Julian Edelman didn’t look particularly enthused talking about what a great game he had on Sunday night.
Maybe it was the fact that, per usual, he wasn’t feeling physically great after the beating he took out on the field. Maybe it was because it ended in a 35-30 New England loss to Seattle. Maybe it was the fact that it’s really, really difficult to read visual cues over a WebEx call. Or maybe it was all of the above.
For all the good that happened in Edelman’s eight-catch, career-best 179-yard performance, the veteran wide receiver didn’t much feel like celebrating any of it.
He wasn’t going to totally ignore it either.
“There were a lot of things that were left out there and it’s unfortunate but I can tell you right now, you tip your hat to Seattle. They’re a very good football team,” Edelman said. “You also have to look at the men in the locker room, our locker room, and we learned a lot from these guys. We were down two scores with four minutes to go, across the country, against a really good football team and came back.
“We knew it was going to go down to the last play, we kept on saying that this whole week, and it literally came to the last play. They got us but I’m really proud with how we fought as a team.”
One of the last plays of the game was nearly a game-winning catch by No. 11.
After injuries decimated the Seattle secondary, Ugo Amadi spent most of the final drive trying to cover the Patriots’ squirrelly receiver.
Edelman beat Amadi off the line with 41 seconds left and picked up a 5-yard holding call that prevented a bigger play from happening.
On the next play, Edelman escaped Seattle’s coverage and found an opening for an 18-yard pickup with 36 seconds left to put the ball at the 13.
Cam Newton rushed the team to the line and ran a play, again looking to the veteran. Edelman escaped Amadi long enough to get open, but Newton’s pass flew just a bit high and slid through Edelman’s hands.
“I just missed,” Edelman said. “It got on me quick and I didn’t make the play.”
When asked why he continued targeting Edelman, Newton didn’t hesitate.
“He’s Jules,” Newton said. “That’s why.”
It didn’t look like the two were connecting at all in the first half.
Over the first two quarters, despite the Patriots constantly coming out in multiple receiver sets, Damiere Byrd was Newton’s favorite target. Nothing went Edelman’s way in the first quarter and he finished with just one catch for eight yards in the first half.
Then in the second half he put together maybe the best 30 minutes of his career — seven catches, all for first downs, for 171 yards, each one better than the last.
One minute into the second half, Edelman caught ball for a 16-yard gain and took a big hit from Amadi. He got up limping, which became a trend for the remainder of the game.
“I’ll tell you that (on Monday). Usually you still have the adrenaline up right now,” said Edelman, when asked how he was feeling after the game. “I’ll probably be pretty sore (Monday), but that’s football. That’s a tough football team and they play hard. Any time you play them you’re always pretty sore after the game.”
Perhaps thinking of the big hit he took and two defenders ready to pounce, Edelman dropped Newton’s next offering. He made up for it two plays later with a diving catch for 26 yards.
Late in the third, with Seattle superstar safety Jamal Adams on him, Edelman came up with an unbelievable diving grab for a 49-yard gain that helped set up Newton’s eventual TD pass to Jakob Johnson.
Edelman got Adams again two drives later, coming up with a diving 33-yarder that left him just short of the goal line as Adams desperately tried to rip the ball from his hands with 3:01 left in the game.
“He’s a heck of a football player,” Edelman said. “He plays the game hard. Nothing but respect for him.”
It was a big game for Edelman, one many No. 1 receivers wouldn’t have a hard time talking about.
But those stats and numbers and what his role in the game plan was didn’t mean as much to him as what the scoreboard said.
“I mean I didn’t think anything like that,” Edelman said. “I was just more concerned and worried about going out and playing well and doing what the team asked me to do.”
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