The Patriots' Stench Is Stronger Than Taylor Kelce and Patrick Mahomes Combined

Don't worry, I'm not about to outline Taylor Swift's impact on the game of football this year. We already know she put the sport on the map.

I also won't go into grave detail again on how this Patriots' season has been more difficult to watch then Hot Tub Time Machine with your mom when you're 19 years old (true story unfortunately).

But in a season full of rock bottoms, the NFL stomped on the Patriots' crumpled bodies one more time, and deservedly so, flexing the Patriots-Chiefs Week 15 matchup out of Monday Night and into the Sunday 1pm slot. The first time a MNF game has EVER been flexed.

https://twitter.com/AdamSchefter/status/1730315603833966771

No one wants to watch the Patriots. Patriots fans don't even want to watch the Patriots. Tack on the fact that this game was sandwiched between two additional Patriot primetime games (those must've been untouchable), and the flex out makes more than logical sense.

But this league is about ratings. ESPN, the NFL, the hobo on your street corner knows that. And no one in the NFL drives ratings more than Patrick Mahomes. So I presumed this game was here to stay.

Combine that with one could argue the most popular man in pop culture this year, Travis Kelce, and the potential of his most popular human being on planet Earth girlfriend Taylor Swift potentially being in attendance, and I even further was convinced ESPN wouldn't flex this out if it meant having to bring Chris Broussard on as a guest speaker for their next DEI workplace conference.

But not Patrick Mahomes. Not Travis Kelce. Not Taylor Swift. Not the ratings that come with them, or the ratings that would come with people tuning in to listen to the ESPN talking heads trash the villainous Sith Lords that reigned over the NFL empire for two decades, could mask the stench that's spewing out of Gillette Stadium this year.

I don't think ESPN made this call. There's no way the exec team decided to pull Patrick Mahomes off one of the two games slotted to be on their airwaves this year. I don't care who they're playing. But the Patriots? Think about how many times they could show Taylor in the press box jumping for joy as the Chiefs' lead grows to 41-10 mid-way through the third quarter? I joke but not really. That's ratings baby.

It must've been the NFL. But even then it's still hard to believe. Maybe it's hard for me to believe the team I love is beyond irrelevant in the eyes of its own league. Okay, that's definitely it.

I didn't want this game on primetime to be clear. I've been embarrassed enough from this team, and as I mentioned they still will be shown to the world two more times.

I just can't believe we're so bad that the NFL and ESPN are stuffing the defending champs and face of the league away from the standalone spot and into 1pm Sunday oblivion. That we're the only game that has been and likely will be flexed this season. They aren't even flexing Jake Browing and the Bengals out of Monday Night!

Any other team I could wrap my head around. But the Chiefs makes it tough to swallow. This year especially, with them having more hype off the field than on it.

But that's where we are. It was the right move. It was the only move. I say I can't believe it but I can. It's just so sad how bad we are.

Can't wait to lose to the Chargers. At least no one will be watching that.

P.S. Patriots fans, play this while you watch us lose to the Chargers (daddy's farm in this case was the Lombardi trophy)