Gronkowski stresses ‘I came here to block, baby!’
TE not concerned about lack of passes thrown his way
TAMPA — Rob Gronkowski is as surprised as anyone that he has only two catches this season and has been targeted four times by Tom Brady, with one of those passes intercepted.
A couple days after coach Bruce Arians said of Gronkowski, “I don’t see him running 40 yards past people anymore,” the 31-year-old tight end tried to mockingly accept his new role.
“I mean, I’m a blocking tight end. I came here to block, baby!” Gronkowski said Friday. “So four targets is four more than I thought I was going to get.”
Gronkowski has caught 79 career touchdown passes, nearly all of them thrown by Brady, who lobbied hard for the Bucs to trade a fourth-round pick to New England in exchange for Gronkowski’s rights and a seventh-rounder.
It was assumed that Brady and Gronk would be hooking up the way they did for nine seasons in New England.
“You know, I’m a blocking tight end,” Gronkowski said. “That’s all I got.”
Gronkowski, however, said he still knows how to catch the football.
“I didn’t forget,” Gronkowski said. “But every game plan can change differently week in, week out. And there’s sometimes in my career I would be targeted15 times and there’s others times I’d be targeted just a few.
“It all depends on how the defenses are playing us, who they’re taking away.
“It’s just two weeks into the season, so I’ve just got to go out there and keep on fighting, you know? Just give it my all in whatever aspect of the game it is.”
On Tuesday, Arians doubled down that Gronkowski’s speed may not be what it once was.
“It never was his forte,” Arians said. “If you’re going to go up there and bump-and-run him, that’s a different story. But to just think he’s going to run past a corner who runs 4.4, he’s never done that any
way. It’s not like it’s something new. But he can still go down the field and stretch the field. We had good times on him in practices. He can stretch the field; it’s just he’s not going to line up wide and run 40-yard balls.
“Game to game. He came in here with no expectations and whatever happens, happens. You play tight end. We’ll see.”
Gronkowski says despite taking a year off, his body feels good.
“I feel good. It feels good just to be out there and playing football again,” he said. “Going out there with the guys. We won last week, which was great. To get that feeling of a win again felt good. Going out there and practicing throughout the week and preparing. It feels good just to be out there and just playing the game of football.
“I’ve just got to keep working. There’s always areas I can improve big time, especially in the pass game. It doesn’t matter if you get a lot of passes called your way, if I’m not ready then it’s never going to work so I’ve just got to be ready at all times and just improve my game in the pass game and run game. I can definitely improve.”
Gronkowski admitted after a year away from the game, it took some time to adjust to the speed again.
“When I first got here, and the first couple of practices, the game was fast,” Gronkowski said. “First
game, too, was fast and it’s slowing down a little bit and you’ve got to appreciate that. I mean, that’s what you want. You don’t want the game to be feeling fast to you, you don’t want the players to feel like they’re flying past you. The game has slowed down since training camp and it feels good just to get a couple games under my belt.”
Watson out
Justin Watson, who injured his shoulder in last Sunday’s 31-17 win over the Carolina Panthers but finished the game, will not play for the Bucs this weekend against the Broncos.
“Justin is out for the ballgame. Everybody else is ready to roll,” Arians said.
Watson, a third-year pro from Penn, injured his shoulder in the second half against the Panthers.
Normally the Bucs’ third or fourth receiver, Watson has three catches for 54 yards this season. He also is the punt protector on special teams, where he plays key roles in kick coverage.
The Bucs played with an injured Mike Evans in Week 1 at New Orleans as he battled through a hamstring issue. In Week 2, receiver Chris Godwin was out with a concussion.
That forced players such as Scotty Miller and Watson to take on bigger roles on offense.