Bedard on Gronk's medical advice and return

[SVN]

Ian Williams injury further proof NFL has to start protecting linemen | The MMQB with Peter King

As Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski nears a return after offseason back surgery, I hope he’s getting good advice. He is one of the league’s best players and, if healthy, he could go down as the best all-around tight end to play the game. Gronkowski is that good. He is still just 24 years old, with most of his career in front of him. But after two surgeries in four years, his back is a ticking time bomb if not fully healed. It’s why several teams took him off the draft board in 2010—even before the second procedure. I’m always leery about the medical decisions made on a player’s return to action, and that’s not specific to the Patriots. There’s too much conflict of interest. The team wants the player back (the Patriots are in desperate need of even viable targets), and a player always wants to play—especially someone like Gronkowski—so there aren’t many checks and balances. Already from Gronkowski we’ve seen him “play”—he was that compromised—on a badly injured ankle in the Super Bowl, and re-break his arm last season.
I don’t have a whole lot of confidence Gronkowski’s family would hold him back if he wasn’t quite ready; his father and brothers were all athletes. Agent Drew Rosenhaus has a very good relationship with Bill Belichick, and likes it that way. And Patriots team doctor Thomas Gill, who was not retained by the Red Sox after the 2011 season, recently had a grievance filed against him by the NFLPA. ESPNBoston.com reported the union found evidence that may show Gill did not act in the best interest of former defensive tackle Jonathan Fanene (though it can’t be discounted that the grievance was just a recourse for the Patriots going after Fanene’s signing bonus). My question is this: who’s definitely looking out for Gronkowski’s best interest? That question is why I’m a proponent of players being handled by independent doctors, who solely decide when a player can return. Doubt that will ever happen, but it would be nice to have total confidence Gronkowski is receiving the best objective advice possible, because his long-term health is more important than this season.

 

[upstater1]

Gronk's rebreak was a freak injury that was caused by the plate itself!

I'm not sure what King's point is about the high ankle sprain.

 

[Ice_Ice_Brady]

My question is this: who’s definitely looking out for Gronkowski’s best interest?

Gee Peter, is it possible that Gronkowski's contract runs longer than just the 2013 season, and that maybe, just maybe, the Patriots also have some vested interest in the long-term health of their All-Pro tight end?

Update: I just used a "tool" called Google, and according to the "search engine machine" it looks like Gronkowski was signed to an eight-year extension last season and will be under contract until 2020.

Thanks for another gem of an article. Hack.

 

[JMC00]

A tad shoddy by Bedard, that grievance by the NFLPA was rescinded.

 

[JMC00]

Gronk's rebreak was a freak injury that was caused by the plate itself!

I'm not sure what King's point is about the high ankle sprain.

Gee Peter, is it possible that Gronkowski's contract runs longer than just the 2013 season, and that maybe, just maybe, the Patriots also have some vested interest in the long-term health of their All-Pro tight end?

Update: I just used a "tool" called Google, and according to the "search engine machine" it looks like Gronkowski was signed to an eight-year extension last season and will be under contract until 2020.

Thanks for another gem of an article. Hack.

The piece is from Bedard

 

[hwc]

Typical media idiot hatchet job. The entire article is speculation without even a shred of factual reporting concerning Gronk's injury or recovery or timetable for return. All intended to imply that the Patriots are behaving irresponsibly and risking Gronkowski's health...

If you are going to put that out there, you should at least have some basis..

 

[Jackson 2]

Something happens to these people when they leave the local media scene. Bedard' when he was with the Globe, was very fair with the Pats. So was Breer. Now, in my opinion, Breer is an insufferable dink and Bedard's tone toward NE is clearly different. Hell, around the time of Hernandez's arrest, Bedard described AH as having "a good heart" (evidently not quite as good as his weapons supplier) and claimed he was a "good guy."

 

[Deus Irae]

Gee Peter, is it possible that Gronkowski's contract runs longer than just the 2013 season, and that maybe, just maybe, the Patriots also have some vested interest in the long-term health of their All-Pro tight end?

Update: I just used a "tool" called Google, and according to the "search engine machine" it looks like Gronkowski was signed to an eight-year extension last season and will be under contract until 2020.

Thanks for another gem of an article. Hack.

Teams weigh the long term versus the short term and get it wrong all the time by allowing the need for wins to override a more sensible approach. We only have to look back to Hernandez last year to see the Patriots doing it.

 

[Ozymandias]

The Patriots have already made it clear that they're not bringing back Rob until he's 100% healthy and confident in his ability to play at a high level.

Anything else beyond that is just conjecture. All offseason we've heard one nonsensical article about Rob's situation after another. If it were up to these "analysts" and writers, he should be placed on IR before even playing in a game, with the way that they talk about him.

I just can't wait until he's back on the field, spiking footballs into orbit, and shutting up these naysayers.

 

[upstater1]

The Patriots have already made it clear that they're not bringing back Rob until he's 100% healthy and confident in his ability to play at a high level.

Anything else beyond that is just conjecture. All offseason we've heard one nonsensical article about Rob's situation after another. If it were up to these "analysts" and writers, he should be placed on IR before even playing in a game, with the way that they talk about him.

I just can't wait until he's back on the field, spiking footballs into orbit, and shutting up these naysayers.

Whether he comes back Sunday or in 8 weeks, it's always going to be too soon for some people.

 

[Jackson 2]

Whether he comes back Sunday or in 8 weeks, it's always going to be too soon for some people.

Yup, week 4 in 2019 would suit many here.

 

[woolster22]

Re: Re: Bedard on Gronk's medical advice and return

The Patriots have already made it clear that they're not bringing back Rob until he's 100% healthy and confident in his ability to play at a high level.

Anything else beyond that is just conjecture. All offseason we've heard one nonsensical article about Rob's situation after another. If it were up to these "analysts" and writers, he should be placed on IR before even playing in a game, with the way that they talk about him.

I just can't wait until he's back on the field, spiking footballs into orbit, and shutting up these naysayers.

I thought I read that these orbit inducing spikes were now 15 yard penalties. Maybe I'm wrong. With all the ridiculous fines, overturns, helmet garbage and so forth, the league seems to be on full tard mode. Ok, maybe not the league, but herr goodhell seems to be running this league into chaos fastee than our government and the country. I guess this makes sense given the law background.

 

[Silver Blue&Red]

Hey, Dr Bedard, he's an NFL player making millions. Would you feel better if he just left the NFL all together? The guy's a commodity. He's not doing any good on the sidelines. How long do you suggest he stays out? He either plays or he's no use. And how dare you assume how his family feels. What an idiotic article. Lets get this straight. The doctors evaluating him are wrong, and you, behind your laptop are right.

 

[SVN]

I usually like bedard but not sure where this is coming from. This is worse from his boss
It Is What It Is » Peter King on M&M: Patriots better off giving Rob Gronkowski more time

“The day I was in camp I just got the sense there that the last thing they were going is to do is something dumb and rush Gronkowski back. Because remember, in the past they rushed him back and it screwed things up,” King said.

He broke his arm after a fall again. What was too soon ? Iam sure the radio station hosts didnt try and correct him.

 

[QuantumMechanic]

Something happens to these people when they leave the local media scene. Bedard' when he was with the Globe, was very fair with the Pats. So was Breer.

Nope. Breer morphed into a total DB when he joined the Globe, not when he left it.

 

[supafly]

I thought I read that these orbit inducing spikes were now 15 yard penalties. Maybe I'm wrong. With all the ridiculous fines, overturns, helmet garbage and so forth, the league seems to be on full tard mode. Ok, maybe not the league, but herr goodhell seems to be running this league into chaos fastee than our government and the country. I guess this makes sense given the law background.

FWIW--the Gronkowski spike is still allowed per the new NFL policy, as long as he doesn't make it his intention to purposely spike it "at" a player (which sounds like common sense to me), or doesn't act in what they'd deem as taunting another player with the spike.

There were several articles that came up around here when the rule went into effect earlier in the offseason.

 

[Fencer]

Gronk's rebreak was a freak injury that was caused by the plate itself!

I'm not sure what King's point is about the high ankle sprain.

I've never been comfortable with the claim that the plate break was just one of those things. Maybe the procedure wasn't designed properly. Maybe they really didn't know what would happen, and should have left more time for healing to reduce the danger.

Basically, it seemed like the same philosophy used on space shuttle design -- hope things work out well, because it's too expensive and time-consuming to take all that many precautions.


Football by its very nature is medically imprudent, but that doesn't mean we can't from time to time notice that some choices are even less prudent than others.

 

[tuckeverlasting]

some decisions are only prudent in hindsight.

 

[TheBostonStraggler]

There is an interesting point here, the team doctor's conflict of interest.
Yet if this truly is an issue players should be worried about, this is one the NFLPA should address. They could contract a medical group that is without question unaffiliated with the NFL in anyway, and allows their members a vetted option to look over the team doctor's prognosis and provide a second opinion. Seems like an easy problem to solve.

As another mentioned, the Fanene/NFLPA grievance is done. The writer should know this. The writer should also mention the timing of the NFLPA/Fanene grievance makes it implicitly suspect. While he notes that is the case, sorta, he still uses it to prove a point. That doesn't make sense to me.....

 

[captain insano]

nfl coverage is nauseating in so many ways. I cant watch or read 99 percent of it anymore. all it does is make me angry.