Heading into their bye week, the New England Patriots were in possession of a 10-game win streak and figured to be the new favorites to win the AFC. Once they managed to come out of that break and immediately find an early 21-0 lead over the Buffalo Bills, it seemed as if that would be the inevitable truth.
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But then Josh Allen did what Josh Allen does, and recorded the 25th game-winning drive of his professional career. It’s a rattling upset for New England, and now, their former wide receiver, Julian Edelman, is speculating on what needs to be done to “fix” the team.
“You’ve gotta play your best football at the end of the game and at the end of the season, which they haven’t done there,” Edelman stated during his latest appearance with Colin Cowherd. “You kind of anticipate that they’re trying to be a bend-but-don’t-break team, but you can only do that if you’re good in the red area and they are 75% giving up touchdowns in the red area, which is last.”
While Edelman did ultimately suggest that he trusts the defense to “clean things up” upon the return of Milton Williams, he still has concerns for the offense, as he believes that they “kind of ran out of plays” against the Bills on Sunday. Although, it “could be a good thing for them,” Edelman suggested, knowing that a humble approach to the playoffs can often pay dividends.
The Patriots are set to take on a flailing Baltimore Ravens team, which could be without Lamar Jackson in Week 16, potentially making this a nice bounce-back opportunity for New England. Nevertheless, to see an implosion of that magnitude occur against Buffalo in both December and in Foxborough is enough for Edelman to assert that “they’re not there yet.”
Apart from the Ravens match-up, the only remaining teams on New England’s schedule are the lowly New York Jets and a Miami Dolphins team that will now be led by backup quarterback Quinn Ewers. Those two affairs will cap off what many believe has been a cakewalk of a schedule for the Patriots.
The combined record of their opponents throughout the past 15 weeks comes out to 63-119, and as of writing, only two of the teams that New England has faced this season currently have a winning record. Now, in their defense, the Patriots themselves finished the 2024 season with a 4-13 record, so they were deservedly given an easier path for 2025.
But now that they are suddenly in contention for the AFC championship, that does make them that much harder to evaluate. Factor in just how young this team is and the fact that this is still Mike Vrabel’s first year with the headset, and it’s hard to fault Edelman for believing that, while this has been an encouraging start, the Patriots still have a few more growing pains to endure before they can truly begin to be regarded as Super Bowl contenders.
