Patriots Blog: Edelman The Defender
FOXBORO (CBS) - In the last couple of weeks, Julian Edelman has played on the defensive side of the ball for the New England Patriots, and he has made a difference.
So much so that in Wednesday's press conference head coach Bill Belichick was asked if Julian could be a full time slot corner?
Belichick did not back off on the question.
"He's certainly been competitive, I'll say that. I think the question with young players always is, when does it start to level out? Any player, at any position," coach asked. "And once it starts to level out, you have to say to yourself, 'OK, is that good enough? Is that leveled out or that small incline, is that good enough? If it is, then great, you can leave him there. If it isn't, then 'OK, are we going to come up short there?' As long as the curve is climbing, where is it going to stop? Well, I don't know. Is it going to stop here? How far up is it going to get? As long as it's moving in that direction ... I think you kind of have to [have] enough time, enough experience, enough reps to where you can try to make a decision as to whether you think that it's leveled or it's going to continue to improve. I think we're too early in the running to know that so we keep going until we can figure it out."
Read: Brady Named AFC Offensive Player of Month
Belichick was even asked if Edelman reminds him a little of Troy Brown, who also filled in as slot corner as a slot receiver.
"There's obviously similarity between two guys that played in the slot and moved to the other side of the ball," said Bill. "We've been working with Julian for, I don't know, it's been several weeks, post-practice, one-on-ones, mixing him in on some scout team work, mixing him in on some defensive work, some things on post-practice, had a few snaps in games, has had a lot more snaps in individual practice and also in our team practice sessions.
Read: Levan Reid's Patriots Blog
"He's a smart guy and he does have a little bit of an instinctiveness and also a set of skills that are conducive to both spots," he said of Edleman. "I think the fact that he's played in there gives him some understanding of what that position is from the other side of the ball, which helps him play on the defensive side, as it did with Troy. Troy had obviously a great understanding of the slot position offensively and why the slot receiver would cut down a split, why he would widen it out, why it would stem a certain way because that's what he did. He was able to flip that over, which isn't the easiest thing in the world to do; it's easy to sit here and talk about it, but it's sometimes hard to go from thinking about techniques on one side of the ball and now you're on the other side of the ball and now you're thinking about them all in reverse as a defensive player. Julian has had a good presence for that and I think has adapted to it pretty well."
Tune in to the Patriots-Colts game Sunday on 98.5 The Sports Hub and WBZ-TV at 1 pm. Pregame coverage begins on 98.5 at 10 am and on WBZ at 11:30 am with Patriots Gameday. Stay tuned after the game for all the reaction and analysis on the postgame show, and on Patriots Fifth Quarter on WBZ-TV.
