FOXBOROUGH, MA – Two days after his failure to reciprocate a hi-5 offer by Tom Brady was captured by network television cameras, Patriots WR Julian Edelman was ordered by head coach Bill Bellichick to give his quarterback 100 hi-5′s during the team’s afternoon practice, team sources confirmed today.
“And make sure you do the ‘finger snap/air gun point’ thing afterwards this time.”
“I take full responsibility,” said Edelman, nursing his sore right hand in a bucket of ice. “It was just one of those moments where my concentration lapsed and I didn’t see Tom’s hand extended while I walked by him. I feel bad for letting my teammate down. But trust me, after slapping his hand a hundred different ways today, it won’t ever happen again.”
“It’s all about repetition,” said Brady.” We worked on the ‘up-top,’ the ‘down-low,’ and I even got him several times on the ‘too-slow.’ Tomorrow we’ll do a few dozen reps on the ‘Top Gun Windmill.’ Sometimes it’s good to go back and refresh yourself on the fundamentals like that. Julian knows what I expect from him, and I have confidence that he’ll be there for me with a hi-5 the next time I throw pass to him, when and if that ever occurs again.”
“I’m not going to get into specifics about the hi-5, or any punishment that was handed out to Julian as a result of it,” said Patriots coach Bill Belichick at his Tuesday afternoon press conference. “Right now we’re just trying to focus on the fist-bumps and back-pats Tom’s going to get after beating the Jets this Sunday.”
