Bruce Arians Details Rob Gronkowski Usage, Misusage
November 2nd, 2021
Kudos to Bucco Bruce Arians for his candor on the Rob Gronkowski situation.
Arians sat down with WFLA-TV sports director Dan Lucas after the groin-stomp loss to the Saints. During the chat, Lucas asked Arians point blank whether his Hall of Fame tight end should have played Sunday. Gronk had been out four games with busted ribs and was limited in practice prior to Sunday.
After saying in his postgame news conference that Gronk “probably” should not have played, Arians was more definitive yesterday.
Dan Lucas: Rob Gronkowski gave it a go in the game. It didn’t work out for him. Should he have played?
Bruce Arians: No. We only planned on playing him in the red zone. And when he didn’t make that catch that he makes nine of out of 10 times, it told me something. And then he went back out there and tried to block on a running play and his back spasmed up. So hopefully, you know, he’s got 10 days to recoup and get it loosened up.
Again, Joe applauds Arians’ candor.
Obviously, team doctors cleared Gronk to play but there was concern — and probably a heck of a lot of pressure from Gronk, who certainly has a history of playing through injury.
Joe hopes letting Gronk play Sunday was not a greedy mistake.
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:21 am
OJ to the rescue!
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:27 am
Back spasm is nothing serious. Just a litlle bit of a massage “only” please. He can ask for some recommendations from Deshaun Watson. 😉
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:28 am
‘Joe hopes letting Gronk play Sunday was not a greedy mistake.’
……………..
I thought it was from the beginning.
We are so hurt and still 6 and 2. This is not the time to rush players back in.
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:31 am
Should’ve never played. Disgusting
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:48 am
Pete, go jack to Winston stats somewhere else.
November 2nd, 2021 at 11:59 am
Hey folks….some of this is on Gronk….
November 2nd, 2021 at 12:14 pm
Gronk has dealt with back spasms before. (just sayin)
November 2nd, 2021 at 1:37 pm
All the hand-wringing over whether Gronk should play or not is ridiculous. It’s not like a hamstring or turf toe where coming back to early can set him back. The only question was whether he could be effective, and obviously he couldn’t, but there was nothing to lose from finding out.
November 2nd, 2021 at 7:04 pm
A little massage some orajel&heat on the back &gronk will be bk to being “GRONK”!!!
November 2nd, 2021 at 7:47 pm
“when he didn’t make that catch that he makes nine of out of 10 times”
——-
That catch was impossible, the guy was on top of them and karate chopped with pretty much perfect timing, Gronk had no chance to catch that. I know what Arians is saying, and I’ve seen incredible catches, but that one was getting not going to be caught no matter his health.
November 2nd, 2021 at 7:49 pm
Back spasms can be very serious at the time. Back spasms can put you on your azz.
November 2nd, 2021 at 9:47 pm
Say what you want about B.A. but you cannot call him a liar or BS artist. I respect that. He’s a great coach.
November 2nd, 2021 at 9:48 pm
Agreed Rod. He’s not making that catch even with go go gadget arms
November 3rd, 2021 at 10:11 am
Agreed on that unmakeable catch but that must have been on Brady as the ball never came close to Gronk’s ‘back shoulder’ thereby making it only a ball Gronk could catch. So either: 1) Brady missed a pass he could’ve thrown in his sleep 2) Gronk didn’t run the proper fade route or 3) they were “rusty” with each other after four weeks down. As this was a pure timing pass I can’t believe Brady would have missed by a yard like he did. Gronk was rusty and tentative on the route where he should have aggressively positioned himself to be where he was supposed to be, i.e., where the DB was standing. This is why BA blamed Gronk.
November 3rd, 2021 at 5:26 pm
We loved Gronk when he played for NE.
We also had to watch him play hurt . I believe he was off the field then on the field. ALWAYS playing hurt didn’t get him in the Hall of Fame ..Its his Cheerleading that got him there 🤪..