With Edelman’s return, Patriots offense could be back to full strength for first time since late 2016

FOXBOROUGH — It has been 31 games.

The last time Rob Gronkowski, Julian Edelman, Tom Brady and James White were all together on the field at the same time in a regular-season or postseason game, it was Nov. 27, 2016, for a 22-17 win over the Jets.

In that one, with a little less than five minutes left in the first quarter, Gronkowski collapsed in a heap while going out for a pass from Brady. He left the game, and soon after that, had back surgery and didn’t play for the duration of the 2016 season. As for Edelman, he sustained a devastating knee injury in last year’s preseason contest against Detroit, which left him sidelined for the duration of the 2017 season.

In all, 31 games — not counting the preseason — have come and gone without New England’s elite offensive talent all on the field at the same time. That stretch of time includes a pair of Super Bowl appearances, with one ring and another that ended up falling just short of the ultimate goal.

(In the context of this conversation, it’s important to note Brady missed the first four games of the 2016 season, while Gronkowski was out for the Week 11 win over the Niners in San Francisco. If you include those numbers, since the start of the 2016 season — 42 games, if you count the regular season and playoffs — the Patriots have had their offensive core on the field for five-plus contests.)

But now, with the return of Edelman from suspension on Thursday, that could change. While there’s some question about the status of Gronkowski (he popped up on the injury report Monday with an ankle), if he’s good to go this weekend, Thursday’s game against the Colts will mark the first time since that November afternoon in North Jersey where the Patriots offense will be able to boast of a full collection of talent, all together on the field at the same time.

Asked about the possibility of having them all on the field at the same time once again after an extended stretch, Brady sounded a hopeful note, and added the familiarity developed with those guys in previous years will help moving forward.

“With those guys … I’ve played with them a lot, so that helps,” he said. “There’s experience, and we can rely on certain things that we’ve done in the past. I mean, we even talked about this last week, (how you) can make decisions in the heat of the moment that end up being the right decisions because they’ve happened in the past. Those guys are all great players, and we need them to be great players.”

But that's not enough, stressed the quarterback.

“It’s really a day-by-day approach, and I don’t think you can skip these steps,” he added. "Certainly, we’re not peaking at this point. We’ve got a lot of improvement. We played a little bit better Sunday. The previous two weeks weren’t what we were capable of, (so) I think we’re all looking forward to seeing us play our best football.”

Gronkowski has had his electric moments over the last year-plus, and White has developed into one of the best pass-catchers in the league in that same span. But getting Edelman back will provide a sizable offensive boost for the Patriots. While expectations need to be managed — remember, Edelman hasn’t played in meaningful game action since Super Bowl LI, roughly 20 months ago — just the sight of him in the facility prepping for Thursday night is an encouraging sight for everyone on the offensive side of the ball.

“We’ve played so much football together,” Brady said of Edelman. “I really have no doubt where he’s going to be at, what he’s capable of. He’s been a great player for our team. I think everyone’s excited to have him back, and anytime you add great players, it’s going to help what we’re doing. We all welcome him back and he’s excited, ready to go and hopefully he can go out and play great.”

“Julian Edelman, he’s a great player, man,” said receiver and returner Cordarrelle Patterson. “Everything he does on the field, it’s good. He’s good for everybody who plays on this team.”

After a pair of listless back-to-back outings against the Jaguars and Lions, the Patriots’ offense did get things cranked up Sunday against the Dolphins. New England had its best offensive output of the year against Miami, scoring a season-high 38 points on the way to the blowout victory. The quarterback said Monday that regardless of who’s out there, they need to maintain that same level of offensive “urgency” going forward and keep trending in the right direction.

A full complement of elite offensive talent for the first time in almost two years will certainly help push that process along.

“We did better, obviously, (Sunday),” noted Brady. “I still think there were things that we left out there. I really want to be playing our best out there, and when it’s less than that, I think it’s frustrating for me. I’ve seen our best, I know what we’re capable of and I think part of it is just keeping the urgency up and realizing that it’s just October.”