Mac Jones has received major criticism from across the NFL media landscape following his woeful performance against the Dallas Cowboys in Week 4. A New England Patriots icon joined the chorus of those ripping the quarterback.

Julian Edelman took aim at Jones' performance, particularly the interception he threw in the first half of Sunday's game, in which he completed 12 of 21 passes for 150 yards with two interceptions and a lost fumble.

“This is a quarterback league,” Edelman said in an interview on “The Ryen Russillo Podcast.” “You have to have a quarterback that fits your system to win games. Look at all the good teams. They all have good quarterbacks. And right now Mac hasn’t been developing at the rate that they want. … Billy O’Brien, I guarantee he’s looking at everything [Josh] McDaniels did, he’s looking at everything that Mac is comfortable with, and he’s still having rookie-type throws.”

Jones' development was arguably the biggest storyline for the Patriots entering 2023. The 2021 first-round pick had a mixed bag of results through his first two seasons, having a strong rookie year but taking a step back in 2022. Many pointed to the Patriots' change at offensive coordinator as the root cause of Jones' performance last season. New England decided to make Matt Patricia its offensive play-caller to replace McDaniels last season in a widely questioned move.

In addition to the Patriots' unorthodox decision to replace McDaniels, there was some blame placed on New England's talent along the offensive line and at wide receiver. Some of that blame has carried into 2023, but Edelman isn't buying it.

“Ultimately, it comes down to Mac Jones. You can put a lot of it on the offensive line — that he doesn’t have time — but you can’t go out and do what he did. That was bad football,” Edelman said. “You can’t throw late across the field twice in four plays. The first time he got away with it … you can’t do that. You can tell Mac’s a little — he’s feeling it right now, because he’s missing open reads early. He’s tunneled into guys that he feels comfortable with.

“He’s very out of sync right now, and it was bad. You’ve gotta take care of the football. Bill’s gonna preach that. ‘Guys, we need to take care of the football.’ Because once you start doing that, that team’s not designed, the Patriots aren’t designed to play from behind. They just can’t do it.”

RECOMMENDED (Article Continues Below)
Deebo Samuel next to the Bills and Patriots logos

Benedetto Vitale ·

Drake Maye surrounded by his brothers, who call him "overrated" and "pretty boy"

Joshua Valdez ·

cG9zdDoyODE4NTUw-thumbnail

Conor Roche ·

Jones put up solid numbers through the Patriots' first three games of the season, ranking in the top 10 in passing yards and touchdowns entering Week 4. But Sunday's performance hurt his season numbers as he now has 898 passing yards, five passing touchdowns, and four interceptions so far this season.

Mac Jones receives internal support

While Jones has ripped from the outside, those inside the Patriots' locker room and facilities have backed him up this week. Bill Belichick indicated that Jones is still the starter and O'Brien believes that the quarterback is better than how he played on Sunday.

Jones received vocal support from a teammate as well.