career-altering injury."WhitePatriots News Opinion and Analysis Contribute! FanPostsFanShotsAbout the Site List of Patriots Twitter AccountsWrite For Pats Pulpit!New User Welcome and Commenting GuideCommunity GuidelinesMastheadTopics Patriots Off-Season CoveragePatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots NewsPatriots Draft CoverageSportfolio ManagementPatriots Opinion/AnalysisPatriots First Read“It’s about how you respond”: Robert Edwards has been down the road traveled by Malcolm MitchellNew Youth Andre Tippett Jerseys ,9commentsEdwards spoke with Pats Pulpit about his own experience with career-altering injury.EDTShareTweetShareShare“It’s about how you respond”: Robert Edwards has been down the road traveled by Malcolm MitchellWhen Malcolm Mitchell announced his retirement a few weeks ago, there was a name that I just couldn’t get out of my head: Robert Edwards. Not since Edwards have Patriots fans had a player show so much promise his rookie year, only for his Patriots career to be taken from us due to injury. Clearly, the two injuries were much different, but the lost opportunity was the same.The feel for Patriots fans of finding a player at a huge position of need, only to have his talents taken away from us far too soon. Edwards is a guy who is looked back on in sadness by older Patriots fans — a player who we loved right away, who never got to reach his full potential. In a way, Malcolm Mitchell might become this younger generation’s Robert Edwards.I decided that the best way to tell Mitchell’s story was to tell Edwards’ story as well. Not only his time with the Patriots, but everything that has happened since. The former first-round draft pick was kind enough to speak to me for this, and, as you’ll see, just like Mitchell, his story isn’t one of sadness and loss, but of inspiration.It was 1998, Curtis Martin had just left to go to the hated Jets to join Bill Parcells. Because Martin was a restricted free agent, the Patriots got first and third round draft picks for him. The first rounder was used on the guy who could potentially replace the future Hall of Famer, Robert Edwards. A running back who had suffered a few injuries in college, but had still run for 1,700 yards and 21 touchdowns in his final two years at Georgia. Edwards was an instant success with the Patriots, setting an NFL record by rushing for a touchdown in each of his first six games as a pro. He would finish the season with over 1,000 yards rushing and nine scores to go along with 35 receptions and another three receiving touchdowns. If it weren’t for Randy Moss’ ridiculous rookie season, Edwards would . have probably won Rookie of the Year honors.Then, he was asked to play a game of beach football at the Pro Bowl in Hawaii. It was supposed to be a fun event — on the play where his life was changed forever, Peyton Manning was actually playing cornerback, and everyone was having a good time. Until Edwards, R.W. McQuarters, and Charles Woodson all went up for a pass. Woodson and McQuarters landed on Edwards while his knee was at a weird angle, and in an instant, not only his football career, but his leg, was in jeopardy.Edwards had torn his ACL Andre Tippett Jerseys Stitched , MCL, and PCL, had partially torn his LCL, had suffered nerve damage, and had sliced an artery in his leg. If the bleeding from the artery couldn’t be stopped, doctors feared they may have to amputate his leg. Thankfully, the doctors didn’t have to amputate his leg, but they assured him that his playing career was over. Edwards decided he wasn’t going to accept that fate, so he decided to change it.“I just wanted to fight against the odds,” Edwards said when I asked him what kept him going during his rehab, “Prove to myself that I could overcome the injury.”He fought the odds and won, and, two years after his horrible injury, was in training camp trying to make the Patriots roster again. Unfortunately, a groin injury derailed his attempt to get back in the league. “No matter how much you believe in yourself, you gotta have someone believe in you on the other end,” he said when I asked him about trying to come back in the NFL. “When you have an injury history, teams shy away from you.”It took another season, but Edwards made the Dolphins in 2002. He even scored two touchdowns in his first game back, but they would be his only two scores of the year, and he would only touch the ball a total of 38 times that season. Eventually, he was cut by the Dolphins and never played in the NFL again. “You fight for your dreams, but you need someone else to fight for them too,” Edwards told Pats Pulpit.His NFL career was over, but his football career was not: after a few years off, he went to Canada to play in the CFL. In his first two seasons with the Montreal Alouettes, he was an All-Star. Edwards rushed for over 1,000 yards in each season, and had 25 total combined touchdowns those two years. Unfortunately, he was cut after his second season, and spent one final year in Toronto before retiring from football for good.After his career was over Youth Tedy Bruschi Jerseys , he decided that he wasn’t done with the game just yet. Edwards stayed in the game by becoming a high school football coach in Georgia. He thought his experiences could help the kids playing the sport today: “I’ve experienced every part of the sport you can experience,” he said, when talking about how he tried to relate to his players. “I’ve been on top, in the middle, and on the bottom.” That means every kid, from the great athlete who’s going on to play in division one, to the one who has to fight through injuries, to the one who will never play college ball, can learn from their coach and his life experiences. I asked him if he had any advice for Malcolm Mitchell now that he has retired from the sport — also after finding success during his rookie year only to saw injuries derail his career.“Find the next phase of your life. Make that new aspiration to leave your mark. Use your story to make someone else successful,” Edwards said. Mitchell, it seems, is already well on his way to doing this through his Read With Malcolm initiative. With that, and his book, “The Magician’s Hat,” he’s out changing the lives of children everyday.That’s another thing that Edwards and Mitchell have in common: trying to change the lives of the youth around them by using their experiences. Mitchell draws a lot of his inspiration from discovering a love of reading later in life, but something tells me he’s going to use his story from the game of football to inspire as well.Guys like Edwards and Mitchell are always doing that, as Edwards said: “It’s not about what happens to you, it’s about how you respond to it.” It’s their response that makes Edwards and Mitchell special people. That’s just one more thing that links these two former Patriots together, and why, even after all these years, people still remember Robert Edwards.Something tells me Patriots fan won’t soon forget Malcolm Mitchell either.Pat is a co-host of The Patriot Nation PodcastInteract with him on Twitter @plane_pats I’m not going to waste any time getting to the picks and predictions for the Divisional Round of the 2018-19 NFL playoffs. To be honest, I just watched the Celtics get throttled in Miami, and now I’m too bummed to write anything long and drawn out. But before I get to the picks, allow me to say this real quick:Just like Bill Simmons, the founder and CEO of The Ringer and one of my biggest inspirations as a sports writer, my goal every January is to go 11-0 against the spread in the NFL playoffs. It’s the ultimate, unattainable dream; something that I strive for every January even though I’m terrible at picking games against the spread (the biggest reason why I never actually bet any money on NFL games — I’d be broke and living on the street after just one season). With that being said, how did I kick off the playoffs during the Wild Card Round last weekend? I went 1-3 against the spread, only correctly picking the Colts to cover in Houston. I came close with the Dallas-Seattle game, until Russell Wilson decided to hit J.D. McKissic with a seven-yard touchdown in the final two minutes, then added a two-point conversion to make it a two-point game and cover the 2.5-point spread.And that was just on Saturday. On Sunday Tedy Bruschi Jerseys Stitched , I took both the Ravens and the Bears at home — just in time for Lamar Jackson to crumble under the playoff spotlight against the Chargers, and for Cody Parkey to double-doink the Bears right into the offseason. Not a very good week for me.So, since I’m currently 1-3 and the 11-0 goal is out the window until next year, AND because every single one of this weekend’s games feel like they could be very close and tightly-contested, I’m going all in on the underdogs to cover this weekend. You heard me correctly. There are four games, and I’m picking four underdogs.What have I got to lose at this point? My season is already shot. And now, for the Divisional Round picks鈥?Home teams in caps, and lines courtesy of OddsShark.com)Colts (+5.5) over CHIEFSKansas City is the more talented team. The Chiefs had nothing short of a stellar regular season. Patrick Mahomes is the most electric quarterback in football, and will soon win the MVP award after just his first season as a starting quarterback in the NFL. Offensively, the Chiefs have what can be considered one of the league’s best supporting casts, with guys like wide receiver Tyreek Hill and tight end Travis Kelce. Additionally, Kansas City has arguably the league’s best home field advantage at Arrowhead Stadium, which is as loud of a venue as any.And yet, you will be hard pressed to find a Chiefs fan that feels supremely confident in their team getting a win on Saturday. Kansas City’s defense is giving up 26 points per game, ninth most in the NFL. Andrew Luck, Marlon Mack and the red hot Colts, having won an incredible 10 of their last 11, have to be licking their chops.Prediction: Colts 34, Chiefs 30Cowboys (+7) over RAMSIt’s easy to look at the 2018 Cowboys on paper and only think of the names that immediately jump out at you: quarterback Dak Prescott, running back Ezekiel Elliott, and wide receiver Amari Cooper. All three guys had pretty good seasons while wearing the Cowboy blue this year, but the biggest reason why Dallas won the NFC East and is considered a Super Bowl threat is because of their lethal defense.No performance stands out more this season than when the Cowboys held Drew Brees and the Saints to just 10 points in Week 13, defeating New Orleans 13-10 at Jerry World. In last weekend’s wild card matchup, the Cowboys held the Seahawks, the NFL’s best rushing team in 2018, to just 73 yards.If the Cowboys were playing this game at home, they would win and advance to their first NFC Championship Game since 1995. At AT&T Stadium, that defense seems nearly unbeatable, and Los Angeles has struggled on the road against good defensive teams. At the L.A. Coliseum, however, Jared Goff will get the better of the Dallas defense by making a couple of really big throws late in the game. The Cowboys will put up a fight Youth Steve Grogan Jerseys , but the Rams will survive and advance.Prediction: Rams 23, Cowboys 21Chargers (+4) over PATRIOTSDon’t get me wrong; the Patriots are 8-0 at Gillette Stadium this year, and I don’t believe Tom Brady is packing it in after just one playoff game.However, New England’s defense is too vulnerable for them to blow the Chargers out of the water this weekend — especially when Los Angeles is 8-1 in road games this season, including last week’s wild card victory in Baltimore. It’s a Foxboro tradition for the Patriots to play a cakewalk game in the divisional round, but that won’t be the case this year.As I wrote earlier this week, Philip Rivers is playing for his legacy. He’s probably a future Hall of Famer, but he has never been able to win big games when it matters. That’s why this game is so intriguing; it may very well be Rivers’ last opportunity to prove the doubters wrong and show that he’s not a choker.In the big picture, though, the Chargers are still playing Tom Brady and Bill Belichick at Gillette Stadium. When they are at home, they almost always find a way to win. It will be close, but they will find a way to get it done one more time.Prediction: Patriots 20, Chargers 19Eagles (+8) over SAINTSBetting against Nick Foles in the playoffs is officially gambling suicide. Last week, in a playoff game the Eagles should’ve lost to the Bears, Foles threw the go-ahead touchdown to Golden Tate with about minute left, and then Cody Parkey sealed Chicago’s fate by kicking the ball off both the upright and the crossbar (a game that will forever live in infamy as the Double-Doink Game). Once again, another heroic victory for Philly’s folk hero of a backup quarterback.In late-season and postseason games, with Foles at quarterback, Philadelphia catches so many breaks that it just can’t lose. That’s why, as much as my mind tells me that the Saints should run away with this divisional game at home, I just can’t bet against Foles somehow, miraculously getting it done AGAIN.The only thing I can picture is this: There is 1:30 remaining in the game, and New Orleans just took a four-point lead. Now, Foles is getting the ball back with 90 seconds on the clock, and everybody inside the Mercedes-Benz Superdome is quaking with fear because they just know something insane is about to happen.That’s what the Nick Foles experience has become, and I still don’t think I can believe it.Prediction: Eagles 27, Saints 24Last week: 1-3Season: 120-130-9