Julian’s history
Edelman heads to the highlight reels
HOUSTON — Julian Edelman’s black-magic levitation kept the ball from grazing the turf an instant before he made the greatest catch in the greatest Super Bowl comeback of all time.
First, his left hand had it, then his right closed on it. Swimming in a sea of bodies, the Pats’ best receiver lost his grip entirely before he trapped the ball with both hands, a pair of red gloves keeping the ball barely an inch off the ground.
Edelman was horizontal as he collided with three Falcons backs, cradling a tipped Tom Brady pass for a first down across midfield, the signature moment of the drive that brought the Pats all the way back to 28-28 in the fourth quarter of their 34-28 overtime win against the Atlanta Falcons.
“It was one of the greatest catches I’ve ever seen,” Brady said. “I don’t know how the hell he caught it.”
“I think that’s just because we have our bromance,” Edelman said. “Made a decent play.”
Miraculous will be the description more often tied to it. After the Giants’ David Tyree and Mario Manningham, after Seattle’s Jermaine Kearse, this time, the Super Bowl circus catch went the Pats’ way.
“I’ve lived through two of the other ones,” Pats offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said.
Falcons cornerback Robert Alford pushed the ball up in the air before Edelman dived for the snag, transforming what could have been a virtual game-ending interception — and what should at least have been an incomplete pass — into a 23-yard gain that put the Pats on the Falcons 41 with a little more than two minutes to play. They were down 28-20.
Once Alford volleyed the ball over the middle on the right side, Edelman pushed his momentum forward toward the line of scrimmage.
Alford, Falcons backs Keanu Neal and Ricardo Allen all converged. Alford was falling backwards, while Neal, Allen and Edelman all dove in the same direction, creating a mess of limbs.
“I was over by the numbers and when the ball popped up in the air, we always say on our team, good things happen to those who run,” Allen said. “So when the ball is in the air, all of us, keep running.
“We get a lot of interceptions by effort. It ended up coming back to bite us.”
Somehow, the ball never touched the ground, confirmed by the officials on an Atlanta challenge.
“All I could do was to tip it in the air . . . was just hoping that one of my brothers came down with it,” said Alford, who picked off Brady and ran it back 82 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter. “I watched the replay, the first thing in my mind was, ‘Oh I would have caught that, I should have come down with it.’ But ... when I got my head around the ball’s right on me, so all I could do was tip it in the air.”
The catch was just one moment in a series of stunners, rather than a standalone punctuation a la Malcolm Butler’s interception two years ago in the Super Bowl.
Whether Edelman’s catch is the biggest moment in the game is debatable, but whether it was technically the most amazing catch is less so — despite how well the Falcons’ Julio Jones was able to keep his feet inbounds.
“I don’t know. I’m just happy,” Edelman said when asked if it’s his greatest catch ever, which it is. “You know what? Ah man, it was only good if we won the game.”
The catch was a far cry from how Brady and Edelman were playing earlier. Brady hit Edelman right in the hands early in the third quarter for a dropped pass. A crossing route on 3rd and-12 gave Edelman separation on Allen and Brady made a perfect throw — that wasn’t too common last night until the closing minutes — and Edelman couldn’t squeeze it.
Brady, pressured all night, also overthrew a wide-open Edelman multiple times.
“I’d bet on Julian in a lot of critical situations,” McDaniels said. “He’s come up big in so many things for us over so many years.”