From 30 for 30 podcasts. Brian Pata, senior defensive lineman from Miami, gunned down. The key to this case, it's Brian. An hour before he died, he was on the phone arguing what's about. This might be a hit. You want the truth. They just want a conviction. They're placing the arrest. We had a killer amongst us. Murder at the U. Listen now. Pardon the interruption, but I'm Mike Wilbon. Tony was here Monday through Thursday, but today we have a twist. It's Phil and Frank Friday, folks. Come on now. You knew I'd be here. Big weekend. Wow. Championship weekend. You were away for a while. Somebody missed you, apparently. Somebody. A few somebody. Welcome to PTI. Tony didn't have enough steam to finish what he started, So I am joined by our great friend from the starting lineup on Sirius XM, Mr. Frank Isola. Man, two ovations. That's like one too many ovations for you. Let's begin with the NFC Championship game. Rams and Seahawks beat for the third time this season. The first was a narrow win by L.A. in L.A. The second was an overtime squeaker of a win by Seattle in Seattle. Frank, which of these teams impresses you more ahead of their rubber match, Rams or Hawks? You know, I think about the Rams, and they've just won two road playoff games, which isn't easy to do. They beat your Bears over the weekend in overtime. That's impressive. And you know that they have played now seven. This is going to be their seventh road game in the last nine weeks. So all they do is go on the road. But going to Seattle is a little bit different. I'm not that worried about Matthew Stafford, even though Seattle has a terrific defense. Sam Darnold is going to be the key to this game. In four games against the Rams, with Chris Shul as defensive coordinator, he's one and three, seven interceptions. He had four of them in Week 11 when they lost in L.A. He's been sacked 16 times. So for Sam Darnold, that's going to be the big question mark. He was terrific against San Francisco. I understand that. But, Mike, this is the biggest game of his life. He hasn't played well against the Rams. Last year in the playoffs, he struggled. I think it's all about Sam Darnold. Even with, you know, the 13th man in Seattle and that stadium, I get it. It's going to be about their quarterback this weekend. Yeah, I'm not going to disagree with you, Frank, on any of that. Because I know, as a Bears fan, I was hoping that we got to Seattle because you thought that Sam Darnold might throw a couple to your guys. So I hear you there. But a couple things. One, it's difficult to soldier field is to play in Seattle. Forgive me, my hometown people. Seattle's harder. To me, it's there and Lambeau are the two hardest places to play in the NFL. And the Rams know this because they play there every year. The other thing is this. The Rams' defense has not been great. Not been good at all. I know in the snow and the cold last week, they gave up 17. But they gave up like 460 yards. And so I think that Seattle, even with Charbonnet out, I think that they can muster enough offense as long as Darnold is not terrible. He can't be terrible. He can't go out there and throw three or four picks. He cannot throw it to the other guy. But if he manages the game well with that defense, Frank, with that defense Seattle has, and again, the Rams' defense has struggled. They struggled against Carolina before they even got to the Bears. So I'm giving an edge to Seattle at home. Maybe not a big one, but enough of one to advance to the Super Bowl. And, you know, in New York, Sam Darnold is obviously a big story. Yeah. Because, you know, he played here in New York, kind of flamed out, bounced around. He's been to the Super Bowl. He was a backup on that Niners team that went. And you talked about the Rams' defense, Mike. 27 or more points in four of their last six games. I'll give you an interesting stat as it relates to kind of Matthew Stafford and Seattle. There have been six times in the last 50 years where the top passer has gone up against the number one scoring defense. The defense is 6-0. So it's that old adage, you win with defense, and that usually plays out. Seattle's got it. All right, let's move to the AFC Championship game. Yes, the Patriots have a young star in Drake May. while the Broncos will be forced to start Jarrett Stidham. The Broncos, they led the league in sacks. And, Mike, you know, you love defense. So which way are you leading? Patriots or Broncos? I love defense. You know what? When I said Seattle and Lambeau, right there, Denver is a different kind of advantage. Not that it can't be loud because it can. But obviously you're playing at 52-80. You got another set of problems playing at Denver, and you're playing against that defense. Denver's right up there. So if I did a top five home field advantage, the two games hosting this weekend would both be in the top five, maybe in the top three. But you don't have your quarterback. It great that Sean Payton I understand Sean Payton is doing and has done everything Frank he seemingly can He can play the damn game for him You know number seven is not trotting out of the lineup into the lineup for the Denver Broncos. Number seven of years gone by, you can look him up, all you people who have no memory. So I can't sit him good for him. He's tied with Payton at the hip. He was the first guy he brought in. He's a capable backup. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Big, big, big advantage to New England having to play against a backup quarterback who hasn't played in more than two years. When I say hasn't played, hasn't thrown a pass that's meaningful. Two years. The last pass he threw was picked. So, no, no, no. I don't see it at all. Yeah. Boys and girls, Michael Wilbon was just telling you that John Elway is not walking through that door. Not walking through that door. A couple of things, though, that I'll put in the Broncos' favor. By the way, they're 4-0 against New England all time in playoffs. This New England team, 8-0 on the road this year. That's impressive. But the thing about this young quarterback, if this had happened in the first quarter of the game, Bo Nix goes down, you throw in Jarrett Stidham, that's tough. Sean Payton, and you can see, listen, he's arrogant. He loves to get into it with the media, but he is a good coach. He's a terrific coach. He's had a week to prepare. They have that defense. They're playing at home. So I don't think it's going to be as big of an issue. You're buying in? Well, see, you referenced John Elway. Yeah. And let's remember, and we all like Drake May, that's not Tom Brady on the other sideline. No. In two playoff games, the guy's been sacked six times. Yeah. He's been pressured 31 times on 66 dropbacks, and he's fumbled the ball six times. So if not for Jarrett Stroud, there's a very good chance Houston would be playing right now in this game. So he still has a lot to do. CJ Stroud. He's won two playoff games, Mike. That's great. But there are still some issues there as well. You're mentioning Elway. That ain't Tom Brady yet, understand. No, not yet. Elway versus Brady. We would settle for that. That would be pretty good. Sorry, youngins. Let's move to the Ravens hiring of Jesse Minter as their new head coach. Minter was most recently the defensive coordinator for the Chargers, but he also served as an assistant for the Ravens for four seasons. Owner Steve Bishotti said of the 42-year-old quote, he clearly understands the values, high expectations, and history of the Ravens. He's also a leader who will authentically connect with our players and inspire them to championship levels, close quote. Bishotti seems persuaded that the Ravens have got a gem, Frank. Are you? I want to know if you think authentically connect is a little dig at the last coach. I tend to think it's not because Minter worked for both Jim and John Harbaugh. And with the Chargers, you know, last season led the league, you know, 17 points per game. Their defense gave up this year, fifth in terms of yards per game. And the Ravens were 24th. And I think the Ravens have always been an organization where they think defense first. And he knows that organization. He knows the owner. I think that's a plus. But you're also, if you're going to be a coach, a first-time coach in this league, You want to go to a team that's got a quarterback. And I understand it's been a down year for Lamar Jackson. There have been some playoff games where he hasn't played well. Other games he's been a little unlucky. Last year against Buffalo, the two-point conversion, that game should have gone into overtime. So I think it's a smart hire from them. They know who they're getting. The coach knows all about the organization from top to bottom. The key for them is they have to improve the defense. Probably personnel has a lot to do with it. Offensive coordinator. I think that's going to be a big position to fill. Yeah, Frank, look, I have always been impressed with Steve Bishotti and the way that organization runs, which is what he presides over, the way he stays out of the way until he needs to insert himself. And obviously the hiring of a head coach is that, and I believe that Steve believes that. But I ain't buying any of it until I know what Lamar Jackson's situation is. You can be as good as you want. If your quarterback has taken the drop for whatever reasons, and I'm looking at Lamar Jackson, and I started asking the question about week four. How come Lamar Jackson now cannot outrun people with a jersey number that starts with a five? You're not doing it. Maybe it's injuries. Maybe we get the real Lamar Jackson back. I hope so. I am not ready to wave bye-bye to vintage Lamar Jackson. We should just be – the door should be wide open. But we don't know that. And Jesse Minter can't determine it, and he can't fix it, and he can't put it back on track if it's off track. So there's too much we don't know. I understand Bashadi feels good about this hire, a guy he already knows who might connect authentically. Oh, that's great. Lamar Jackson. He's got to be the answer to most of what's going on with the Baltimore Ravens. And I agree with what you're saying about Lamar Jackson. Let's also remember, on the final week of the season, he put his team in position, a field goal, and then he's playing the following week. Yeah. So, even in a poor season, he still put his team in a position to win and make the playoffs. Against a pretty mediocre Pittsburgh team But I digress That fair Let take a break Still to come a new report says Jeannie Buss had problems with LeBron What's a word for LeBron's reaction? I got a word for that. And what's the best way to describe Joel Embiid's performance against the Rockets last night? That was a pretty interesting ending. Should have been a goaltend on Kevin Durant. time to fill in some blanks with fill in frank what's first when lebron says he doesn't care about the report that genie bus had problems with him he sounds blank he sounds dismissive frank and i would say justifiably dismissive because look it seems like a well-reported interesting yarn if you're curious about the goings-on, you know, backstage of an NBA team, particularly the one that produces the most gossip. But it's just, it doesn't matter. And so LeBron basically stood there at his locker and answered very, you know, perfunctorily, I don't care. It doesn't matter. And I just found myself nodding. And look, I am a Jeannie Buss fan, So I don't want to have to declare sides here, but I'm a Jeannie Buss fan. But LeBron's right. It doesn't matter. And so he was dismissive. Am I being too cavalier? Am I being too dismissive? No, I don't think you are. My word is exhausted. And if you go back about 10 days ago, two weeks ago, his agent, Rich Paul, is on a podcast with Max Kellerman. Yeah. And Rich brought up the idea of trading Austin Reed to Jaron Jackson Jr. He just dumped him. He just threw him off the team. So guess who had to address it, Mike? LeBron James. LeBron had to address it. He has to address something that's on another podcast. Now he has to address something that Jeannie Buss allegedly said. He must be thinking, listen, folks, I'm 41 years old. I'm still trying to compete with these young guys. My son is on the team. I got another son in college. I got my daughter here as well. I mean, why do I have to answer everything? I think that's why he's a little tired of it. But I kept thinking about this. Whatever Jeannie Buss allegedly or didn't say, I guarantee you something along those lines was said in Cleveland and Miami. And now allegedly it's been said in L.A. And guess what? Yeah. Yeah, but hang on. Guess what? They won in all those places. So LeBron is done right by the Lakers. They've done right by him. They've helped his brand. They drafted his son. I dismissive, exhausted. I think it all applies. At 41 years old, he doesn't want every day to be the story about him from somebody on the outside. You can tell he's a little tired. I agree 100% with that. Let me just push back a little bit. In that very, again, it was a really cool exchange. LeBron was very engaged. He really is in those post-game exchanges. You and I know we've been there for those. And he's like the best person to talk to in those situations. But when LeBron goes to the part where he says, I don't care about podcasts, what? He's got a podcast. He's got one. His agent has a podcast. That's right. Say what? So we're not going fully down that road with LeBron, but I don't blame him. There's no need to care. There just isn't. What's next? Joel Embiid's performance last night was blank. Wow. It was flashback, Frank. And the part that gets me, you know, there's the points and the rebounds that he had, whatever he had, 30-something in teens, something. He played 46 minutes. Yep. Listen, if you said to me, tell me whether or not he is capable of playing 40, I'd say no. Knowing full well he played 40 once in this recent stretch. 46 for Joel? This is actually encouraging, considering Maxie is third in scoring in the league at 30 points a game, and rookie Vijay Edgecombe, I mean, by April, he may be able to put some games up there when you're playing with Maxie and Embiid and the cast where you could do something if you're Philly. But I'm going to say flashback, wow. I don't know how sustainable it is, Frank, but when he plays like that, it reminds you of his MVP season, Mr. MB. You're 100% right, and that's why my word is timely because you're talking about the minutes played. That's the most minutes he's played in a game since December of 2022. So it's been a while, and this recent stretch that he's on, he's played in 10 of the last 12 games, in eight of them, Mike, He's been over 31 minutes. In two of them, he's gone over 40. So let me give you a little hypothetical here. Because now Tyrese Maxey is the guy. And Bede's not going to play him back-to-backs. But he's proving now because his minutes have gone up every month. So is his production. All right. If they get to the playoffs and he's healthy and Paul George is healthy and you have Maxey, you have Vijay Edgecombe, you have Kelly Uber, who, by the way, has played well when he's been healthy. Yeah. And then you have Drummond, Grimes coming off the bench. And you also have a coach in Nick Nurse who wears something called a championship ring. So tell me, would you like – hypothetically, if they have to cross their fingers in Philly for those guys to be healthy, do you like their chances in the Eastern Conference? It depends, Frank, entirely on the matchup. Do I like them against Detroit? No. Maybe against the Knicks. It's interesting. The Knicks have been the team that – They beat them twice. Yes. Yes, presumably the Knicks are going to ascend in the absence of Boston and Indiana but Boston isn absent Boston still there So I hear you and it becomes much more interesting Look it a much more interesting conference and league if Joel Embiid is healthy and playing 35 minutes a game, much less 40 minutes. And what he's not going to do, Mike, the whole back-to-back, it's over. No back-to-back, he won't have them. He's not going to go back-to-back. They won't be scheduled. You're not going to see them. That's right. That's right. That's it. I think we can all agree Frank just got spanked. Let's take one last break. Coming up, the college football playoff committee decides how many teams will get spots next season. And Giants quarterback Jackson Dart makes a bold prediction. I'm about to get tired of Jackson Dart. Time to get happy, people. Happy 58th birthday, Peter Korda. Korda had notable success as a tennis player. winning the 1998 Australian Open and making the final of the 92 French Open. He also achieved a level of notoriety due to testing positive for a steroid that he's maintained he didn't knowingly ingest. But if you're familiar with the quarter name these days, it's got to be due to the supporting success of his three children. Son Sebastian has won two titles on the ATP Tour. Daughter Jessica has won six LPGA titles. And, of course, daughter Nelly has won 15 tournaments on the LPGA Tour, including two majors and is ranked number two in the world today, Frank. He was a pretty good tennis player. Why do you think so many of these guys, it seems like, and ladies, they kind of persuade their kids to go into golf? Why is that? They're around it. They're around it every day. These great former athletes, right? Yeah. I love watching. It comes like their passion. Watching the quarter women play on tour. Happy anniversary. to the Buffalo Bills on this day 32 years ago. The Bills just crushed the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game to make it to their fourth straight Super Bowl. No other team has ever made it to four straight Super Bowls, not even the Patriots. Of course, the Bills famously lost them all. In this particular year, they go on to fall to Troy Aikman and the Cowboys for the second time in a row. Then head coach and my fellow Chicagoan, Marv Levy recently celebrated his 100th birthday. The franchise hopes a new head coach can restore and even exceed the success that Levy brought. Today, Buffalo interviewed Phillip Rivers for that job, Frank. That's an interesting candidate. Getting back to that AFC championship game, I was actually there. That was the game where Montana got hurt. So he was the quarterback for Kansas City. The running back was Marcus Allen. A little weird seeing him in those years. in both those title games. I think I was at Dallas, San Francisco. Happy trails for now to an expanded college football playoff. The CFP Management Committee announced this morning the playoff will remain a 12-team affair for the 2026 season. There had been such internal debate about expanding to 16 or even 24 teams, absurdly enough, but the Big Ten and SEC reportedly could not agree What a shock. There will be changes to the composition of the field, though. Power four conference winners will now get the automatic bids. The highest ranked group of six champ gets in. And so does Notre Dame. If it finishes in the selection committee's top 12, God spare me. If those rules were in place this year, five lost Duke would have been in the field, Frank. 12, 16, 24, there's going to be fighting. My only thing would be Indiana played 16 games this year. So now what are they going to play? You could have a team that plays 17 games. Or 18. You're going to 24? Seriously? Mike, I do think with 16, though, I think these top-seeded teams, they want to play a game at home. Think about what that does for the economy. You get another home game. I don't have a problem with 16, but that's a lot of games. It should be eight teams. That'll be the final word for now. That'll be a lot of fighting. Here. One correction. The Broncos are 4-0 all-time against the Patriots in Denver. We're running out of show. Let's get to the big finish. Fernando Mendoza has officially declared for the draft. Do you like his NFL prospects? I like his arm. I like his savvy. I like his brains. But what else was he going to do, Mike? He did everything in college. Heisman Trophy, National Championship, and his MVP did the right thing. Jonathan Kaminga left last night's Warriors loss to the Mavs after twisting his left ankle and hyperextending his left knee. Is that a cause for concern? Yes, it is. When you've got a guy, you don't know if you're trying to trade him or not. You should be trading him. Trinity Rodman has signed a three-year deal with the Washington Spirit, worth up to $6 million total. Significant? That's good for the league here. A lot of rumors about her going over to Europe to play. Giants quarterback Jackson Dart said he expects to do, quote, a whole lot of winning under John Harbaugh. Your thoughts? Let's not get carried away. Last one, women's college hoops, number 16, Oklahoma, beat number two, South Carolina, N.O.T. You've got to be surprised. They beat them by 12. How about Aliyah Chavez, which she did in overtime? Really impressive. Right of time. Thanks for watching. I'm Frank Isola. I'm Mike Will Bond. Have a great weekend. Uncle hands down on my name. T.I. Here at SportsCenter.
