FOXBORO, Mass. — Julian Edelman looked 100 percent when he returned to the field Saturday in the New England Patriots’ playoff matchup with the Kansas City Chiefs, but it took the receiver a quarter to knock the rust off his hands.
Edelman had two drops in the first quarter against the Chiefs. He was mic’d up for the game and appeared frustrated until Patriots quarterback Tom Brady calmed the receiver down by saying, “Hey, you’re trying to run with it, bubs. Catch and get down.”
Edelman put in extra work this week to make sure drops aren’t an issue in Sunday’s AFC Championship Game against the Denver Broncos.
“Just going out, catching extra balls,” Edelman said. “It’s plain and simple. The game comes down to fundamentals, going out and catching the ball. That’s my job. Making the situation as hard as possible during the week, going out, doing more ball drills, all of those types of things, that translates into confidence and going out and doing it during the game. So, we have some more time, and I’ll do some more.”
Edelman goes through a warmup hours before each game, practicing one-handed receptions, over the shoulder grabs and catches on the run.
“I think it helps a lot,” Edelman said. “It wakes up your nervous system, get your hand-eye coordination, little things like that. I’ve always been a big practice guy, whether it was baseball, catching ground balls or hitting, swinging as many times as you can until you feel like you master it, and then do more. That’s what I gotta do.”
Even with the drops, the Patriots likely would take Edelman’s performance against the Chiefs, in which he caught 10 passes for 100 yards, every week.
Thumbnail photo via Mark L. Baer/USA TODAY Sports Images
