Colin Cowherd believes Bill Belichick is concerned about facing Patrick Mahomes again

At this point, it doesn’t seem the Patriots will miss wide receiver Antonio Brown.

Brown was cut last week and New England won its only game in which he played. The Patriots also won their other two games and have outscored opponents 106-17 this year.

It may have seemed odd that New England would add Brown to their roster, but Fox Sports talk show host Colin Cowherd thinks the reason is simple: Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.

“They go into the season, Josh Gordon is coming back, (Julian) Edelman is healthy and they draft a wide receiver,” Cowherd said Tuesday on his show. “There was no reason to get Antonio Brown, who has a reputation that is well-documented. Why do they do it? Because of Patrick Mahomes.”

Cowherd compared Mahomes to Golden State star Steph Curry, whose three-point shooting proficiency has changed the NBA.

“They’re the only team I’ve ever seen at the midfield stripe, it feels like they’re in the red zone,” Cowherd said of the Chiefs. “That’s the red zone for them. Everybody else, it’s 20 and in. For Chicago sometimes it feels like 6 yards and in. For Kansas City, midfield is the red zone.”

Cowherd believes that offensive firepower is why Patriots coach Bill Belichick rolled the dice on Brown. Specifically, Mahomes’ performance in the second half of last year’s AFC Championship Game grabbed Belichick’s attention.

“The last six, seven quarterbacks he has faced, they can’t move the ball (against) New England,” Cowherd said. “They can’t move the ball. (Chargers quarterback) Philip Rivers could not move the ball. (The Rams’) Jared Goff and Sean McVay could not move the ball. (Jets quarterback) Sam Darnold was playing great the last four or five weeks of the season, played New England, could not get first downs. Nobody moves the ball.

“Patrick Mahomes plays them and scores 24 points in the fourth quarter (of the AFC Championship Game). ... Belichick at that point said, ‘OK, this is Steph Curry.‘ We could put the world’s best defense up, Steph Curry hits a 37-footer. ... There are players that just shift the paradigm.”

Cowherd argued that Belichick is likely already thinking ahead of another meeting with the Chiefs. Kansas City will play the Patriots on Dec. 8 and possibly again in January.

“I wonder in Kansas City right now if Belichick is thinking, ‘Am I going to get beat with a team that I’ve got better special teams, significantly better defense, I think our coaching is better? I think we’re better across the board. We just can’t stop him,’” Cowherd said.

“Will they change the NFL? That they can be average everywhere else and Andy Reid and Mahomes will out-clever you, out-aggressive you, outplay you and beat you. Because right now what they’re doing without a lot of their key pieces, it’s just insane.”

Here is the clip of Cowherd talking about Mahomes and the Patriots:

This story was originally published September 25, 2019 at 1:51 PM.