Another Sunday, another injury rocks a team in playoff contention. This time it’s Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots.
Gronkowski has a torn ACL and MCL, the three letters no player, team or fan-base ever wants to hear when someone suffers a knee injury.
After an MRI confirmed that Gronk does have a torn ACL and MCL it is season over and a trip to sports surgeon Dr James Andrews will likely follow, with surgery a likely option.
This will mean that yet another season will be cut short due to injury for Gronk, after his season only started in week seven.
But what will this injury mean for the Patriots’ Super Bowl hopes, who escaped with two touchdowns in 30 seconds against the Browns this week?
Prior to Gronkowski’s season debut in a week-seven loss to the Jets, the Patriots held a 5-1 record. This, however was a very unconvincing 5-1 record.
These six matches featured an ugly Thursday night victory over the Jets, a loss to the Bengals in which the Patriots didn’t score a touchdown and a miracle escape against the Saints at home.
The Patriots were unconvincing in notching up that 5-1 record with the receivers dropping a number of easy passes, they dropped 18 catches in that six week period, and Tom Brady missing a number of open receivers, with Brady’s frustration also clearly evident on the sideline.
Additionally, the only playoff teams the Patriots played in this six game stretch without Gronk was the Saints, who they got out of jail against, and the Bengals, who they lost to 13-6 in an extremely sloppy performance.
When it came time to face the top teams the Patriots struggled when Brady didn’t have his number one target, Rob Gronkowski.
While it is easy to blame the Patriots’ early struggles on the missing Gronk and the Patriots’ young wide receivers, it is important to note that they were missing their offseason recruit, Danny Amendola, who played just three of the Patriots’ first six matches and missed Gronkowski’s return match against the Jets.
This was a huge loss for Brady, as it left him with unheralded receivers such as rookies Aaron Dobson and Kenbrell Thompkins.
This meant that upon his return, Gronkowski instantly became Brady’s number one target, catching eight passes for 114 yards in his season debut and averaging 80 receiving yards a match.
It is no coincidence that the Patriots performances improved significantly following Gronkowski’s return from injury.
During the past seven games, the Patriots have gone 5-2, overcome a 24-point halftime deficit to the Broncos, suffered an overtime loss to the Jets following a controversial penalty call and lost to the Panthers following a controversial non-call on a final second throw to Gronkowski in the end-zone.
It is clear that the Patriots are a far better team with Gronkowski in the side, but this is not just because the Patriots have a better tight end on the field.
Defences double teaming Gronk opens up throwing lanes to Danny Amendola or Julian Edelman, the latter of which seems to have overcome a midseason slump, returning to form against the Broncos.
However, the Patriots improvement throughout the season cannot only be attributed to the return of Gronkowski. The inexperienced wide receiving group has developed as the season has progressed.
As well as this, Brady’s accuracy has improved and has evidently developed improved chemistry with all of his receivers as the season has continued, with the number of missed routes and miscommunications between Brady and the receivers dropping significantly over the past few weeks.
The receivers have also benefited from a reduced workload that has resulted from a healthy Danny Amendola and Rob Gronkowski playing more snaps and attracting more targets from Brady.
Prior to Gronkowski’s injury, the Patriots as a whole were improving and seemed to be peaking at just the right time of the year, ready for a deep playoff run and potential dual with Peyton Manning in the third round of the playoffs.
However, despite the developments of the Patriots’ receiving corps, the Patriots will struggle significantly without their star tight end.
The young receivers will struggle to cope with the extra pressure that will come with sudden death playoff football.
Tom Brady will miss having a dependable target which he can rely on during the big moments, such as in the final two minutes on the road down by four.
I have been wrong quite a lot lately, and I could be wrong again, but unless both Danny Amendola and Julian Edelman step up down the stretch the Patriots will not win the Super Bowl without Rob Gronkowski.
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