It’s always open season
Even when covered, Gronk overpowers
PITTSBURGH — Bill Belichick is the gridiron’s Grand Master Jedi. He is the Yoda of pro football. They even both wear a hoodie. So it came as no surprise last night that when asked why Rob Gronkowski dominated the second half of the Patriots’ 27-24 victory over the Pittsburgh Steelers the master tactician was able to boil it all down to its essence.
“Even when Rob’s covered he’s open,’’ Belichick said.
Case closed. Steelers closed out.
After a first half with few opportuni- ties for the offense and even fewer for Gronkowski, the 6-foot6 matchup nightmare took over the second half with seven catches for 135 yards, most all of them coming when he was covered, although as it turned out he was not.
Of Tom Brady’s 166 second-half passing yards only 31 went to anyone other than Gronkowski. To make the math easy for you, Gronkowski delivered 81.33 percent of the Patriots’ second-half passing yardage, including 69 of the final 77 yards in what became the game-winning scoring drive.
That final march ran almost exclusively down Route 87, Gronkowski covering 89.61 percent of the yardage on a scoring drive that ended with running back Dion Lewis scurrying in from 8 yards out for the winning touchdown with only 56 seconds left to play.
Without Lewis’ touchdown all those yards would not have meant a thing of course, as Gronkowski was quick to point out. But the fact of the matter is there would have been no touchdown run by Dion Lewis, or Carl Lewis for that matter, without Gronk. In fact, there would have been no 27-24 victory, no control of home-field advantage throughout the playoffs (assuming the Patriots take care of business the final two weekends of the regular season), no last-second heroics by Brady, no nothing without the guy who is open even when he is not.
That final drive earned the Patriots what for most of the afternoon seemed an improbable victory, earned his team breathing room in the race for the AFC’s top seed in the playoffs and earned him $2 million in incentives. All and all, a profitable performance all the way around.
Gronk’s 168 receiving yards, 18.7 yards per catch average and second-half dominance might lead you to believe he destroyed the Steelers secondary but the truth is he did not. Much of the time he was so closely covered by safety Sean Davis that when the Patriots equipment manager launders Gronkowski’s jersey today he’ll probably find himself washing Davis’ too.
Time after time Brady saw that the window he was throwing into was open about as much as storm windows in Skowhegan in February, yet he repeatedly let fly, his theory being exactly the same as Belichick’s when it comes to throwing a football in the direction of Gronkowski’s massive wingspan.
“It’s just risk-reward I think, for the quarterback,’’ Brady said of throwing passes to Gronkowski in such tightly covered situations. “Any time (with) Gronk though, we’ve played so much football together I have so much trust in him.
“It may look like 50-50 (chances) but it might be 955. Gronk’s earned so much trust. He played a hell of a game. That guy fights his ass off every day.’’
Certainly he often was fighting off Davis, who was draped over him like a throw blanket time and time again. Yet seven of the 10 times Brady targeted Gronk in the second half he came away with the ball. Sometimes he pushed his way open like a bull in a china shop. Other times he ran by a defender to open up just a sliver of daylight. But most of the time yesterday he was catching footballs with Steelers defenders so close to him he could feel their breath on his face.
No matter that he was covered though because he was seldom covered quite enough. Not enough to prevent Brady from improving his record against Pittsburgh to 11-2. Not enough to prevent Steelers head coach Mike Tomlin from once again wearing at game’s end the look of a man suffering from dyspepsia.
“He was doing it himself,’’ Brady said of Gronkowski’s sudden appearance in the second half.
That was as accurate as any of Brady’s throws to his only available receiver.
Belichick wouldn’t go quite that far but he did admit that many of the passes Brady completed to Gronkowski yesterday were more a result of the tight end’s freakish physical gifts and an ability to concentrate on incoming footballs even when storm troopers are surrounding him.
“Even when Rob is covered he’s open because he is so long and he has such great range and reach,’’ Belichick said. “If you can put the ball away from the player who’s covering him, even though he’s close, Rob can get it and the other guy can’t.
“Even though you’re right there, the quarterback puts the ball where only the receiver can get it and the defender can’t have enough reach to get there. Then that’s a good throw and a good catch.’’
Or, to put it in Yoda-speak, “Do. Or do not. There is no try.’’
Yesterday there was a lot of try out of Sean Davis and the reinforcements who sometimes tried to help him contain Rob Gronkowski, but there was no do. There was only do not ... except for Gronk who was all do all day.
“You’re not just going to be open,’’ Gronkowski said of his plight. “It’s the NFL. You have to make tough catches. When the ball is in the air I just try to do my best to make a play.
“When you see the ball, you just have to go make a play. You’re not going to come down with them all, but you are going to try your hardest. If the ball is coming to you, you just have to make some plays. Tom found me and I made a couple catches to keep the (final) drive going. It just went well.’’
Yes it did. Unless your name was Sean Davis and your reach was exceeded by Rob Gronkowski’s grasp.
‘It may look like 50-50 (chances) but it might be 95-5.’ — TOM BRADY On throwing to Gronk