Love of the crowd
Edelman makes big impression
‘He always gets people going. He’s one of the leaders on this team. He may not have to say anything. Just go out there and make plays.’ — PATRIOTS RUNNING BACK JAMES WHITE On teammate and fan favorite Julian Edelman (right)
FOXBORO — Even before the appeal, even before the appeal was denied, everyone knew Julian Edelman was going to miss the first four games of the Patriots’ 2018 season.
Spare us the talk about how veteran NFL cornerback Richard Sherman beat a rap for testing positive for performance-enhancing drugs. Yes, he did beat the NFL like he’s beat so many opposing wideouts to the ball, but it was all about urine samples and magic lawyer tricks, and that circus has long since pulled out of town. Good for Richard. Edelman’s going to sit four games.
Which brings us to yesterday’s Patriots training camp activities out back of Gillette Stadium, where several thousand fans turned out to see ... well, they came to see the whole shebang but from the sound of things they came to see Edelman, and to let everyone for miles around know they liked what they were seeing.
Even in a setting where seemingly thousands of players were running in every direction, and on two practice fields, Edelman stood out. Running a wheel route down the right sideline, he made an over-theshoulder catch of a Brian Hoyer pass. Yes, Hoyer’s toss was pristine, but what had the crowd roaring was that Edelman easily beat the coverage, extending his arms into the hot, sticky air to pull the ball in at the last second.
Take away the razzmatazz of a touchdown pass, and something even more important was happening. Edelman was making crisp, sharp cuts in and out of the slot, which means he was doing exactly what he was doing last year before ripping apart the ACL in his right knee during a preseason game against the Lions. It was the last we saw of Edelman in shoulder pads until this week.
And, oh, how the crowd loved it. They didn’t care a lick that Edelman must sit out the first four games, partly because the receiver is the most popular Patriot not named Brady or Gronkowski but also because, let’s face it, nobody much cares about PED violations in football.
Baseball purists can cling to sacred home run records and what the needled-up Gigantors of the 1990s and early 2000s did to nudge Babe Ruth, Henry Aaron and Roger Maris off the game’s grand historical stage, but this is not a football problem.
Even fans in other pockets of Football America who would dare to use the Edelman case as yet another example of how the Patriots are serial cheaters — Spygate! Deflategate! Juliangate! — would sound like dweeby yahoos to start screaming, “See? They’re doing it again!”
And yet, let’s face it, it’s hard to see Edelman look so fine in training camp and not be saying to yourself, “But the four games. Damn.”
The good news for Pats fans, and we’re going big picture here, is that Edelman seems fully recovered from the ACL injury. The bad news, and we’re going small picture here, is the four games.
Judging from the roar of the crowd yesterday, everyone’s going big picture.
Edelman wasn’t available to the media mob, so we asked some teammates if they were aware of the big hubbub he caused.
Yes, said running back James White, because, “He’s the man! He always gets people going. He’s one of the leaders on this team. He may not have to say anything. Just go out there and make plays.”
Kicker Stephen Gostkowski barely noticed Edelman or heard the crowd.
“There’s people who yell at a lot of different players, and it’s usually Tom, Julian or Rob,” he said.
Perhaps the most interesting take on Edelman was provided by Devin Lucien, a 25-year-old receiver who in just two seasons has logged time on the practice squads of the Patriots, Colts, Chiefs, Texans and Bucs. He’s back with the Pats, still hasn’t played in a regular-season NFL game, and it’s entirely possible Edelman’s absence might lead to some big-league experience for the kid.
Far from suggesting the suspension created an “opportunity,” Lucien presents himself as president of the Julian Edelman Fan Club.
“You never not hear Jules and The Squirrel on the sideline,” said Lucien, referencing Edelman’s nickname for himself. “And it’s really motivational because you hope that one day (the fans) are screaming for you. Jules has been like a mentor to be, not only to me, but all the guys. So the last thing you want to do is harp on what someone else is going through.”
Besides, said Lucien, “People got hurt during the last camp I was in and I ended up with five different teams. Stuff like that happens.”
In football, in particular, nobody gets in a snit when stuff like that happens.