Julian Edelman: 'The Patriots Just Aren't The Patriots Right Now'
BOSTON (CBS) -- Julian Edelman, aka Mr. Patriot, has some bad news for New England: "The Patriots just aren't the Patriots right now."
Edelman shared last week that Bill Belichick gave his blessing for Edelman to not be a "homer" and to "MF" the Patriots when needed. Edelman took that opportunity in this week's episode of "Inside The NFL" on Paramount+.
When discussing Dallas' OT win over New England, Edelman spoke to the reality that Gillette Stadium is no longer the issue for opponents that it once was.
"[The Cowboys] go on the road, in Foxboro, a notoriously tough place to play. Right now, it's not. But notoriously," Edelman said.
At that point, Edelman went on a bit of a rant regarding the uncharacteristic mistakes that his former team continues to make.
"The Patriots just aren't the Patriots right now, and it hurts me to say this. They are not the Patriots," Edelman said. "We are so used to seeing the last 20 years -- and I know there's different players, and this, that, but there's still a group of guys in there that know how they should play. They need to start playing mistake-free football. They've had a handful of plays this year where they if they would have went their way, if they would have taken care of the football, if they didn't get two blocked punts -- hasn't been done since '93 in New England), if they would have not thrown an interception, if the linemen didn't let the quarterback have guys running at him free ... . I'm a little venting right now."
Co-host Brandon Marshall stepped in to make sure that Edelman didn't say anything he'll regret about his former team just a few weeks after honoring him at halftime.
"[Belichick said] 'Don't be a homer, you can MF us if you need to MF us.' Well, I'm MFing you! I'm MFing!" Edelman said. "They need to start taking care of the football. I don't want to hear 'Mac Jones is a rookie.' He's got six games under his belt; he's not a rookie no more, and he's been compounding good performances."
Edelman concluded: "There needs to be some accountability in those rooms."
Considering Edelman was in those rooms himself just last year, this is a good indication of the honest types of conversations that are taking place at 1 Patriot Place.
@Edelman11 said what he said pic.twitter.com/Cu16xjerKI
— Inside the NFL (@insidetheNFL) October 20, 2021
The Patriots are 2-4, and they're 0-4 at home. And even the man who's taken "Foxboro Forever" as his trademark phrase is having a hard time recognizing his former team.