NFL Barstool Sports’ Dave Portnoy: ‘The Chiefs are becoming the Patriots’ Is everyone in their ‘Red era’ now? Tom Brady shaking hands with Patrick Mahomes after the Chief defeated the Patriots 23-16 at Gillette Stadium. Foxborough MA 12/08/19. (photo by Matthew J. Lee/Globe staff)
Dave Portnoy, Barstool Sports founder and life-long Patriots fan, took to social media Sunday night to defend the legitimacy of the Patrick Mahomes-era Chiefs.
Following the Chiefs’ 17-10 victory over the Ravens in the AFC championship, Portnoy said that it’s fair to compare this Chiefs team to the Patriots dynasty that lasted from 2001-2019.
As the keeper of the Patriots Dynasty it is totally fair to start comparing the Chiefs to the the Pats. They aren’t there yet but the comparisons can fairly begin pic.twitter.com/r7Adc6BwST — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 28, 2024
“I am the keeper of the Patriots dynasty,” Portnoy said at the beginning of the video, offering a disclaimer to protective Patriots fans.
“The Chiefs are becoming the Patriots,” Portnoy said. “They’re not there. But that game, the way they play, the way they let the other team implode and make mistakes. Mahomes is like Brady. He makes every single play that you have to make.”
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While there’s no way of knowing yet that the Chiefs will achieve the same level of success that the Patriots did during the Tom Brady-Bill Belichick era, Mahomes is on track to exceed Brady’s performance through his first six seasons as a starter.
Patrick Mahomes 🆚 Tom Brady through their first 6 seasons as starters 👀 pic.twitter.com/fQH8kQHUod — The 33rd Team (@The33rdTeamFB) January 28, 2024
Super Bowl LVIII gives Mahomes the chance to tie Brady for Super Bowl wins through six seasons. With a .824 win percentage in the playoffs – the best of any quarterback with at least 15 postseason starts – Mahomes has proven he is dangerous to bet against.
However, it’s not only Mahomes who is elevating the Chiefs to potential dynasty-level status.
“You have Mahomes to Kelce, like Brady to Gronk,” Portnoy said.
In the divisional round game against the Bills on Jan. 21, Mahomes and tight end Travis Kelce passed Brady and Rob Gronkowski’s record for most postseason touchdowns between two players.
Brady and Gronk held the record with 15 postseason touchdowns over their 11 seasons playing together. However, the Mahomes-Kelce duo continues to raise the metric, putting up 17 total postseason touchdowns in only seven seasons.
That was like watching the Patriots in their prime and Brady and Gronk. Holy shit. — Dave Portnoy (@stoolpresidente) January 28, 2024
“I’m not gonna be insulted when people start saying ‘Are the Chiefs the next Patriots? Is Mahomes Brady?’ He’s not there,” Portnoy said. However, the Massachusetts-native did acknowledge the striking similarities between the two teams and their quarterbacks. He argued that defending the Patriots dynasty and acknowledging a burgeoning one in Kansas City doesn’t have to be mutually exclusive.
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“If you can’t have that conversation at this [point]… That was the Patriots, I was watching the Patriots,” Portnoy said.
‘The Chiefs are becoming the Patriots’
