Colin Cowherd currently is looking at the Patriots like many other pundits are as the 2021 NFL playoffs near.
He doesn't think New England is capable of making a run to Super Bowl LVI.
Cowherd isn't totally down on the Patriots as a team or on rookie quarterback Mac Jones. The FS1 talking head just seems to believe Bill Belichick's bunch will be outclassed at some point in the postseason.
"The Patriots, who have a great defense -- but opposite of the Chargers, they fall behind, they're not winning the game. They just don't fall behind much," Cowherd said Tuesday on "The Herd." "Listen, Mac Jones has been terrific. Nine games completing 70% of his passes or more. We knew he was accurate, but if it's not on script, you don't get anything here. They are 7-0 against teams with a losing record, they are 3-6 against teams .500 are better. So, they meet their match physically and they don't have the personnel to overcome a Kansas City -- that level of a team. A Green Bay, an Arizona. I just don't think they're built for long-term success right now in the playoffs."
Helping the Patriots' case is the fact that there's a fair amount of parity in the AFC. And in a fairly wide-open field, sometimes it all comes down to which team gets the hottest at the right time. With an elite head coach and an above-average defense, who's to say that team can't be New England?