New England Patriots: Rob Gronkowski battles through injuries like no other
By Duncan Day
New England Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski perseveres at an unparalleled level, despite coping with an endless stream of injuries.
It’s not easy to discover a football player with the awe-inspiring skills of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski. There are moments when you watch him blow by safeties and wonder how fast he actually runs. When he sinks his hips and gets upfield in a flash at 6-6, 265 pounds, you wonder if he’s from another planet.
Early on, a five-year old Gronkowski demonstrated his uniqueness while snagging candy spilled from a piñata, via NESN. A determined Gronk prospered in high school football and built himself up through a mantra of “working out, playing sports, (and) chicks,” per WPRI.com.
The football gods didn’t always smile down on Gronkowski, though, as a ceaseless string of injuries have bred uncertainty.
Gronkowski missed the entire 2009 season at the University of Arizona due to surgery repairing a disk in his back. The doctor’s opinion was that the big man had “a decent chance” of returning to “above average athleticism for an NFL tight end,” courtesy of SI.com.
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When the Patriots took Gronkowksi in the second round of the 2010 NFL Draft, head coach Bill Belichick trusted the medical professionals.
“I think you can see (from) the workout that he still has the same skills he had in 2008,” Belichick said in April 2016, via Patriots.com. “I don’t think that’s a question…We go on (doctors) evaluations and recommendations. We have a deal. I don’t diagnose with the players, and they don’t call plays.”
Gronkowski started every game in 2011, his second regular season, accumulating 1,327 receiving yards and 17 touchdowns. He smashed tight end records like throwing Indianapolis Colts safety Sergio Brown “out of the club,” via The Indianapolis Star. Unfortunately, Gronkowski sprained his ankle in the Patriots’ AFC Championship victory over the Baltimore Ravens to end his run of supremacy.
Then, more bad luck struck. Gronkowski sat out because of a broken forearm and fractured vertebra, as well as ACL and MCL tears. He appeared in only 18 games during both the 2012 and 2013 regular seasons.
In a Week 10 matchup this past season, Seattle Seahawks safety Earl Thomas hurt Gronkowski on a jarring hit, and the prospect of playoff glory vanished again. But Gronk refused to dwell on it.
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“[It was] by a good player; a good fast player who’s like a missile. It was a good, clean hit; nothing against it,” he said after the Pats’ 31-24 loss to the Seattle, per CBSSports.com.
“I just took it, and it just knocked the wind out of me a little bit, that’s all. If you’ve ever gotten the wind knocked out of you, you know what that feels like. Just down for about a minute or two, it’s a little tough to breathe, but once it comes back, you’re good.”
Somehow, even though injuries have persisted throughout his career, the resilient Gronkowski has evolved into a more explosive downfield threat over time. He notched career-high numbers, 16.3 and 21.6 yards per catch in the 2015 and 2016 regular seasons, respectively.
Based on figures from Pro Football Focus, Gronkowski was listed first at his position in yards per route run (3.18), another career-high statistic achieved in 2016. Additionally, his 213 yards gained on long tosses ranked third for tight ends last year.
Gronkowski’s solo domination is most apparent in one particular game, when he caught eight receptions for 144 yards and one touchdown versus the 2015 Denver Broncos’ historic defense. Without Gronkowski, the spectacular Tom Brady would have struggled to make that AFC Championship Game close.
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Gronkowski can provide any NFL squad with that sought-after edge. More power to the Patriots, the western New York native’s earnings in 2017 can rise through incentives, per The Boston Globe. Maybe, this campaign is the one — a Gronkowski-driven Super Bowl triumph being a fitting way for Brady and Belichick to snag their sixth ring together.