Julian Edelman dropped two passes during the New England Patriots’ Week 4 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
On the first, he was rescued by fellow Patriots wideout Gunner Olszewski, who was able to corral the ball after it glanced off Edelman’s hands.
He wasn’t so lucky on the second. That one resulted in a Tyrann Mathieu pick six that essentially put the game away in the fourth quarter.
Edelman was asked about these miscues Friday during an interview on WEEI’s “The Greg Hill Show.”
“I think you have to be onto the next week,” he replied. “That is not the first time I dropped a ball, probably won’t be the last. It’s football. That is how it goes. Sometimes you’re going to be hot, sometimes you’re not. … It’s something you have to fix. That’s what we’re doing in practice. That’s what I am trying to do all the time. Your job as a receiver is to get open and catch the ball.
“(I) let my team down a little bit last week, and I’m looking forward this week to go out and try and help them.”
Dropped passes long have been an issue for the 34-year-old receiver. He ranked in the top three in the NFL in that category in 2016, 2018 and 2019, according to Pro Football Focus. (He missed the 2017 season with a torn ACL.)
Edelman’s five drops this season are tied for second-most in the league. Only Stefon Diggs (six) has more, and he’s played five games to Edelman’s four.
A knee injury has limited Edelman in all but one practice this season, and the Patriots have chosen to scale back his workload. He’s been on the field for just 68.2 percent of offensive snaps through four games — down from 87.4 percent in 2019 — ranking a distant third among New England wideouts behind N’Keal Harry (76.8 percent) and Damiere Byrd (91.8 percent).
After racking up a career-high 179 receiving yards on eight catches in a Week 2 loss to the Seattle Seahawks, Edelman has totaled just five catches on 12 targets for 58 yards and no touchdowns over his last two contests.
