Report: surgery for Gronk

Getting through the playoffs without him is going to be a challenge. I doubt he plays again this year even if we make it.

AJ Derby could be useful now. Oh wait !

ashley1992 said:

Wow, that stinks!!!!!

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Yep stinks pm

Well this sucks but the pats weren't winning the SB anyway with this garbage d.

ScottishPatriots said:

Get ready to be disappointed in January, no Gronk + this defense, if Brady isn't perfect it's all over.

If it happened vs Seattle as reported they could of done this surgery weeks ago and he'd of been back for the playoffs.

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Lets hold on the reports. just 3 days back it was reported injury isnt serious. So no one knows clearly how/when it happened.

scott99 said:

Yeah, but he's banged up as well. And we don't have a decent TE to pair up with him. Him and Gronk together when they were relatively healthy, unstoppable. Now, easier to stop. Every year, except 2014, this team has MAJOR injury problems. That Derby trade, in hindsight (though I hated it) is a killer. He's no Gronk, but he's looked damned good, and made a rival stronger in that position, AND, knew the offense. Anyone we bring in now, will be pretty useless except for blocking. This is a MAJOR ****ing loss.

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captain insano said:

this doesn't surprise me at all. i don't expect gronk to be healthy. thankfully the pats have bennet. aj derby would be nice right about now.

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Derby is a glorified big body WR. He cant block efficiently which is why he got shipped out. His absence doesn't matter too much in the context of Gronk being out.

The good thing is they insured themselves to a degree against a Gronk injury by bringing in Bennett, though he is dinged up as well. Their receivers are also pretty good, with Mitchell rounding into form, and their backs are playing well this year with Dion also coming back.

When you consider the 2014 SB team, if you replace Gronk with Bennett, replace Vereen with White (plus add Dion), replace LaFell with Hogan and Mitchell, and you've still got Edelman plus Amendola is healthy this time, you're not necessarily in much worse shape.

That said, no one can truly replace Gronk, and this defense isn't as good as that 2014 team, though they have room to get better.

Knew that initial report was the kiss of death

This is terrible news obviously, but now we root for the Raiders to win their division. That way, even if we don't beat them out for HFA, they're the only team we wouldn't get to play at home, and we can move the ball on that defense even without Gronk.

Tuck said:

Anyone got the before and after on the Super Bowl line?

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the sports book I'm on doesn't have SB odds up because of this right now haha

Well ****. Chances of winning the SB just went down a whole lot.

AvocadoIceCream said:

Well it certainly makes it much more difficult.

If you can win a SB without your #1 option and one of Bradys binkies, I don't know why you have him at all

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Put up points, finish drives, rinse and repeat. As long as you find ways to score. No one in the AFC looks unbeatable right now. Either the teams have great defenses with weak offenses, or vice versa.

Also do remember that the Seahawks got Harvin back for just the SB a few years ago. It's happened before. Just get him for the SB where we will absolutely need him in a Seattle rematch, or against Dallas.

qbno12 said:

AJ Derby could be useful now. Oh wait !

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There's zero proof AJ Derby is even good, i don't get all these AJ Derby lovers.

He has 6 catches for 65 yards for Denver, if you think AJ Derby could change this teams fortunes than that's pure delusion.

What is he Tony Gonzalez now?

A passrush or LBs who can cover would be useful now, AJ Derby can stay in Denver.

qbno12 said:

AJ Derby could be useful now. Oh wait !

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Trading Derby seemed stupid at the time, worse now. This sucks of course, but the presence of Bennett is huge. Have to make sure that guy gets healthy.

SVN said:

There is no one to blame. You cant predict how anyone can get injured on a play. Thats football. People will obviously blame the pats but its just terrible luck.

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I agree: There is no one to blame (and I wish people would drop the whole Madden Curse routine).

Fact is Gronk is too strong for his body's own good. The qualities that make him such a great TE work toward injuring his body. His is so big and so fast and so strong that the force of impact on his collisions are greater than those of other players. But a disk is still a disk, a ligament is still a ligament.

Does this hurt the Patriots? Absolutely, but there is no dominant team out there that I see us as being completely unable to beat.

SVN said:

Lets hold on the reports. just 3 days back it was reported injury isnt serious. So no one knows clearly how/when it happened.

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Stage One: Denial

qbno12 said:

AJ Derby could be useful now. Oh wait !

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Derby gave BB no reason to keep around. His blocking was awful and his alligator armed a few throws.

ScottishPatriots said:

There's zero proof AJ Derby is even good, i don't get all these AJ Derby lovers.

He has 6 catches for 65 yards for Denver, if you think AJ Derby could change this teams fortunes than that's pure delusion.

What is he Tony Gonzalez now?

A passrush or LBs who can cover would be useful now, AJ Derby can stay in Denver.

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If only we had hold on to Sudfeld when Gronk tore his ACL in 2013. Same story..

/s

ScottishPatriots said:

There's zero proof AJ Derby is even good, i don't get all these AJ Derby lovers.

He has 6 catches for 65 yards for Denver, if you think AJ Derby could change this teams fortunes than that's pure delusion.

What is he Tony Gonzalez now?

A passrush or LBs who can cover would be useful now, AJ Derby can stay in Denver.

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I am not saying he's our saviour. He's been with us all of preseason and until trade deadline. Just another body we could use at TE is what I meant.

Joey007 said:

Isn't that why we brought in Bennett? We still have a top 5 TE, a good WR Corp, and two great pass catching RB's.

Not sure why we're dead in the water over this.

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Bennett is great but he is not gronk. Gronk is mostly uncoverable. Plus we also lose a big part of our blocking scheme if we move bennett out and the oline can suffer. its a trickle down effect.