Facing a third-and-10 on his own 20-yard line, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady dropped back, scanned the field and found No. 11 in blue, standing with a sliver of daylight. Brady fired, the ball was caught and the Patriots moved ahead 11 yards. First down.
Julian Edelman was back. For the first time in two months, Edelman was on the field for New England, having recovered from a Jones fracture, one that required a screw to be surgically inserted into a bone in his left foot and required a protective plate in his shoe to prevent further injury. For Brady, he again had his security blanket. Edelman finished with 10 catches and 100 yards on the day.
Immediately after the game, though, the question was raised: Will the Patriots have Edelman on the field next week? Edelman walked back to the training room after the game, and it was reported that he would have an X-ray on his foot. But Edelman insisted there were no X-rays, and it’s entirely possible that the whole exercise was mere precaution.
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“Everyone is sore at this time of year,” Edelman said. “I finished the game, and I feel good enough to get ready to prepare for next week.”
Not having Edelman around would be an obvious blow, as he showed on Saturday. Brady has come to lean on Edelman in the tightest situations, and did so again in the team’s playoff opener, helping pave the way for New England’s 27-20 victory over the Chiefs. That puts the Patriots back in the AFC championship game for the fifth consecutive year.
“I think he has worked his tail off,” Brady said. “He has always been one of the hardest workers I’ve ever played with, one of the most determined young men that’s on this team. He has as much heart as anybody. It’s a serious injury he is coming back from and what he did today was great.”
Other Patriots receivers made bigger plays. Tight end Rob Gronkowski, who was an injury question mark entering the weekend because of knee and back problems, had his first multi-score game since Week 1, catching two touchdowns and racking up 83 yards receiving. The 42-yard pass from Brady to Keshawn Martin on the Patriots’ second touchdown drive, in the second quarter, was the biggest of the day.
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That score was set up by the play that drew the loudest cheers here, an adrenaline-pushing plod to the goal line by the 38-year-old Brady, who was ruled short of a touchdown but forced the ball over on a quarterback sneak on the next play.
But as we’ve seen with the Patriots, those plays don’t happen without Edelman on the field, extending drives that had routinely sputtered when he was out. The pass to Martin came after the Patriots started on their own 2-yard line after a good punt and a penalty. Brady went to the shotgun and fired a 14-yard pass to Edelman on a crossing route for a first down. That gave Brady the breathing room to find Martin two plays later.
Of Edelman’s 10 catches, seven resulted in first downs. He also ran an end-around that netted a first down. That means Edelman was responsible for almost 40 percent of the Patriots’ first downs.
In their first nine games, with Edelman, the Patriots were 9-0, averaging 33.7 points and 325.9 yards passing per game. In the final seven games, they were 3-4, scoring 23.1 points per game and logging 236.3 passing yards. The drop-off is not entirely a result of Edelman’s absence — the Patriots have been hammered with injuries in the running game and along the offensive line, and ran the ball only 14 times against Kansas City.
But Edelman gives Brady a reliable outlet that allows him to get rid of the ball quickly, minimizing the disappearance of the running game and the holes in the offensive line. If the Patriots are going to cash in on a Super Bowl trip next week, his troublesome foot must not be a problem. As he walked out of the Patriots locker room, Edelman was not limping or in any kind of protective wear.
So things with the foot are fine, right? No chance of missing next week? “Ask coach,” he said.
