Edelman offers vital security
FOXBORO — Julian Edelman’s value to the Patriots can’t be overstated.
As the team continues to travel unprecedented waters without Tom Brady at quarterback, the Patriots wide receiver has proven to be the safety valve the young quarterbacks have needed.
And while Rex Ryan is busy being preoccupied with wondering if — and likely hoping — Edelman will play quarterback tomorrow, the wideout is already being productive enough in his natural position to make the Bills coach wary.
Whether it’s Jimmy Garoppolo or Jacoby Brissett under center, it hasn’t mattered. Edelman leads the team in receptions (18) and receiving yards (180) through three weeks — not gaudy numbers by any stretch of the imagination, but still critical as his inexperienced quarterbacks lean on him as a security blanket.
And most importantly for the Patriots, it’s all led toward the common goal.
“Both of them have gotten wins, so it’s great and all, but this is a new team and a new goal,” Edelman said as the Pats get ready to host the Bills. “It all depends on everyone doing their own job, not just the quarterbacks, so that’s kind of how I focus on it.”
That hasn’t been a problem so far for Edelman, but he faces a stiffer test tomorrow.
The Bills will be coming to Foxboro feeling good about themselves after an impressive 33-18 victory over the Cardinals last week in which they forced four Carson Palmer interceptions and sacked him five times in an impressive defensive performance.
Whoever it is under center for the Patriots, the Bills will figure to try to replicate that effort — and then some.
“They bring everything and they’re a well-coached team, a team that always plays us well,” Edelman said. “They have a veteran group in the back secondary that we’ve played a bunch and they know us, we know them. It’s going to be one of those games you have to execute and the best team that executes will go out and have a better chance of winning.”
If that’s the Patriots, they’ll be off to a 4-0 start without Brady, who returns Monday. The Pats have endured a season’s worth of adversity in the first month alone, and while cause for celebration may be subdued, that kind of start won’t be lost on Edelman.
“It tells you that you got a mentally tough team that goes out there and works hard and prepares hard and does the extra things,” Edelman said of the adversity the Pats have faced. “I’ve been around here a little while, and that’s just kind of the mentality we’ve always had and tried to continue to grow and continue to do. So we have a tough one ahead of us this week with the Bills and we’re gonna see how it tests out against these guys.”
And for Edelman, that includes — among other things — not looking a day ahead to welcoming one of his best friends back to the team.
“We have a game before that, so when he comes back we’ll obviously be happy, but we have a job ahead of us with the Buffalo Bills,” Edelman said.