The flashing lights, added media attention, and over-the-top pageantry that come along with each and every single Super Bowl certainly help to give it a larger-than-life feeling. After all, it’s America’s most beloved sporting event for a reason.
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The only issue, however, is that there is still a game that needs to be played, and that the gridiron has never once, nor will it ever, care about your feelings.
According to Julian Edelman, that’s something that both fans and members of the New England Patriots need to be reminded of following their years of success with him and Tom Brady.
“The NFL is not Disney movies,” the former wide receiver exclaimed during his latest appearance with Colin Cowherd. “This team overachieved. This team had four wins last year and they come in and go 14-3, go to the Super Bowl? …It’s just a sad day in New England.”
The Patriots legend also suggested that there are plenty of missing pieces that the franchise needs to account for before it can actually hope to win another championship. While he does believe that some of those answers will be found in the “self scout” that the franchise will perform throughout this offseason, he’s just not willing to ignore the fact that “this is a young football team.”
“You can never go wrong with [drafting] offensive lineman,” Edelman noted. “They could definitely use another play maker, but they also have a young group of receivers that played pretty well together. I think that helps for the development of Drake Maye, when you don’t have this younger receiver. I think he’ll be ready for a big time receiver maybe this year, maybe the next year, because now he knows where to go with the open ball.”
For Edelman, the priorities for the Patriots throughout the next several months should be readily apparent. “Get [Maye] protected” and “get him a playmaker.” Of course, that’s much easier said than done, especially when your WR1, Stefon Diggs, is sporting one of the most uncertain ranges of outcomes of anyone in the NFL right now.
New England invested $63.5 million into the 32-year-old receiver only for him to average 27.5 receiving yards throughout their four playoff games. That kind of production, paired with a single count of felony strangulation, seems to suggest that the Patriots should look elsewhere this offseason.
In the eyes of Edelman, however, none of these issues should be used to take away from what the Seattle Seahawks were able to accomplish, nor the talent of the team’s offensive coordinator, Josh McDaniels. “They never got comfortable, and they had to probably pivot from what they wanted to do.”
Seattle’s vaunted defense simply did what it does best: it prevented the Patriots and McDaniels from ever finding their “rhythm.” And according to one of the franchise’s very own Super Bowl heroes, that’s the real takeaway from what occurred on February 8th.
