Tom Brady talked extensively about playing without Julian Edelman
Two days after Julian Edelman was ruled out for the season with a torn ACL, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady explained his on-field chemistry with the receiver during an interview on WEEI Monday.
He said the pair has always had trust in each other on the field, which is why they work well together. They have connected in the regular season 397 times for 4,274 yards and 24 touchdowns.
“When you have that level of experience of game situations, practices, we’ve had so many hours of time together talking about routes and situations,” Brady said. “So much of quarterback-receiver relationship is about trust and I see things a certain way and the receivers need to see it the exact same way in order for me to really anticipate where to go with the ball. He and I just have had that. We’ve worked together since — this is our ninth year on the same team and talking about the same offense. We’re so in sync.”
Although Brady will be without a sure-handed and gritty target, he expressed confidence that the rest of the team’s offensive skill players can make up Edelman’s production.
“We have to find a different way to do it. I mean obviously with Danny [Amendola], I’ve had that with Danny. Danny has been such a great player for us. Hogs [Chris Hogan], he’s had a great camp. Brandin Cooks has done a great job. Malcolm [Mitchell], when he has been out there, I have a lot of trust in him,” he said. “All the backs and tight ends, we’re just going to have to pick up the slack. The production has to come from a different place. I know Jules usually gets a lot of looks. Makes a lot of catches for us. It has to be distributed somewhere else. Injuries are tough. It’s part of the game and we just have to try and overcome it.”
Brady acknowledged that although Edelman has come back from other injuries, he has not faced an injury of this degree. But Brady cited Edelman’s toughness and his work ethic when talking about the rehab process to get back on the field.
“He’ll overcome it. I think people have gotten pretty good at overcoming these injuries — knee injuries, surgery and so forth,” he said. “He’ll work hard. It happened in August, so whenever he has surgery he will have a long time before next season starts. He will put the work in that is required. It’s a tough injury being through it. It happened to me going into my ninth year and it happened to him going into his ninth year. I haven’t had any problems. Obviously, it is a different position, but he’ll overcome it.”
Brady said the team has to move forward and continue to prepare.
“We’re going to be tested this year. We’re going to be tested early. I am sure he’s not going to be the only one that gets injured over the course of the year. Every team has injuries so they are dealing with the same thing. No one is going to feel sorry for us. We have to understand this is where we’re at and this is how we have to get the job done and work as hard as we can at it,” Brady said.
