The Patriots have always been good at bending the rules, and now they’re just flat out admitting it.
During Sunday’s pivotal game against the Bills, Julian Edelman appeared to be knocked out on a play where he collided with a Buffalo defender, drawing a 15-yard penalty.
While the play should have been called offensive pass interference, the flag was assessed to the Bills likely because of the optics.
The ref threw a Revive at Julian Edelman 😂😂#BUFvsNE pic.twitter.com/qnPPaGXBT6
— Tony Clements (@TonyClementsTC) December 21, 2019
After the game, Edelman admitted that those optics were faked in effort to “sell it.”
Why did Julian Edelman stay down on the play he was called for OPI?
“I was trying to sell it,” he says with a smile. pic.twitter.com/tGKGpOON2w
“Edelman had to leave the game to undergo the league’s concussion protocol, only returning in the fourth quarter. It was also an injury that, after the game, Edelman admitted he was “trying to sell.”After the game, Edelman came clean. “I was trying to sell it,” a smiling Edelman said of his playacting on the turf. “Hopefully, they didn’t see it.”
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) December 22, 2019
“Edelman had to leave the game to undergo the league’s concussion protocol, only returning in the fourth quarter. It was also an injury that, after the game, Edelman admitted he was “trying to sell.”