Jones: The Rob Gronkowski Of Old Is Back
BOSTON (CBS) - You could probably come up with 86 reasons to be positive for the way the Patriots played on Sunday night, handily beating the Bengals just six days after getting trounced by the Chiefs on Monday Night Football.
But perhaps no revelation was more exciting than reason no. 87 -- Rob Gronkowski.
The fifth-year tight end eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the first time in 2014 as he works his way back from offseason knee surgery. He also rumbled and stumbled his way into the end zone for his fourth touchdown of the year.
Monday night on 98.5 The Sports Hub, Adam Jones touched on the importance of having Gronk officially back and healthy.
"Didn't Gronk look like he was moving much better than he had been previously? I just thought Gronk looked like a different guy. It's not just the stats. It's not just the 100 yards. It's the catch and run, the moving with the football that I haven't really seen out of Gronk, outside of a play here or there," said Jones.
On the touchdown catch, Gronkowski avoided what looked like a certain trip to the hospital on his surgically repaired right knee.
Bengals safety Reggie Nelson went to tackle Gronkowski low, but was somehow able to shimmy his way out of devastating contact.
His play on the field was notable, but Jones also came away impressed with Gronkowski in the locker room following the game.
While Brady didn't want to put too much stock in the off-the-field criticism, Gronkowski was willing to admit that he put forth extra effort to show that he had his teammate's back.
"Yeah, yeah, definitely. I told my brother before we came to the game, I go, 'I'm gonna make 12 look like Tom Brady again tonight, baby.' And I went out there with my teammates, and we made Tom Brady look like Tom Brady after you guys were criticizing him all week — the fans, everything," an emotional Gronkowski said with his voice cracking, eye black still smeared across his face. "And it feels so good, and he's such a leader, and he went over 50,000 yards tonight. He's an unbelievable player and I'm so glad to play with him."
"That's good stuff from Gronk. It really is," said Jones.
"You could see it in his face and hear it in his voice," added Rich Keefe. "He was very emotional about it. It meant a lot to him that Brady looked good and people could stop doubting him."
Listen below for Jones and Keefe's full discussion on Gronkowski:
Afterwards, Jones and Keefe got into a discussion about the balanced play calling, and how the commitment to the run game really was the difference in the game.
Listen below!
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