“bromance.”Patriots quarterback Tom Brady himself openly uses the word love to describe his bond with Julian Edelman David Andrews Jerseys 2019 , a receiverhe’s come to depend on during his career.As the duo prepares to play in a fourth Super Bowl together, each says the connection might be tighter ever — both on and off the field.“We have a great relationship, Jules and I, and I trust him so much,” Brady says. “He’s always been kind of like my little brother, in a good way. I don’t have a little brother, but he’s kind of like a little brother and he knows how much I love him.”In Edelman’s case, it’s a little brother who has established himself as one of the best slot receivers in Patriots history.He missed the entire 2017 season with a torn ACL and the first four games of this season for violating the league’s performance enhancers policy. But the 32-year-old helped Brady steady an offense that struggled early this season and had to adjust following the suspension of Josh Gordon heading into the final two games.Edelman ended the regular season with a team-high 850 receiving yards and was second on the team with 74 receptions and six touchdowns. His production has continued through New England’s first two playoffs games, with Edelman hauling in 16 catches for a team-high 247 yards.Heading into the matchup with the Rams, his 1,271 postseason receiving yards are the most in Patriots history. There are also just two receivers in NFL postseason history with over 100 catches: Jerry Rice with 151 and Edelman with 105.It’s earned him high compliments not only from Brady, but from Rice, who praised Edelman as someone who has an attitude of “‘I’m going to do what I want to do White Patrick Chung Jerseys , and I’m going to go out and I’m going to ball.”It not unlike the determination used to describe Brady, who at age 41 continues to prove his skeptics wrong.“He’s a really good football player, the best,” Edelman said. “He goes out and he consistently proves it. He’s one of our leaders and he’s a leader for a reason.”Though they first met as teammates in New England when Edelman was drafted by the Patriots a decade ago, he and Brady took remarkably similar paths to get to the NFL.Both natives of California, each of them grew up idolizing the San Francisco 49ers’ dynasty led by Joe Montana and Rice.Brady played his college ball at Michigan, with Edelman eventually choosing Kent State across the border in Ohio.Their stories continued to mirror each other when it came time for the NFL draft.Brady infamously wasn’t selected until the sixth round in 2000. Edelman, an undersized quarterback who switched to receiver, didn’t hear his name called until the seventh round in 2009.Chasing the NFL was a leap of faith for Edelman, who nearly signed a contract with the CFL’s British Columbia Lions to play quarterback.“I sat down with my father and basically, he’s like ‘Let’s do it,'” Edelman recalled. “I just had an eerie feeling in my stomach and I told him I didn’t grow up wanting to play in the CFL.I went and tried to play in the NFL. That was my decision. Everything happens for a reason.”Edelman was already a fan of Brady’s when he arrived as a rookie, but he said he almost instantly recognized an underdog spirit in his new quarterback as well.As their relationship has evolved Patrick Chung Jerseys 2019 , they say they’ve developed their own sort of silent language on the field, and have unique ways to hype up each other.An example was during the AFC championship game when video captured Edelman in Brady’s face yelling , “You’re too old!” as Brady sat on the bench after throwing a first-half touchdown pass.“You’ve got two fiery guys. I think it’s fun to watch,” Patriots cornerback Jason McCourty said.“You see two guys that are the ultimate competitor. How hard they both compete in practice, you see the bromance at times, you see the fiery looks they give each other sometimes if someone messes up. Just that look of not disappointment, of just like ‘get it together.’ I think it’s almost like brothers.”Brady said he continues to be amazed by Edelman.“Look at his stature. He wasn’t built like Megatron (Calvin Johnson). He’s just built the way he was built and I think he’s just worked so hard over the years to learn how to play receiver,” Brady said. “He’s just done an incredible job.” What a play.Make that 100 of them.The NFL revealed 70 of the 100 greatest plays in league history on Friday night with a TV special produced by NFL Films that has everything from spectacular offensive performances to defensive gems. In balloting conducted by The Associated Press, 68 media members on a nationwide panel voted for their top 100.Among those disclosed, the range goes from Steve Van Buren’s touchdown in the snow in 1948 (No. 91) to Hugh McElhenny’s catch and run without a helmet in 1952 (No. 92) to the brutal hit applied by Chuck Bednarik on Frank Gifford in 1960 (No. 44) to Jim Marshall’s wrong-way run in 1964 (No. 54).Post-merger, the list features everything from John Elway’s helicopter spin in the Super Bowl after the 1997 season (No. 33) to Dan Marino’s fake spike (No. 38) in 1995. It also includes Mario Manningham’s clutch reception to spark the Giants‘ comeback to beat the Patriots in the title game for the 2011 season and Deion Sanders’ punt return for a TD the first time he touches the ball for Atlanta in 1989, which Sanders describes in detail.“So I make it down to Atlanta, had a couple days of practice White Duron Harmon Jerseys ,” Sanders recalled. “I didn’t start, but they knew punt returning is instinctive, so you got to start me returning punts. So I had a small chat with the punt return team: ‘Hey guys, just block seven. I got four, all right?'”But things didn’t go perfectly.“They kicked it and I dropped it,” Sanders added. “I took my eyes off it and I dropped it, and when I dropped it, that was the best thing that happened. Because when you drop a ball, the punt team tends to migrate together, get out of their lanes, and they all came tight. All I had to do was making it to that corner and hit it. And when I hit it, I hit.”The eclectic list ranges from the very old to the very new: outstanding recent plays such as Aaron Rodgers‘ Hail Mary to beat Detroit in 2015 (No. 52) to Derrick Henry’s 99-yard run (No. 89) and the Miami Miracle (No. 42) last year made the cut.“Until I got in the end zone, I mean honestly Duron Harmon Jerseys 2019 , I’m sitting before you all and I still don’t believe it,” Kenyan Drake said during interviews after the improbable conclusion to a 34-33 win over New England. Drake finished off a 69-yard reception-and-lateral marvel that some have dubbed “The Drake Escape.”Dozens of Hall of Famers are highlighted, as well. Along with Van Buren and Bednarik, Elway and Marino and Sanders, how about Gale Sayers’ 85-yard punt return in 1965 (No. 34), followed one spot later by Tony Dorsett’s 99-yard touchdown sprint in 1983?Walter Payton’s 1977 run through the Chiefs is 37th, with another Canton-inductee running back, Earl Campbell’s 1978 power rush against the Rams at No. 39.Don’t think sensational defensive plays were ignored.Tracy Porter’s pick-6 against Peyton Manning that clinched the Saints‘ only Super Bowl win in February 2010 is 32nd. Denver’s Jeremiah Castille stripping Cleveland’s Earnest Byner to cause “The Fumble” in the 1987 AFC title game came in 49th.The top 30 will be announced next Friday night.