The final minutes of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' rout of the New York Giants on Monday night didn't feature much drama.
So, the Manning brothers turned to Julian Edelman for some late-night entertainment.
The former New England Patriots wide receiver joined Peyton and Eli Manning on ESPN2's "ManningCast" late in the fourth quarter of the Bucs' 30-10 win. And when the cameras showed Bucs quarterback Tom Brady and tight end Rob Gronkowski chatting on the sideline, Peyton asked Edelman to imagine what his ex-Patriots teammates were talking about.
Stay in the game with the latest updates on your beloved Boston sports teams! Sign up here for our All Access Daily newsletter.
Brady, Bucs make more NFL history in bounce-back win vs. Giants
Edelman took the bit and ran with it.
“I guarantee Gronk’s saying, 'Yo, Tom. Like, I don’t think I’m like quite ready, like, my lungs hurt a little bit. I need like two more days of practice and I’ll be there, babe,'" Edelman said, morphing into character for Gronk.
"And Tom’s probably looking at him like, 'Babe, I thought you did well today. You know, we got to keep it going. We've got to get better. You know, I could’ve got you on that one, but then I didn’t get you there. But babe, you looked great.'
NFL
"Tom’s like the ultimate confidence guy for ol’ Gronk, so that’s probably the extent of it."
Few players know Brady and Gronkowski better than Edelman, who spent nine years as their teammate in New England and was Brady's favorite offensive target alongside Gronk. So, Edelman would know that "babe" is a staple in the Brady-Gronk lexicon.
"A lot of 'babes,'" Edelman added. "TB's a 'babe' guy."
Between his Brady and Gronk impression and his impersonation of Patriots head coach Bill Belichick, Edelman looks like the go-to guy for imitations of his former New England co-workers.