The Patriots are having a strong season under first-year coach Mike Vrabel. And while New England is 11-3 and atop the AFC East standings, Julian Edelman doesn’t believe his former team is a Super Bowl contender just yet.
“I view it that they’re not there yet,” Edelman said during a recent appearance on “The. Herd.” “Still a young team. Something we used to hear all the time: ‘Can’t win until you keep from losing,’ and the second half (of Sunday’s loss) was an example of that.”
The Patriots took a 21-point lead over the Buffalo Bills into halftime of their Week 15 matchup. But Josh Allen and the Bills came back as New England looked to have no answers in the second half.
“You gotta play your best football at the end of the game,” Edelman said. “At the end of the season, which they havent done.”
Edelman pointed to the Patriots wanting to be a “bend, don’t break” team.
“But you can only do that if you’re good in the red area, and they’re 75% giving up touchdowns in the red area, which is last,” he said.
The Super Bowl LIII believes the defense will get cleaned up when Milton Williams returns from injured reserve. The Patriots were also missing Robert Spillane against the Bills, which only hurt the defense.
Despite the 10-game winning streak coming to an end, Edelman doesn’t see it a a bad thing.
“This is a good thing for them,” he said. “It’s hard to win in this league. They just rattled off a 10-game winning streak, that’s insanely impressive. It’s good to kind of maybe recalibrate your brain going into the last three or four weeks because now is the time you have to play your best football.”
The Patriots travel to Baltimore to take on the Ravens on Sunday night before taking on the New York Jets on the road in Week 17. New England wraps up its season at home on Jan. 4 against the Miami Dolphins.