hurts. I'm sick of them. Shut your mouths. Have some reasonable bar. Oh, wait, winning. That's all this kid does. They don't even deserve him.

I wish he could just walk the hell out on the whole thing. Yeah, I'm going to probably be a little more down the middle than you are because I don't want everybody to shut up and I don't want to call everybody stupid, not everybody. But this is indeed a head scratcher to me. Mike, his record as a starting quarterback in Philadelphia is, hello, 54 and 22. In the last two seasons, it's 20 and 5. And as you mentioned, one of those 20s of Super Bowl.

Look, there are a lot of quarterbacks who maybe, maybe would have more wins with Philadelphia than he has, maybe would fit it into tight windows, hello, A.J. Brown. But as you say, it's 16 to 1, touchdowns interceptions this year. And let's look at really good quarterbacks. Let's look at Jordan Love and Lamar Jackson and Josh Allen. They don't have wins like this guy. No, they do. This guy wins big games. He manages big games. I'm going to give you two names that you'll appreciate and everybody else to say, who were they, Bart Starr and Bob Greasy. And they didn't fit it into tight windows either. And all they did.

was win. So, I mean, you know, enough of this soap opera every day. I appreciate the fact that he seems like a great leader. Please. We play to win the game. Do we not do that? No, we play to have tight windows thrown into. People are stupid.

He wins. Increasingly stupid. Let's move to a quarterback conundrum for the Bengals. Joe Burrow is back to being a full participant in practice for the first time since suffering that turf toe injury. more than two months ago. Meanwhile, current starter Joe Flacco has put up some pretty big numbers

but is battling a sprained shoulder. So, Tony, should the 3 and 7 Bengals risk playing Burrow against the Patriots Sunday or stick with old man, Joe? Okay, so the problem with the Bengals is

not their quarterback, it's not their offense. Joe Flacco has played five games. They've scored 148 points. That should be enough to win all five games. He has 12 touchdown passes and three interceptions, and the team is one and four in the time he's played. And that's because the defense stinks. It's not about the quarterback. Let me get to the issue of the risk with Joe Burrow. I don't really understand what that means the risk. If he's 100% healthy, you put him in the game. Yeah. Joe Flacko is still

a good quarterback. Joe Burrow is substantially better. As you said, they are three and three, They're not going to make the wild card. They have no chance at that. They have to win the division. They're two and one in the division. They have two games with Baltimore. They have one with Cleveland. Put this guy in and see what he can do.

They also have a game with Miami and a game with Arizona that are winnable. Give him the ball, right? They pay him $55 million a year on average. This is not hard. This is not a dilemma. If Joe Flacco was being paid $55 million, a year, then you'd have a dilemma. You don't have a dilemma.

Joe Burrow is your franchise quarterback. You've gone to great. He talked you into paying his starting two receivers about $150 million, it seems apiece. So put him in there. One of whom is out for spinning for a game. You know what? Yeah, I know.

And he's got still got one of them and he's got an offense that's supposed to light it up. Mike, play Joe, play Joe Boer. It might interest you to know, it might interest you to know that Joe Flack. or the Joe Burrow has the highest completion percentage

in the history of the NFL. 68.5. Come in the game. If I were the Bengals and he was healthy, I'm putting them in the game. I'm not thinking twice about it. Let's move to the NBA and everybody's favorite soap opera team there,

not the Philadelphia Eagles, the Dallas Mavericks. They lost again last night, their record is 4 and 12. That's third from the bottom in the West. Now we have former majority owner and apparently current advisor, Mark Cuban, telling the athletic in an email that Anthony Davis won't be

traded, despite all the recent stories suggesting the Mavericks have been trying to trade him. Well, about his Cuban making the right call here? I don't know whether he's making the call. I wouldn't trade Anthony Davis if I'm the Mavericks, not given what I've got and given what I gave up, hello Luca Donchich, to get Anthony Davis. And then in my team, the Bulls, are a team that is regularly rumored to be in the Anthony Davis sweepstakes. I would not allow for any Anthony Davis sweepstakes. Let me just mention why, Tony. The Dallas Mavericks have what seems to be

all the elements you would need to be a serious contender right now if they get Kyrie back healthy relatively soon. You got lively in PJ Washington. I mentioned Anthony Davis. The overall number one pick Cooper Flagg. You got DeAngelo Russell, who's to stand in until Kyrie gets back. You got Clay Thompson, who I know is not doing Clay Thompson things, but I'm not ready to give up on.

You got Daniel Gafford Moore, Scylton. eyes and defense inside rim protection. The Mavericks have all the elements. I know they have to have Anthony Davis out there. I know that doesn't happen nearly enough. But trade him for what? Draft assets. If you're bad enough this year, you're going to pick in the lottery?

Keep Anthony Davis. Keep him. I could not disagree with you more. The depth of destruction to that franchise that was done by Nico Harrison is almost in calculation. They went from less than two years from an NBA finalist to a laughing stock because he traded Luca Donchich, who, by the way, is going to be the MVP this year, who is averaging at the moment 34.6 points per game and who has already gone over 40 points four different times. The Anthony Davis thing, to me, I don't know. I mean, he doesn't actually play. They call him street clothes. He is not available. When he is available, he's still going to be 32 years old and beginning the process of aging out. I actually would consider trading him for future assets when I was ready for a rebuild. I don't know if Kyrie Irving is going to come back and be Kyrie Irving.

I tend to doubt that. What is interesting to me is the relationship with Cuban and Nico Harrison. I'll just take 15 seconds here. With all the things I've read, it appears to be reported that they were once close. In fact, Cuban hired Nico Harrison. And then that dissolved completely. Nico Harrison tried to keep Cuban out of the building. and Cuban tried to fire him and did advantage Cubans.

But I don't know what his relationship is with the owner. I'm a little surprised that he's out there out front. I'm a little surprised at that. Let's take a break. Coming up, what should we watch for in tonight's game between the Bills and the Texans? We will ask Burger McFarland. I'll watch the Houston starting quarterback.

We'll also ask him about Southern Cow's chances of knocking off Oregon Saturday. All that has nothing to do with whether you should trade Anthony Davis. If Anthony Davis is as damaged as you say, Why the hell would I trade for him? Why? Well, maybe they could get Luca Donchish for him. Oh, wait.

You are watching, part of the interruption, presented by Crown Royal, part of Happy Hour. This just in, week 12 of the NFL season kicks off tonight, which makes it a perfect time to welcome back our great friend ESPN NFL and college football analyst Boogh McFarlane wearing a shirt from Quail Hollow in Charlotte, North Carolina. with a Thursday night game tonight. It's the Bills at the Texans. What will you be watching for in this game, Bougar? I'm going to be looking at that Houston Texans defense. Like, if you haven't watched this Texans defense, it could be the best

defense in football. We know what they have from an edge rusher standpoint, Danil Hunter and Will Anderson, Jr. But think about Derek Stingley on the back end. It's a defense that doesn't have a ton of household names outside of those three, but they are playing like the best defense in football. And so can

Josh Allen and the Buffalo Bills deal with this defense. Josh scores six touchdowns, three rushing, three throwing against Tampa, and they needed all of those. Like too many times the Buffalo Bills are asking Josh Allen to be Superman, and he's the MVP, and I get it, and a lot of times he is Superman. But what's going to happen when he doesn't get the help? Can he still be Superman time and time again going against this Texan's defense?

I think that's going to be must-see TV, the reigning MVP against the best defense in football. I'm going to have my popcorn ready, Tony. Well, speaking of Superman, Bougar, let's talk about Miles Garrett, who has four sacks. I mean, four sacks in the loss of the Ravens, and 15 in 10 games, and for a Brown's team that is just awful. One, can I invoke the name Reggie White, or is that far too far away? And regardless, when you look at Miles Garrett as a guy who knows a little bit about defensive line play and rushing the passer, You see what? Well, number one, I don't think it's too soon to start throwing around the name Reggie White.

When you look at the numbers he's putting up, he's got 15 sacks already this year. He's won a defensive player of the year award. He's on pace to have 24 and a half sacks this season, which would break the record. So, no, you can definitely throw around that name. What's going on with Miles Garrett is this. He's 6'5, 275 pounds. He's in peak physical condition, and he continues to get better and better athletically. Now you couple that with his craftsmanship

is starting to come along more and more. So his technique is getting better. So when you married the technique of one of the greatest athletes in our game with the physical athletic ability of someone like we've never seen and you put those together, that's why he's getting better and better and better.

And he's taking care of his body every off-season. You see some of the training that he does. It's unbelievable how gifted he is. But more importantly, the thing I respect the most, how hungry he is to go out and get better and get more knowledge. He's the best defensive player in our game, and I honestly don't think it's close, Mike. Wow. Wow. And he seems sort of wasting away with the Cleveland Browns

who aren't going to be anywhere near a postseason. Let's move to college football for a second booker. The big game seems to be number 15 Southern Cal at number seven, Oregon. I am not all that impressed with Southern Cal, but tell me if you since upset, Do you feel that Southern Cal is up to the task of knocking Oregon off that perch in a playoff spot? Yeah, to me, this is going to be a tough task. You know how it is.

The people in USC, they're out there in L.A., they get branded as SoCal. They're Hollywood. They don't want to get tough and physical. Well, finally, Lincoln Riley has a team that's built the right way. Up front, maybe the best offensive line since he's been there. He's got a really good quarterback, a dual threat guy, and Jordan Mojave. I love what they do between the combination of him and him. and McCailleman, one of the best receivers in the country.

And if they're going to upset Oregon, because I do believe it would be an upset, they're going to have to hit some big plays in the passing game. Defensively, I don't know if they'll slow the ducks down because I love what the ducks are doing with Dante Moore and on high-powered offense. But McCailliman and Jordan Maveraura, that one-two connection from quarterback to receiver, I think they can make enough big plays. And I think Lincoln Riley feels good about this team. This is the best team that he's had since he's been there.

At least that's what he tells everybody. So it's going to be must-see TV between the Trojans and the Ducks. All right, we will get you out of here on this. And I'm just going to say before I ask the question, Wilma doesn't care about the college football ranking show, and I watch it religiously. He's completely bagged it, and I am into it all the time. So the most recent one, was there anything about the most recent rankings

that stands out to you other than the fact that LSU is not in it, and that's a jab at you and a joke? Go ahead. Well, yeah, you talk about a jab. I mean, try to hit me when I'm down. You know, all of our fans are tracking planes around America. You're just going to keep jugging old book. I hear you.

The one thing that keeps kind of just digging at me, and it's because I saw the two teams play on the field, Notre Dame being ranked over Miami, and I get it. The resume's not complete. I understand there's still a couple of games left. But I watch Miami and Notre Dame play. I watch Miami beat Notre Dame.

I don't care if it was back on August 31st or December. It doesn't matter to me. I watch the two teams play. And the fact that week after week, they continue to have Notre Dame ranked above Miami. And I get it. It's a resume. And the resume is not complete. At least that's what both committee chairs are going to tell us.

But at some point, if we end this season and Notre Dame and Miami are battling for one last playoff spot guys, and Notre Dame gets in, they're going to call you two because they know you're the only two guys that probably can calm book down because we talk every week because I may blow a gasket because football should be decided on the field when you have teams that are equal and if both of these teams went out, both will be 10 and 2, it should be decided. You should take the team that won the game on the field.

I don't care about strength of record, strength of schedule. I don't care what your mascot is. It doesn't matter to me. I saw Miami beat Notre Dame. So that's the one thing, Tony, that week after week, while Wilbonne is sleep, cut it up in his robe,

I'm on TV, you're watching me, I keep going back and forth with that, and I can't figure it out. Book, I'm with you. Tony's the one who's going to argue for Notre Dame, the University of football in America. He's totally snowed. We did this yesterday. He thinks Notre Dame is a New York school.

You can't trust him on Notre Dame. Can trust me. This is ridiculous. This is fake news. Yesterday on this show, I told you that Miami has a case against Notre Dame and they're not just ranked above. No, Dave, just not ranked above them like one spot. It's four spots.

It's four spots. Thank you, Booger. Thanks, Boog. Appreciate you, dude. Anytime, fellas. Have a good. Let's take one last break. Still to come, Wilbon's Bulls beat the Blazers on a buzzer beater.

Is that a big deal? Yeah, yeah, I was sleeping through it. Should Yukon actually feel okay about last night's loss to Arizona? You know, ultimately, 99.9% of the time you side with Notre Dame. I'm not making this up. No, you're not. But did you listen to the show yesterday when I was three feet from you? And I said the team that has a complaint is Miami. I said that. You were too close. I was looking in the basement for you.

Pardon the Interruption is presented by Crown Royal. Please drink responsibly. Part of Happy Hour. Happy time, people. Happy 44th birthday Carlos Boozer. Boozer played on Duke's NCAA championship team. in 2001, then played 13 seasons in the NBA with Cleveland, Utah, Chicago, and the Lakers, averaging 16.2 points and 9.5 rebounds a game. He was on the gold medal of United States Olympic basketball team in Beijing in 2008 after playing on the bronze medal team four years earlier in Athens. Now Boozer gets a happy birthday because his two sons, Cameron and Caden, are freshman basketball players at Duke following their father's footsteps, though they play for John Shire and Carlos and Shire played for Mike.

Sheshefsky. Cameron Boozer is averaging 21.6 points and 10.4 rebounds. Caden Booser averaging 7.4 points and 3.8 rebounds for the Blue Devils. You're going to hear Cameron's name when it comes to people talking about who's going to be chosen, number one overall. And by the way, Carlos Boozer was on a team with Derek Rose. Without that injury, that awful injury to Derek Rose, might have changed altered, modern NBA history a little bit because they were damn good. Happy anniversary, LaDainian Tomlinson. On this day, 26 years ago, while playing at TCU,

Tomlinson rushed for a then-D-1 record 406 yards on 43 carries, not to mention six touchdowns in a win over U-TAP. Amazingly, that record has now been broken three times and belongs to Samad J.P. Ryan, who ran for 427 yards for Oklahoma against Kansas in 2014. Tomlinson went on to a Hall of Fame career as a running back for the charges and won the NFL MVP award in 2006. He retired after the 2011 season went directly into broadcasting, spending a decade with the NFL network. Now Tomlinson is helping coach Oakridge High School in Texas.

He said he didn't miss playing, but missed the camaraderie and relationships of football. Tony, you know, after all of those great, great backs of the 60s, 70s, 70s, even into the 90s, all those great backs when you look at, When you leave them, that bunch, Tomlinson and Marshall Falk are my two favorites who I think could have played at any time in any era. Handling it 35 times a game, catching it out of the backfield. Those two guys seem to stand out to me the last 25 years. Have he trails the last night's game for number three, Yukon. The Huskies fell by four at home to fourth-ranked Arizona. The Wildcats dominated the huskies on the glass 43 to 23.

Great. Though Yukon was playing without two starters, including starting senior center, Terris Reed Jr., who's been averaging 20 and 9. Arizona is now 5-0 with wins over two opponents ranked in the top three. First Florida, now UCon. And Yukon coach Danny Hurley called Arizona, quote, legit contenders like we are. He also said his team got punked, so I'm not understanding that. But it's early. It's early. Let's just take a chill pill for me. Quick to the big finish.

Let's do it. Thunder beat the Kings. They're now 15 in 1. Are you impressed? Yes, but they've got the easiest schedule so far in the NBA, so let's chill there too. Wizards have lost 12 straight defend your squad. They're not trying to win. They're cheating the public.

Nicola Vukovic are the Bulls had a buzzer beating three to beat the Blazers. Big deal? Voo! It's his second buzzer-beater winner of the season so far. Nice win out in Portland by my Bulls. Alex Ovechkin scored. Caps beat the Oilers, seven, four-year thoughts. He's worth the ticket.

He's over 900 goals. He's a wow. Last one. Top four NFL scores, Lincoln, McKinnon, Connor McDavid, MacLougham-Colabrini, Connor Begarde, all playing tonight. You excited? Connor Begarde in action, Tony, against the Cracket.

No, I'm excited. Chicago. We're out of time trying to do better than next time. Cindy Wenslow, shout out. I'm Mike Wilbon. Same time tomorrow, knuckleheads. PTI.