Julian Edelman Throws First Regular Season Touchdown Pass Of His Career
BOSTON (CBS) -- The New England offense struggled in the first half against the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday, so they went into their bag of tricks to start the second half. It paid off big for the Patriots.
New England scored their first touchdown of the game on their first possession of the second half, with wide receiver Julian Edelman taking a double pass and throwing a 15-yard touchdown to a wide open Phillip Dorsett. The scoring strike gave the Patriots their first lead of the day, and James White ran in the two-point conversion to give the Pats a 17-10 advantage at the time.
The @Patriots DOUBLE PASS works perfectly.@Edelman throws a touchdown to Dorsett for the lead. #NEvsPHI #GoPats
— NFL (@NFL) November 17, 2019
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After settling for three field goals in the first half, the touchdown was just what the Patriots offense needed. It capped off a 10-play drive that covered 84 yards for New England, and was the team's only touchdown drive of the day in their 17-10 victory.
"We've been practicing it for a while and we finally called it -- and executed it," Edelman told CBS after the game.
It was also the first regular season touchdown pass for Edelman, who was a quarterback in college at Kent State. He threw a touchdown to Danny Amendola in New England's thrilling AFC Divisional Round win over the Baltimore Ravens in 2015, but had never done so during the regular season.
Patriots head coach Bill Belichick praised Edelman's throw after the win, while also having a little fun with the receiver.
"He keeps his quarterback rating up there pretty high," joked Belichick. "I'm sure we'll have to ice his shoulder down this week and massage it and everything else. That was a great play by Julian. There were a couple of options on the play and a lot of ball-handling, but he got his eyes down the field and made a good decision, a good throw."
Edelman is now a perfect 4-for-4 when he throws the football in the regular season, with 90 yards, a touchdown and a perfect 158.3 passer rating. Add in his playoff throws, and Edelman is 5-for-6 for 141 yards and two touchdowns when he pretends to be a quarterback again.