Everything Back To Normal For Rob Gronkowski
BOSTON (CBS) -- It was just 18 days ago when Patriots fans feared the worst: Rob Gronkowski wasn't going to suit up for the rest of the season.
As the tight end hit a snowy Sports Authority Field back on November 29 with a knee injury, it was hard not to utter "Not again" under your breath. Without Gronkowski, the Patriots' offense is not the powerful unit that lights up the scoreboard each week. Add his absence with that of Julian Edelman, sidelined with a broken bone in his foot, along with the early-season loss of playmaking running back Dion Lewis, and it was hard to picture the Patriots repeating as Super Bowl champs.
Lewis is lost for the season. Edelman won't be back until the playoffs, if he returns. But Gronkowski returned Sunday in Houston and caught all four passes that went his way, including a one-yard touchdown. Even if he was limited, playing just 61 percent of the snaps, having No. 87 on the field made all the difference in the world for Tom Brady and company.
Now, it sounds like everything is back to normal for Gronk, meaning the offense has its most important weapon back at full speed.
"I feel good. Everything is just back at a normal pace," Gronkowski said on Thursday. "Just going out, practicing with the team, it feels good to be back in the normal routine."
Gronk was a full participant at practice both Wednesday and Thursday, and was pleased with his performance in New England's 26-7 win over the Texans on Sunday. He followed the coaching staff's plan to get him back into the feel of the game, and after suffering season-ending injuries in years past, Gronkowski now knows when to scale it back a bit if he has to. He isn't afraid to let the Patriots' staff know if he needs a break, and says that open line of communication is paramount to a successful relationship.
"I can't speak for anyone else in those terms, but if I feel like I need to be throttled down, if I just feel like my body isn't going, then yeah. You just have to speak up and speak how you're feeling and just let them know so everyone is on the same page and everyone can work around with it and see where you are at," he said. "Definitely if you're going to hard or if you're doing too little you can amp up the workouts or you can decrease the physicality of what's going on."
While Tom Brady makes the offense go, life wouldn't be the same without Gronk. He bullies opposing defenses, and the double teams he commands opens things up for Brady's other targets. Good luck if teams decide to single-cover the 6'6" behemoth, because that mean's he's basically uncovered. And more than a handful of times this season, he's slipped the opposing defense for easy, wide open grabs that tend to go for monster gains for New England.
He's one of the most important players the Patriots have when it comes to the team's success in the upcoming postseason, a moniker that's hard to argue with after seeing the Patriots struggle without an Gronk in the 2011-12 postseason and stretches during the two seasons that followed.
But the ever-humble tight end will have none of that title.
"I don't really focus or listen to stuff like that," he said. "I'm just really trying to get better as a player every week, just focusing on the team we have to play this week and just trying to do whatever is best for the team that week."
The team Gronkowski and the Patriots have to play this weekend is the Tennessee Titans, who sit at 3-10 on the year. The Patriots won't take any opponent lightly over the final three weeks of the regular season, as they look to lock up one of the top spots in the AFC. Gronkowski knows that in addition to making the offense move with those big receptions, he'll have his hands full protecting Brady from a tough Tennessee pass rush.
"They can get to the quarterback, and we just have to be ready. They bring it every game," Gronk said of a Titans defense that has 35 sacks on the season -- tied for seventh in the NFL. "They have a lot of solid players out there who are big and fast. They play physical, so we have to be ready to come hit them back in the mouth when they come this Sunday."
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