Drew Bledsoe and Julian Edelman Take Us Behind-the-Scenes at the Brady Roast. And Between Belichick and Mr. Kraft, Things Were TENSE.
It's a tribute to the magnitude of Tom Brady's impact on our culture that we're all still discussing Sunday night's roast in terms of how funny it was, how it helped renew our faith in inappropriate, merciless comedy, and how offended a certain unfaithful ex-wife butt of the jokes was by it all. So much so that we've hardly had time to focus on what it meant to have the people who are most responsible for the Patriots Dynasty (save for Ernie Adams) together on stage for the first time since it all fell apart.
Fortunately, two of those men were Drew Bledsoe and Julian Edelman, who unsurprisingly have much to say and tales to tell. Here's their nearly 90 minute conversation on Edelman's podcast, cued up to the 7:00 mark when they talk about the scene backstage before the show. Beginning with Bledsoe saying how pleasantly surprised he was to see Belichick even show up:
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ESPN got the quotes, so I don't have to:
"Preshow, we're in the green room -- remember that? Were you in there?" Edelman asked Bledsoe. "Bill's opening up. He's having fun, he's talking war stories, talking rookie skits, talking fun s---, doing s--- we know what Bill's all about, but it was like amplified because he was excited to see you guys because he doesn't have a job anymore."
Edelman and Bledsoe said they were both in the green room with Belichick, along with former Patriots stars Rob Gronkowski and Randy Moss, when Kraft arrived.
"Then Kraft walks in … Belichick's kind of holding court," Bledsoe recalled. "As he's in the middle of the story, Kraft walks in, and so you guys all go over to say hi to Kraft."
"The tension in that room, though, could cut f---ing glass," Edelman said.
Edelman said he tried to give Belichick a "head's up" when he saw Kraft walk into the green room but that Belichick did not pick up on the cue.
"[Kraft] came in, and I was like, 'Oh s---, there's gonna be some fireworks,'" Edelman said. "I just walked away. I didn't want to get in there."
Bledsoe added that Belichick and Kraft did at one point "break it down and got together for, I don't know, 10 minutes at least." But the former Patriots quarterback agreed with Edelman's assessment about the tension in the room, saying "it was very real, it was very real."
More details: Bledsoe explains that Edelman and everyone else in the conversation circle gathered around Belichick peeled off to greet Thundercat Kraft when he walked in. Leaving just his brother as the only one left. Who realized he couldn't leave because then Belichick would be telling his story to nothing but air.
Which is one of those situations every single human being finds themselves in at some point. At school. Work. Parties. Hugely successful, internationally-viewed celebrity roasts. You can't be in a social gathering without having to figure out a way to extricate yourself from a story that's taking forever and going nowhere. The friends I've been hanging out with since elementary school have a method of dealing with this scenario in which we just loudly yawn in the storyteller's face and gesture like we're struggling to hold our eyelids open. Nothing will train you to leave out the extraneous details and get right to the punchline like that humiliation. But then again, we're just Massholes from Weymouth, not the greatest collector of football stories who's ever lived.
All this just goes to show that in the harsh, cruel pecking order of the NFL ecosystem, a billionaire philanthropist owner is going to be higher on the social foodchain than even the most successful head coach. And when that happens, it's going to make for some serious awkwardness for all involved. Even in the best of circumstances. Based on how Bledsoe and Edelman describe it, this was anything but.
I see no reason not to take them at their word. This isn't coming from one of ESPN's patented, anti-Patriots hit pieces. These guys are the most insidery of insiders. They were were present in the moment, both in the literal and emotional sense. They could feel it.
And the only conclusion any of us outsidery outsiders can conclude is Belichick and RKK have a ways to go. This was like seeing a couple you've been friends with show up at the same event after they broke up. It's hard on both of them. But more importantly, it's hard on you. You have to be conscious of spending time with each of them so you don't look like taking sides. You want to appear convivial and act like this isn't super uncomfortable. While trying to ignore the bad blood they're splattering all over the walls like it's a crime scene.
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The thing is in most cases, those couples learn to coexist if they're given enough time. The emotions stay raw for a while, but you can only let that negativity consume you for so long before you learn to accept each other's presence. And hopefully come around to remembering the good times. They're not there yet, obviously. This was like their child's engagement party. On June 12th at Gillette, it will sort of be his wedding.
And eventually, a Brady statue will be a sort of grandchild. At each of these, both will have to keep it classy. Be polite. Remember why they're there and who they've come to celebrate. For now though, they've each got to work on themselves. Because creating tension that could cut fucking glass is just too hard on the kids.