Julian Edelman admits he played up supposed head injury against Bills: 'I was trying to sell it'

“I was trying to sell it,” Edelman admitted after the game, after briefly appearing unconscious on a play he was penalized.

The New England Patriots beat the Buffalo Bills on Sunday to retain their AFC East title for the umpteenth time in a row. That’s all well and good, but what was strange about this particular game is an injury that wide receiver Julian Edelman sustained, when it briefly appeared that he had been knocked unconscious.

Edelman had to leave the game to undergo the league’s concussion protocol, only returning in the fourth quarter.

It was also an injury that, after the game, Edelman admitted he was “trying to sell.”

The incident occurred on a play when Edelman committed pretty blatant offensive pass interference, setting a pick on a defender that freed up Benjamin Watson for a Patriots touchdown.

Edelman knew he would most likely be flagged for the pick, so he briefly tried to sell it as if the collision was inadvertent, and had knocked him out.

It … was not convincing. The play was called back, and the touchdown nullified. The ref went on to even hit Edelman with the flag while he was motionless on the ground.

After the game, Edelman came clean. Via Boston.com:

“I was trying to sell it,” a smiling Edelman said of his playacting on the turf. “Hopefully, they didn’t see it.”

Edelman’s teammate Matthew Slater, could only joke about the situation.

“Oh, you mean Lazarus?” Slater said when asked about Edelman. “He was kind of funny the way he laid out there. But Edelman came back from the dead.”

Unclear how funny the NFL will find jokes about players coming back from the dead after playing up the severity of the head injury, but good on the league for enforcing the concussion protocol and making Edelman miss a bit of game time for his decision.