Going into the year, and even through the first few weeks of the season, many felt it was almost a lock the Patriots would meet the Chiefs in the AFC title game for a second straight year.
But, following the Chiefs dropping back-to-back home games to the Colts and Texans, it may be time to rethink that.
Appearing on The Greg Hill Show Monday, CBS Sports' and WFAN's Boomer Esiason said what the Chiefs have done last few weeks has been "eye-opening," especially on defense and maybe the Patriots should be looking at other teams as their top competition in the AFC.
“The Texans or the Colts because both teams went in there and beat the Chiefs and showed you how to beat the Chiefs," he said. "It means run the ball down their throat. Their defense is horrendous. You can’t win in this league without a defense. I don’t care what anybody says. It’s really eye-opening because they went this offseason and rebuilt their entire defense. They got rid of a lot of very popular players and brought in a new defensive coordinator, Steve Spagnuolo. It has just been a disaster out there and has put an enormous amount of pressure on Patrick Mahomes, who I think is getting a little frustrated. The league can do that to you. It doesn’t matter how good you are, how great you can be, you’re always going to have those days and those weeks where things don’t go right for you.
"This is two weeks in a row now. He’s put up decent numbers and everything else, but when I think about winning in the NFL, all you have to do is look at the top teams — San Francisco, New Orleans, New England, the Packers have revamped their defense, the Bears, the Vikings at home. These are all teams that are going to be in the mix at the end of the season because of the way they play defense. Kansas City has probably opened up a lot of eyes around the league that they aren’t unbeatable, especially at Arrowhead because that is two losses in a row and that should never happen with a Patrick Mahomes and an Andy Reid led team.”
New England will face the Texans on Dec. 1 and then the Chiefs a week later.
Related
