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Esiason: Impressive Win, But Still A Long Way To Go For The Patriots

BOSTON (CBS) - It took five weeks, but New England fans finally got to see their Patriots play a complete game, for all 60 minutes with all three phases performing up to their potential.

CBS Sports football analyst and WFAN radio host Boomer Esiason called 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich Monday morning for his regularly scheduled appearance to weigh in.

"I'm sure everybody's feeling a little bit better up there after last night's performance," Boomer said to lead off the interview, and he couldn't be more right.

The team came out of the gate with a lot of emotion, firing on all cylinders and really took it to the then-undefeated Bengals -- night and day from how it was through the first four games.

So why the flip of the switch?

"Cincinnati is still a very good team. I'll tell you what flipped the switch. It was all the negative press that was coming out of that locker room. All the questions about Tom Brady's future, whether or not he still has what it takes to be a top notch quarterback," said Boomer.

After looking lifeless on Monday night in a blowout loss to the Chiefs in Kansas City, fans around these parts were legitimately uncertain -- maybe for the first time ever under Brady and Belichick -- how the team would respond in prime time.

The Patriots, as they've done so many times before in that very spot, proved all the doubters wrong, which Esiason says was expected.

"Last night was somewhat predictable. When you have a charged up team, a team that's been challenged and written off in the papers -- I'm sure it was a long week for those guys after they were embarrassed in Kansas City -- so given the fact that all these prime time games are blowouts one way or the other, I'm not totally surprised by it."

Esiason says the real test now is how they build off the win, and going up to Buffalo to play the 3-2 Bills with their great defensive line is no small task. The schedule the rest of the way is only going to get tougher, so we'll find out what this team is truly made of in the coming weeks.

"We're going to find out a lot about this team next week, because they're going on the road in the division to play an upstart Buffalo Bills team that really has played very well. We'll get a better handle of how good this Patriots team is next week in Buffalo," said Esiason. "I still think there's a long way to go. Hopefully for them they continue to ride the wave of emotion they were riding last night."

Listen below!

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