Yes, it certainly will feel better if the airmass meter was defective.
Modern computers om a car share information. The engine will share rpm, load and those kind of things with the ESP/ABS, the automatic gearbox and others. The ESP needs that info to calculate how to counter act when wheel spin occurs. Engine load can be calculated from the amount of air going into the engine, so a defective airmass meter can bring up the ESP light.