The man on the other end of the phone thinks Braylon Edwards deserves the criticism for all his dropped passes, and that if he doesn’t figure it out soon, he’ll never live up to his potential.

He was not an angry Jets fan, or a frustrated talk-radio host, or even Brian Schottenheimer disguising his voice. This was someone with a much more personal connection to the Jets receiver.

His dad.

“Am I worried about him getting a reputation for dropping the football?” Stan Edwards asked this week from suburban Detroit. “No. Because let’s be honest — he’s earned it.”

His son is one of the most skilled receivers in football. He is big, strong and athletic. He is a smart player with good football instincts who knows how to get behind the defense.

He does everything right, with one notable exception.

Catching ... the ... damn ... ball!

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If his tendency to become a Dropasaurus flummoxes Joe Jets Fan — and no doubt projectiles were flying at televisions when he dropped a sure touchdown pass in the team’s first-round victory — imagine how Stan Edwards feels.

He coached his son in youth football and watched him compile three 1,000-yard seasons with 39 touchdowns at grind-it-out Michigan. He was there when Edwards was taken with the third overall pick in the NFL Draft, by the Cleveland Browns.

He, better than anyone, knows what his son is capable of doing on a football field. But ask him to explain those drops ...

“Wish I knew,” he said. “It’s mind-boggling. He’ll make catches that nobody else in the game will make. It’s not making a difficult catch. He’ll make a borderline impossible catch! And then he’ll drop one on a simple route.”

The Jets sure could use a breakout game from Edwards to beat San Diego this week — that much is obvious. But the reverse is also true. Edwards needs one to validate the Jets’ midseason move to bring him here from Cleveland, and to prove they should keep him around.

Edwards has never had an opportunity like this in his career. Stranded in Cleveland, an NFL purgatory, he morphed into an unpopular player in Ohio State territory who came from That School Up North.

He reached the Pro Bowl in 2007 but struggled the following season, and the fans turned on him. Stan Edwards remembers his son’s house being egged the week of the Ohio State game, his lawn strewn with trash. He called it “a negative situation for everyone.”

“The Michigan-Ohio State thing is real,” the father said. “I remember one night, we needed a police escort back from a restaurant — this was during the offseason. These people were very serious about causing bodily harm. I thought I was going to have to fight.”

Edwards embraced coming to the Jets. He raves about the winning culture in Florham Park, the chance to finally prove himself in the playoffs — an opportunity his father, a six-year pro, never had.

“I’d like to be a Jet for the rest of my years,” Edwards said Wednesday, but it would be hard for the Jets to sign him to a long-term contract until he gets the dropsies out of his system.

So what is it? Is he pressing? Is he losing concentration? Does he need to have his vision checked (hey, more than one person at Jets camp wondered about that out loud Wednesday)? Edwards has his theories.

He talked about finally getting through the legal issues stemming from a nightclub incident in Cleveland, which were resolved in court on Tuesday. He talked about having five different quarterbacks in Cleveland and the inconsistencies there. He mentioned the lack of throws coming his way with the Jets, which leads to “over thinking” when a ball is thrown his way.

“We run the ball so much, I’ve had two pass attempts last week, and when you get one, you’re thinking, ‘Okay, here it is, I’ve got to make the play,’ instead of just having fun,” Edwards said.

That explanation won’t mean much if Edwards drops another big one against the Chargers. Head coach Rex Ryan has done his best to pass along a little confidence, announcing that Edwards was due for “one of those bust-out” games. Quarterback Mark Sanchez said the team would keep throwing him the ball because “he’s a stud, and you feed the stud.”

The Jets saw the stud side of Edwards in an impressive five-catch debut against the Dolphins. Right now, the team would probably settle for a couple big plays. Because, as somebody who knows him better than anyone points out, there is only one way to change his reputation.

“People wouldn’t be harping on him dropping passes,” his father said, “if he wasn’t dropping passes.”

Steve Politi appears regularly in The Star-Ledger. He may be reached at spoliti@starledger.com, or follow him at Twitter.com/NI_StevePoliti.