Bottom line? If New England can find a way to keep Gronkowski healthy the rest of the way, it’ll be the last team standing at the end of the year. Given his history and his impact, if you’re the Patriots, you’re looking at Gronkowski the same way a baseball fan counts down the final outs of a no-hitter.

Gronkowski just needs to stay healthy for three more playoff games, an entirely manageable concept for a player who played 846 snaps over the first 15 games of the regular season. (It represented the most regular-season snaps for Gronkowski since his 1,290 in 2011.) Based on the output of the New England offense this season, that’s roughly 200 snaps over the next month.