I have interest in Julian Edelman this week. After Michael Thomas, I think he’s the guy who’ll catch the most passes this week.
Edelman is getting up there in years (he’s 33) and was banged up late in the season. He wasn’t productive in two of their last three games. But he says he’s feeling better physically now, and I think they’ll start using him more as they head into the postseason.
Edelman has tended to turn up his game a notch in the postseason in the past. In the last 15 playoff games that he’s seen notable playing time, he’s caught 113 passes for 1,393 yards and 5 TDs.
He’s seen at least 10 targets in his last 12 playoff games. He has not, however, been a notable touchdown scorer (just 3 TDs in his last 14 playoff games).
All of those New England teams, of course, had better passing games than what they have now. Tom Brady might be slipping. Both he and Edelman are getting older. And the offensive line isn’t as good.
But I thought the Patriots passing game looked very good when they had a meaningful Week 16 show-down game against Buffalo. Brady went 26 of 33 for 271 yards in that game, with Edelman catching 5 for 72.
This week they’re playing against a Tennessee defense that’s not nearly as good as the Bills. The Titans allowed an average of 272 passing yards in the regular season. Only six teams allowed more.
I don’t consider this to be a tap-in game for the Patriots. Tennessee went 7-3 with Ryan Tannehill starting and seems to have the better offense.
But experience and home-field advantage count, I think. I would not be opposed to working Edelman into my playoff lineup for this week. (We are playing PPR, right?)
| EDELMAN IN THE POSTSEASON | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Year | Opp | Result | Tgt | Rec | Yds | Y/R | TD |
| 2009 | Balt. | L 14-33 | 8 | 6 | 44 | 7.3 | 2 |
| 2010 | NYJ | L 21-28 | 1 | 1 | 12 | 12.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | Ind. | W 43-22 | 9 | 6 | 84 | 14.0 | 0 |
| 2013 | at Den. | L 16-26 | 15 | 10 | 89 | 8.9 | 1 |
| 2014 | Balt. | W 35-31 | 14 | 8 | 74 | 9.3 | 0 |
| 2014 | Ind. | W 45-7 | 11 | 9 | 98 | 10.9 | 0 |
| 2014 | v. Sea. | W 28-24 | 12 | 9 | 109 | 12.1 | 1 |
| 2015 | K.C. | W 27-20 | 16 | 10 | 100 | 10.0 | 0 |
| 2015 | at Den. | L 18-20 | 13 | 7 | 53 | 7.6 | 0 |
| 2016 | Hou. | W 34-16 | 13 | 8 | 137 | 17.1 | 0 |
| 2016 | Pitt. | W 36-17 | 10 | 8 | 118 | 14.8 | 1 |
| 2016 | v. Atl. | W 34-28 | 13 | 5 | 87 | 17.4 | 0 |
| 2018 | LAC | W 41-28 | 13 | 9 | 151 | 16.8 | 0 |
| 2018 | at K.C. | W 37-31 | 10 | 7 | 96 | 13.7 | 0 |
| 2018 | v. LAR | W 13-3 | 12 | 10 | 141 | 14.1 | 0 |
| Total | W-L rec: | 11-4 | 170 | 113 | 1,393 | 12.3 | 5 |
—Ian Allan