No simple fix to replace Gronk
FOXBORO — The Patriots have championed a “next man up” mentality, but with an All-World talent like Rob Gronkowski, that’s easier said than done.
“There’s no guys like Rob just on the street,” Tom Brady said. “So it’s hard to just sub one guy for one guy.”
Gronkowski was scheduled to undergo surgery to repair a herniated disk in his back yesterday, and Brady and Bill Belichick were both crestfallen when addressing his absence. The team has yet to put Gronkowski on injured reserve, but with an expected recovery time of eight weeks, the injury will likely end his season.
“That was tough news to hear for everybody because he’s such a big part of our team and what we do; his enthusiasm and energy for the game and what he means to us on the field because he’s such a great player, and the kind of leader he is off the field and in the locker room,” Brady said. “It’s a tough loss.”
It won’t just be tight ends trying to fill Gronkowski’s shoes. To replace him, the Patriots will turn to a next-manupamong their skill position players.
“When he comes out of the lineup, someone else has to step in and fill that spot. It may not be a tight end spot,” Brady said. “It might be another receiver, another running back, could be a tight end.”
While Gronkowski was a huge part of the Pats offense, Brady doesn’t see his absence as a death blow.
“I think we all have confidence that we can go out and win games, no doubt,” Brady said. “We’d all love to have him out there but he’s not, and we still feel like we can go out and win a lot of games.”
The Patriots are hardly entering uncharted waters as they prepare for life without Gronkowski. Yesterday was to be at least the tight end’s ninth surgery, and he’d already missed three games this season to other injuries. Brady says they’ll lean on those contests moving forward.
“We’ve had some experience I think, this year dealing without him,” Brady said. “Being light at receiver, light at tight end, light at running back, it’s not something you want to deal with, but at some point in the year, based on how long the season is, you’re always going to deal with something.”
Belichick also lamented the loss of his tight end. He opened his press conference by addressing the injury, and then leaned heavily on a joint statement that the Patriots released along with Gronkowski’s family.
“We’re all disappointed,” Belichick said. “Nobody’s worked harder than Rob and has been a better teammate and all that, so hopefully things will work out as positively as possible with him. All the information we gave you (in the joint statement) is really all we have for now. I’m sure there will be more coming in as we go through the next few days, so we’ll just take it as it comes. It’s an unfortunate situation for him.”
When asked follow-up questions, Belichick reverted to the team concept repeatedly.
“You want to rank them and they’re all important. They’re all important,” Belichick said. “Rob is a great player, but they’re all important.”
With a wide-open AFC, time will tell just how important Gronkowski was to the 2016 Patriots.