With him, they’re hubris justified, swagger deserved, the stuff of January legend. Also, blessed. Very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very, very blessed.



Even when things went wrong (which wasn’t often), the ball somehow found Julian Edelman. And nothing could have been more wrong, should have been more wrong, than second-and-12 at the Kansas City 46 early Saturday evening, with the New England Patriots trying to salt away a seven-point lead with 1:08 left by chucking the pigskin all over the yard.

Instead of playing it safe – a handoff, a screen, minimal risk – Tom Brady fired a line drive in the direction of Rob Gronkowski. Only the flight path was changed en route, as Chiefs outside linebacker Tamba Hali got a paw up – not quick enough to snare it cleanly, but quick enough to send it careening into the air the way a coin does when it’s flipped.

The carom hung up for a millisecond of forever, over the head of Hali’s team-mate, Derrick Johnson … and into the waiting arms of Edelman, just past the first-down marker.

Ballgame. Just like they drew it up. Or not. On the sideline, Brady’s opposite number, Alex Smith, could only toss his head back in utter disbelief.

Voodoo? Magic? Luck? Subterfuge? When it comes to the Patriots and the postseason – New England notched a fifth straight berth in the AFC title game with a 27-20 victory over the Chiefs – everybody’s got a theory, and everybody’s theory has a leg to stand on.

But consider, if you will, the case for the mojo of No11, who hauled in 10 catches against Kansas City for 100 yards in his first game back since breaking a bone in his left foot on 15 November. And that Edelman, a slot receiver and former collegiate quarterback at Kent State, might be not only the single most important cog in the machinations of the defending Super Bowl champs, but the player of most significance to any NFL team still standing.

Consider this, too: Since September 2013, Edelman has posted games of nine catches or more 16 different times; the Pats are 14-2 in those contests, including 4-1 in the postseason. And this: those 10 Saturday catches came after three first-quarter drops. And this: Of Edelman’s 11 touches against the Chiefs, eight went for first downs. And this: With No11 in the starting lineup, New England are now 10-0, averaging 33.0 points per game, and swinging the biggest hammer in the postseason. Without Edelman: a 3-4 record, 23.1 points per contest, and merely – well, mortal.

“I mean, it’s just good to be out there with them,” a sheepish Edelman told the NFL Network after the game. “Those stats, I don’t think those really matter. I think what matters is that we all came together, ignored the noise, what we heard outside the building, and just executed and won a game.”

After limping to the end of the regular season and a bye week that raised red flags over Gronkowski’s health and defensive end Chandler Jones’ judgment, the noise was everywhere. And yet Gronk was Gronk between the white lines against a salty Kansas City defense, bad back and all, adding two more touchdowns to his career playoff total of eight. And the Patriots went unabashedly at the Chiefs’ greatest strengths – their secondary and pass rush – by opening the contest by throwing 14 straight passes, the most at the outset of a playoff game since 1991.

“Well, they get Dan [Amendola], Gronk, you got guys in there that are good players,” Kansas City coach Andy Reid told reporters afterward. “And there are certain combinations that they can do with that, and they do a nice job with them.”

Meanwhile, old questions about Reid’s clock management figure to be back on the table, as well as the seemingly annual debate in the City of Fountains as to whether Big Red and Big Alex are yet another in a series of Kansas City coach-quarterback combinations that can’t quite seem to turn the postseason lever from “good” to “great.” Down two touchdowns, the Chiefs drove to the Pats’ 32 with 3:38 left and all three timeouts to burn. They found the endzone – but it took nine plays and another two minutes and change off the clock to get there.

Conversely, New England’s Bill Belichick has lost just one playoff divisional round test at home as the Patriots’ head hoodie: To the Jets in 2010-11 and (not a misprint) quarterback Mark Sanchez. But it was Rex Ryan’s defense that carried the day, sacking Brady five times and pressuring him countless others. Chiefs defensive coordinator Bob Sutton was Ryan’s linebackers coach at the time, and the lesson was clear: mess with Brady’s timing and comfort, and the Patriots’ short-passing game unravels, strand by strand, like an old sweater.

Saturday, the sweater struck back. Brady wasn’t sacked — heck, he was rarely touched. The veteran signal-caller completed eight of 11 passes on the game-opening, 80-yard drive, death by a thousand paper cuts, culminating in an eight-yard, back-shoulder touchdown pass to Gronkowski that had the hosts up seven before the contest was five minutes old. The Pats converted all four of their first four third-down tries and didn’t bother to hand the ball off until their 15th play from scrimmage. Thanks to No11, they didn’t really have to.