Robert Cocuzzo

For the tenth anniversary issue of Boston Common magazine, I wrote a ~2,600-word cover story profiling Patriots wide receiver Julian Edelman. Excerpt: Everything you need to know about Patriots star receiver Julian Edelman can be summed up in ten seconds. It’s 3rd and 14 and the Patriots are down by ten with eleven minutes to play in the fourth quarter of Super Bowl XLIV. “We need a championship drive,” Tom Brady tells his huddle. The quarterback takes the snap and Edelman breaks off the line. He jukes the pants off of Seahawks corner Tharold Simon, and then sprints across the middle of the field. Brady steps up in the pocket and targets Edelman with a bullet. The 5-foot-10-inch, 198-pound receiver makes the catch but then is instantly demolished by Seahawks strong safety Kam Chancellor. The hit echoes out over television sets across the country like a clap of thunder. Chancellor has five inches, thirty pounds, and truckload of momentum on Edelman, but miraculously the undersized receiver not only hangs