FOXBORO, Mass. — The Denver Broncos obviously aren’t dedicated listeners to the hot-sports-take stylings of WEEI’s “Dennis & Callahan.”
If they were, they would’ve known Tom Brady and the New England Patriots planned to involve Julian Edelman more in the offense Sunday after the wide receiver had two games with two drops apiece. The quarterback emphasized on the early morning radio show Monday that Edelman would have his opportunities after catching just five passes on 13 targets for 58 yards against the New York Jets and Chicago Bears.
Said Brady: “I’m going to get him more and get him in the flow of the offense so that he can be the great player that he is.”
Well, it worked. Edelman caught nine passes for 89 yards and one touchdown in the Patriots’ 43-21 whooping of the Broncos at Gillette Stadium. Edelman also returned a punt 84 yards for a touchdown that put his name in the Patriots’ record books: He’s now the franchise’s career leader in punt returns for scores.
“The guy dropped the ball, (Britton) Colquitt. I was like, ‘Is he going to punt it?’ ” Edelman recalled in the Patriots’ locker room after the game. “And he punted it, and it was kind of low, and it didn’t turn over, and I set up some blocks, and I turned and saw Timmy Wright, and he hit someone, and I bolted the way we were supposed to go, and went this way, and I saw a bunch of guy out there blocking their tails off. We got in the end zone, so it was a great play.”
Edelman’s last man to beat was Colquitt, and he needed to shake the Broncos punter. Otherwise, Edelman would have heard from his teammates.
“I’m thinking, ‘It’s a touchdown — hopefully, or I’m gonna hear a lot of crap,’ ” Edelman said. “I had a little piano on the back at the end, but we got it in.”
Edelman said he didn’t need to make any adjustments after his less-than-stellar performances the previous two weeks, going back to those always-important fundamentals.
“Just literally went in and put the hard hat on, and took the lunch pail to work and went back to the fundamentals and worked on those,” Edelman said. “Watched a lot of film and prepared to the fullest of our ability, and things went my way — went our way this week.”
Edelman slipped and thought about himself for a second. He’s the consummate Patriots player, always putting the team before himself, but even he had to admit that it feels better without the drops and with a fuller box score.
“A lot better,” Edelman said. “You always want to contribute.”
Photo via Elise Amendola/Associated Press
