Esiason: Gronk Would've Made The Difference In Patriots Loss To Dolphins
BOSTON (CBS) - Ryan Johnston and Mike Flynn filled in for a vacationing Toucher and Rich on Monday morning and spoke with Boomer Esiason of The NFL Today on CBS to talk Patriots and cover other NFL topics as well.
With 453 total net yards, the Patriots offense was able to move the ball effectively in yesterday's 24-20 loss against the Dolphins, but they fell flat in the red zone and struggled to score touchdowns.
RECAP: Patriots Fall To 10-4 After 24-20 Loss To Dolphins
Tight end Rob Gronkowski is one of the best goal line weapons in the NFL, but he's out for the rest of the season with a knee injury.
Boomer believes that Gronk's presence would have made the difference in Miami.
"With Gronkowski out it's going to start paying major dividends for the teams they're playing against," said Esiason. "He is 100% the difference. Anytime in red zone or third down situations, he is such a difficult matchup."
"Outside the numbers the Patriots have no presence. Certainly [Julian] Edelman and [Danny] Amendola had nice games yesterday, great statistics and all of that stuff comes mainly inside the numbers. If you can somehow just bottle them up you can keep them from scoring 30 points. That's what happened yesterday against Miami."
READ: 4 Ups, 4 Downs From Patriots' Loss
Esiason then spoke about Dolphins quarterback Ryan Tannehill, someone who he believes is emerging as one of the top quarterbacks from last year's draft class.
The former Texas A&M star completed 25 of 37 for 312 yards and three touchdowns in the Dolphins win.
"He's not the next coming of Dan Marino by any stretch of the imagination, but Miami finally has a presence at quarterback with consistency."
With the loss, the Patriots lost not only an opportunity to win the division, but also the chance to take hold of the #1 seed in the AFC.
No matter who makes it out of the conference, Esiason maintains that no team from the AFC will beat the Seattle Seahawks or San Francisco 49ers come February.
Esiason then goes around the league to talk Tony Romo's latest collapse, the Eagles getting torched by the Vikings and Robert Griffin III's benching.
Listen to the interview below:
Esiason Talks Patriots Loss
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