I know the ultimate plan was to play bennett and gronk together(but they have only played 27% of snaps on the field together) but you know in trading for bennett belicheck definitely took into account gronks injury history and having a backup plan. and that backup plan being a pro bowl tight end who can pick up gronks slack.
while the media is predicting doom for the patriots, lest they forget we went 3-1 without brady and gronk. not to dowplay his greatness, but gronk had 3-4 good games where he was a factor this season
while it hurts, we are much better equipped to handle it. edelman, hogan, mitchell, bennett, amendola, white and lewis is still a pretty good offense. . you might be able to argue that brady without edelman has been worse than brady without gronk. I still dont see anyone in the afc that is so unsurmountable right now that we cant get to the superbowl. especially if they come through foxboro