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I liked your post because I think there's some pretty good insight there and I share your enthusiasm, but there's some stuff I don't believe for a minute, notably:
The rest is either good or bold predictions that I will accept in the spirit in which they were delivered. With respect to the above, however:
- I don't see Gronk being ready for week 1. Week 4 is more likely and lately quite possible. I think you set the bar way too high for coming off a late-season ACL injury.
- Dobson will be good, but the ball will be spread around too much. I see him in the 750 yard range, particularly when you consider how many balls go the way of Edelman, LaFell, Amendola, Gronk, and Vereen.
- Stork won't be ready to start in week 1. Wendell might get cut, if Connolly can play Center, but I doubt it.
- This defense will get after the QB with 4 enough that they don't need to blitz that much, but it will feel like they do, because it there will be an unpredictable mixture of blitzes and 4-man pressures, and the QB will never know who is coming.
Gronk tore his ACL in early December. Welker tore his in early January and was back and practicing in training camp. Adrian Peterson tore his ACL in late December and played every game the following year and won the MVP that season. There are plenty examples of players tearing their ACL as late or later in the season than Gronk did and not miss a game the following season.
I am not setting the bar way too high at all. The bar is that he is ready for week 1. Not saying he will be, but him being ready for week one may actually be a conservative expectation. Typical recovery time is 6 months these days. It will be nine months since his surgery at the start of the season. If Gronk isn't ready week one, it is a concern because either he is being way too cautious coming back or he had a significant set back.