Mack Herron

Hypothetically, of course.

Gronkowski (ankle) DNP on 'projected' report

PatriotSeven

I kind of expect the same thing. Something tells me the Pats are keeping the severity of his injury on the lay low so Giants will practice for Gronk, but I expect Ocho Cinco to be getting drilled these two weeks. He better get these routes down.

I don't know how most will feel about this, but we could be looking at an offense that looks more like the 2007 version going into the Super Bowl with more deep vertical passes, similar to the Giants. Hopefully Ocho will turn his freaking head back when running his routes and adjust if it comes down to that.

Hope this O-line holds too if we have to go deeper. This will cause some issues. Good thing they have two weeks to prepare.

Triumph

Gronk will play.

strngplyr

Gronkowski will play, he just won't be dragging people down field, which is fine. We just need to grind it out, get 1st downs, the touchdowns will come. I'm tired of seeing us try to score in one play when that isn't out style anymore.

Last time Brady tried really force feeding Ocho was against the Giants, wasted 5 downs, gained 0 yards. I'd rather see Edelman on the field.

I'd also like to see more than 16 rushing attempts, or whatever we had in SB42, maybe double that. I don't see us falling behind by any large margin, no reason to abandon the run, the Giants D got gashed by Frank Gore quite a bit last week.

Edit: If we do stretch the field, it will be by AH abusing the LB's and Safeties deep like Vernon Davis did, not Ocho.

BigHoss28

I would be surprised and disappointed if this happened. The Giants play a LOT of nickel, trying to go deep on them without a burner who can eat up cushion fast is ill-advised. Ochocinco has shown nothing to indicate he is a deep threat at this point in his career and the Pats don't have anyone else with the skill set.

The best deep threat the Pats have right now IS Gronk in many ways. I will be much less confident if he doesn't play, but I think they will go to an even more conservative gameplan early if he is too limited or doesn't play rather than trying to open things up when they just don't have the personnel to do so.

But to be sure, there is not a receiver on the Pats roster that can run by the Giants' secondary in their base defense. That doesn't mean the Giants' secondary are speed demons, but they will give a lot of cushion if they aren't concerned underneath.

The Patriots need to force the Giants out of their base defense with the running game and short passing game. They need to be creative and get the Giants to put three linebackers back on the field and get the Giants to blitz to get pressure. If they can accomplish this, the Giants will be much more susceptible to deeper routes.

So basically, OL needs to handle the Giants front without a ton of TE help and they need to at least be consistent in the running game. No negative plays and consistently at least 4 yards per rush. If they can do that, the Pats are talented enough at RB to get a few big plays in the running game, which will continue to bring the Giants out of their comfort zone and play less aggressively up front, but more aggressively in the secondary, taking more risks in the process.

I mean if you break it down as simply as possible, the Pats' OL needs to be better than the Giants' DL. If that happens, the Patriots will be in the driver's seat and if they avoid turnovers, they should move the ball effectively.

cmasspatsfan

This is Gronk we're talking about, hes only half human, he'll play and still drag Giants players into the end zone.

Palm Beach Pats Fan

DNP,
but not
DND

(did not dance)

Seems like he was having fun with some hotties Sun night

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patsfan06

Gronk is going to play and this threads are going to get super annoying for the next week and a half. If you have ever met the kid, there would literally be no question about whether he will play.

PatsFanJess

Gronk would play in the SB without a foot. I think he'll be more than fine in 2 weeks. We can't judge Gronk on level of mere mortal.

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PatriotSeven

This isn't about Gronk's heart and ultimately won't be up to him. So would Big Ben with a broken foot. This team isn't that stupid though. If he's injury makes him less effective than the next man in line, the next man in line will have to step up.

I'm sure he'll still be in there for one or two plays, just cause he deserves to be, but no more than that. If Giants get a whiff that we're only using him for blocking or as a diversion, they won't cover him as much and might even help them in figuring out where the play will go.