ATLANTA — Jerry Rice was one of his boyhood idols, and Julian Edelman picked the right night and the right stage to play like a Hall of Famer.

Edelman missed the Patriots’ Super Bowl LII loss to the Eagles last year and played every play in Super Bowl LIII as if it might be his last on his way to MVP honors and his third championship.

“Injuries are psychologically so hard for an athlete because you don’t get to do what you love to do,” Edelman said after the Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Rams. “When your team is going out there and playing in the Super Bowl and you don’t get to help or you were not a factor, it was definitely very tough, but we have it this year so we’re good.”

Edelman, who made that epic double-clutch fingertip catch during the Patriots’ Super Bowl comeback win over the Falcons, finished with 10 receptions for 141 yards.

“I was just trying to go out and have a good week of practice and do my job,” Edelman said. “Sometimes the cookie crumbles that way.”

Edelman wasn’t about to crumble after missing the first four games of the season because of a PED suspension.

Asked about his Super Bowl MVP, Edelman said: “It just matters that we won, man. We had a resilient bunch of guys. It was unreal, man. I mean, it was like a home game here.”

Edelman is second to Rice (151) with 115 postseason catches. He had 26 receptions for 388 yards this postseason. He proved once again that he is among the most physically and mentally tough Patriots Bill Belichick has had the privilege to coach.

Edelman and Tom Brady, best friends, two peas in the Patriots pod, locked in a long, warm embrace on the field.

“He just played the best game he has all year,” Tom Brady said. “He’s a fighter, man, that kid. I’m just so proud of him. He’s been an incredible player for this team in the playoffs and he just cemented himself again in the history of the NFL for what his accomplishments are.”

“[Brady] is like a brother to me,” Edelman said. “He has helped me so much. He has been a huge part of mentally kind of coaching me up just through his actions and how he is as a football player, as a professional, as a father and as a family man. It is an honor to get to play with a guy like that. He has six Super Bowls now so it is pretty insane.”

It is pretty insane for a 32-year-old former quarterback from Kent State to make himself into this kind of champion. A champion who caught the winning touchdown in Super Bowl XLIX against the Seahawks with his head spinning following a big Kam Chancellor hit.

Super ending for him after his blooper beginning to the season.

“It’s pretty surreal,” Edelman said. “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do. I preach that, and I guess you have to live to it.”