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Rob Gronkowski

Pats Posits: 1-1 and we’re back having fun!

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The Patriots got their 2017 season on track with a 36-20 victory over the New Orleans Saints, evening their record to 1-1 and silencing any doubters who actually though the season-opening loss would derail the New England football machine.

It now feels like the season is officially underway and despite a handful of somewhat concerning injuries, the Patriots look every bit as primed as ever to make another run at a Super Bowl title. No matter who they do or don’t roll out there, the Patriots will be a tough out for whoever they play this season. Already, just two weeks in, the hope is they can pull Gronk, Amendola, Hightower, Mitchell and whoever else goes down together in January after a bye week for a three-wins-for-Super-Bowl-Six playoff run..

Perhaps most impressive was how this suddenly felt like the Bill Belichick Patriots we’ve become accustomed to. They carved the Saints underneath in the passing game, leaned on Rob Gronkowski when they had to, and played the kind of bend-don’t-break defense we’ve all come to love/hate. This was the Patriots and it was a nice reminder that despite an uneven performance on opening night, this is still a very good football team capable of beating any team on any given Sunday.

First things first, let’s get the injuries out of the way, because there were quite a few. This is a troubling trend in 2017 and we’re going on four-straight games dating back to the preseason with significant players going down. Luckily it seems like the initial reports on all the injuries are positive, but we’ve heard that before and then you find out Hightower’s seeing Dr. Andrews and maybe it isn’t just a “sprained MCL” but a chronic problem.

We’ll see on Wednesday just how serious and lingering these injuries from this one are.

Injury Report

  • Rob Gronkowski – Groin: Gronk told reporters he was “okay” after the game. Just the fact that he stayed on the sideline without anyone really paying attention to him leads me to believe Gronk will be fine. But it sure is scary having to rely on the big tight end that much. Hoepfully Alex Guerrero can work some soft tissue magic and Gronk’s groin will be fine. Of course, the groin jokes just write themselves with Gronk, especially after he nabbed his 69th touchdown catch in this game.
  • Eric Rowe – Groin: Rowe also indicated he’d be oaky with some rest.
  • Rex Burkhead – Ribs
  • Chris Hogan – Knee: Sounds like this problem popped up late in the week of practice. Hopefully it’s a minor sprain that doesn’t linger.
  • Phillip Dorsett – Knee: Injured just as he was starting to click with Brady, hopefully they don’t lose him, it would be a setback for a player still trying to pick up the offense.

Okay, with the injuries out of the way let’s jump into the Posits from a feel good win.

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Will Brady’s Guru Magic Work for Gronk and Boomtower?

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One of the biggest headlines of the offseason that I don’t want to get lost in the shuffle is how both Rob Gronkowski and Dont’a Hightower are now working with Tom Brady‘s healthy guru Alex Guerrero. The duo joins at least Brady and Julian Edelman as players using Guerrero’s methods to prepare their bodies for all that comes with football combat.

If there was one thing I hoped for after Gronk was lost for another season with another back injury, it was that the big tight end might give Guerrero a try. What did he have to lose? The only thing standing between Gronk and being the best tight end of all time (if he isn’t already) was his health.

Imagine Gronk playing into his 30s. Jason Witten has 135 more regular season games, and six less touchdowns. Tony Gonzalez played 188 more games at this point and had 43 more touchdowns.

Gronk will be just 28 this year and if Guerrero can help him squeeze another handful of seasons out of his battle-worn body, there will be no tight end record left that he doesn’t own.

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Patriots Positional Preview: Tight Ends

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Training camp is less than two weeks away and we’re starting to wrap up our positional preview excerpts from this year’s season preview book. With just a few position groups to go, today we’re taking a look at the tight ends.

This is one of the few areas where there will be a significant personnel change from 2016, with Dwayne Allen being swapped in for Martellus Bennett. Bennett’s ability to ably fill in for Rob Gronkowski was one of the big factors in getting the Pats their fifth Super Bowl.

Many pundits tried to sell us that without Gronk the Pats just weren’t dynamic enough to win the big one, but Bennett helped prove that theory wrong.

If Gronk plays the entire season it won’t really matter all that much how well Allen assimilates, but Belichick has had high praise for the former Colt so it will be interesting to see his role in the offense, which I expect to be a versatile one.

There could also be a roster spot to be had by a third tight end, a job that would have to be won in training camp. Draft weekend trade acquisition James O’Shaughnessy could be a favorite along with Matt Lengel, who was acquired and played some snaps after Gronk was lost in 2016.

Let’s take a closer look at the tight ends.

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How the 2016 Gronk-less Pats Stack Up to 2012 & 2013

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The news of Rob Gronkowski’s third trip to season-ending Injured Reserve has caused quite a stir within Patriot Nation, and to a lesser extent the entire league. While the news has elicited some experts to declare the AFC suddenly wide open, other analysts have gone the opposite direction, choosing to not sound the alarm quite yet, keeping faith in the greatest quarterback-coach tandem in the NFL’s history to overcome the loss of arguable their most important player (save for TB12).

The Patriots win-loss record without Gronkowski is not great; they are just 14-5 without him in the regular season, and 1-2 in the postseason, which certainly supports the belief that the Patriots cannot win the Super Bowl without Gronkowski. Adding to this narrative is Brady’s statistics with and without the prolific tight end. With a healthy Gronkowski, Brady’s completion percentage is 65.3%, with a 7.9 yards per attempt average and a 103.5 passer rating. However, with Gronkowski sidelined, Brady’s completion percentage dips to 57.3%, while averaging just 6.5 yards per attempt.

The most alarming measure is his passer rating; it dips over twenty points to just 82.4, which would rank 34th in the NFL this season, behind fellow Patriot quarterback Jacoby Brissett (83.9) and only one spot above Geno Smith. Effectively, Tom Brady turns into a third-string quarterback when Gronkowski is unable to play.

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Report: Gronk Needs Third Back Surgery, Out Indefinitely

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And here I was just thinking my post about whether or not the Pats should worry about their injury situations was dumb because Edelman only missed practice for the birth of his kid and Brady was suiting up for practice, when one of those tweets that instantly makes you sick came across my timeline…

First things first. You have to feel terrible for Gronk. We can get into what it means for the Patriots Super Bowl chances, but this is a guy who’s had at least three back surgeries, multiple forearm surgeries, an ACL reconstruction and high ankle surgery all before he turns 30. This is too much for any human body to take, and yes, we all hope he comes back and plays football for the team we love, but let’s remember Gronk’s gotta live with this body well past his football playing days.

So yes, I’m sick for Gronk and can only hope that he somehow bounces back from this and is okay and isn’t, you know, in a wheelchair before he’s 40.

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Time to Worry About the Patriots Injuries?

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By now you’re probably sick of reading it here on the blog because I’ve been beating it like a drum all season — all that really matters for the Patriots are injuries. We can do countless hours of film study or discuss why Belichick decided to trade most of his defense away or search for a weakness on offense, but at the end of the season if the Pats are healthy, they’re probably going to the Super Bowl.

Of course, some Pats matter more than others, no offense to anyone, and the top of that list is Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski which is why Wednesday’s injury report made me barf a little bit. Add in Martellus Bennett and their two best special teamers, and I’m wondering if we should just roll out the JV offense against the Rams and give those key guys a week of rest before the upcoming AFC showdowns with Baltimore and Denver.

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Now Brady, obviously the most important, isn’t that concerning. His radio appearance on Monday was re-assuring. And I’m pretty sure you’d have to remove a limb to keep him out of a game.

But Edelman’s been dealing with that foot injury for well over a year now, not to mention multiple surgeries. Then you add in this…

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Rob Gronkowski and Nate Solder are OUT vs. Cardinals

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Deep breaths. Deeeeeeep breaths. That’s what I’m taking since this tweet came across my timeline…

Gronk pulled up in a mid-August training camp practice, tweaking his hamstring and wasn’t seen again until this week’s practice. Meanwhile, Solder, possibly forced to play because Tom Brady needed fourth-preseason-game-snaps, pulled up lame himself against the Giants. Now both will miss the season opener. Yikes.

First, perspective. These are two vital players. There is no need to trot them out there in the first game of the season against an NFC opponent. This is a game that is as close as you can get to meaningless in the regular season.

That doesn’t make it any less scary though. Especially for, you know, a young quarterback making his first career start.

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