Julian Edelman is skeptical of the New England Patriots’ chances this season.
“They’re not there yet,” Edelman said in an interview with FOX Sports Colin Cowherd.
In Edelman’s eyes, the Patriots are a few steps away from being a true Super Bowl contender. And each of those weaknesses played a part in blowing the game, in their 35-31 loss to the Buffalo Bills last Sunday. That defeat came down to inexperience when it comes to closing out games, a struggling red-zone defense, and a team too hampered by injuries to key players to make up for those shortcomings.
At first, the Patriots were in position to sweep the Bills in the season series. They jumped out to a 21-0 lead with quarterback Drake Maye rushing for a pair of touchdowns. They gave themselves a chance to put a foot on the Bills’ neck and dethrone a team that has won the AFC East for five consecutive seasons.
“Can’t win ‘til you keep from losing, and the second half was an example of that,” Edelman said. “Look, they start out on fire… have a great game plan, but you got to play your best football at the end, which they haven’t done.”
On the first drive of the second half, the Bills went 44 yards on six plays, running it five times before quarterback Josh Allen hit tight end Dawson Knox for a 4-yard touchdown. Thriving off that momentum, Buffalo rattled off three more touchdown drives to seal the game. Allen and Knox connected for another score, and running back James Cook ran it in from 11 yards out.
“They’re trying to be a bend-don’t-break team, but you can only do that if you’re good in the red area,” Edelman said. “They’re 75%, giving up touchdowns in the red area, which is last.”
Youth and a lack of fortitude in the red zone can only be masked by talent. The Patriots have had the talent to overcome that for the majority of the season as they rattled off a 10-game winning streak, but as that talent has been lost to injury, it gets harder to patch up those cracks.
“It’s hard to win in this league,” Edelman said. “It’s good to recalibrate your brain and your week of work going into these last three, four weeks.”
Edelman views this loss to the Bills as a positive because the Patriots stayed competitive in a game that Cowherd said “mattered more for Buffalo”, and can now learn from that loss.
If New England wants to prove Edelman and Cowherd wrong, they’ll need to follow their advice and learn from this defeat. There’s a chance that, for the Patriots to win the Super Bowl, they’ll have to face the Bills again first. And Buffalo will take advantage of New England if it doesn’t grow from this.
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