New England Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman is projected to be out six to eight weeks after undergoing foot surgery on Monday.
Edelman had a screw placed into his broken foot after the injury occurred during the unbeaten Patriots’ comeback win over the New York Giants on Sunday.
The six- to eight-week window would likely keep Edelman from returning during the regular season, but he could be available for the postseason. If the Patriots receive a bye, their first playoff game would come in mid-January.
The veteran Edelman had a team-leading 61 receptions at the time of the injury on the final play of the first quarter against the Giants. His loss will force quarterback Tom Brady to rely on wide receivers Danny Amendola and Brandon LaFell and tight end Rob Gronkowski.
In Edelman’s absence, Amendola finished Sunday’s game with 10 receptions for 79 yards. Edelman is also a punt returner.
“There’s nothing that’s really seamless when you lose a great player,” Brady told WEEI Radio in Boston in his weekly Monday interview. “When someone that’s been the leading receiver on your team for multiple years and you lose him, it’s not like you go, ‘OK, well, let’s just put someone else in.’ He’s too good of a player for that.
“You just got to kind of find a way to make some adjustments, and I think we just made some critical plays when we needed to which was really important down the stretch. Certainly defensively and special teams we did, and offensively I thought we just did enough.”
A week earlier, the Patriots lost pass-catching running back Dion Lewis to a torn ACL.
“I’ve got a lot of confidence in Brandon LaFell,” Brady explained to WEEI. “Danny’s role has been very different than Julian’s was for us. I just think they’re a little different type of players. And certainly Julian has been incredible for us. Incredible.
“And Danny’s had just a great year this year, and really continued from the way he finished last season. It’s kind of like when you lose a great player like Dion Lewis, there’s different ways you’re going to need to produce. We’ll need to find different ways to produce with the guys that are on the field.”
Head coach Bill Belichick had plenty of praise for Amendola’s performance including the heady final play that set up the winning field goal.
“I thought he showed really good awareness on that, especially on that last play,” Belichick said. “If they had tackled us where he caught the ball, it would have been an even tougher kick. It was tough as it was, but it would have been an even tougher kick. Danny showed a great instinctiveness to kind of work back inside and get away from (linebacker Jonathan) Casillas and then get what he could get and get down quickly so the ball could get spotted and we’d have enough time to clock it and kick the field goal, not try to waste time trying to dodge around and make another yard or two and waste time going through the whole end-of-the-play process. I thought his awareness on that was outstanding and his quickness and ability to get up-field and get about an extra six or seven yards after the catch was really critical to the next play, or the field goal two plays later.”