Yates: Gronk 50/50 to play in Week 3.

[Kontradiction]

Field Yates @FieldYates
According to @Edwerderespn, Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski is 50/50 to play in Week 3. He was again on the field for practice on Monday.

I would assume they're waiting to see how he responds in contact drills. If he responds well, he's probably playing and will be given a limited snap count (based on situation or field position... red zone, for example). Either way, it's great news even if he isn't fully ready to go for the Bucs.

 

[dales804]

This is good news. I've suspected he'd be back in a limited role this week then full steam ahead against ATL. Here's to hoping the rookie WRs make progress, too!

 

[Snake Eyes]

If he's 50/50 I hope he doesn't play, better a week extra for recovery than a week not enough.

 

[Rob0729]

I would bet he plays even if it is a limited basis. I think they want him to get some real football before they hit the real meat of their schedule a week from Sunday.

 

[PatsFan2]

Just put Gronk in on 3rd Downs and our Problems will be sloved.

 

[patsinthesnow]

I'm down with the idea of giving him limited snaps Sunday so he's ready for what might be our toughest game of the year week 4.

 

[Kontradiction]

Gronk coming back and remaining healthy will be an absolute godsend. He helps in the running game by sealing off the edge for the backs and opens things up a lot more in the intermediate levels of the field for the rest of the WR's. They'll still need Amendola down the road, but this should be just what the doctor ordered for now.

 

[Kontradiction]

Here's the Herald's acticle from Jeff Howe...

Gronk?s return should help dormant ?O? | Boston Herald

The tight end began his third week of practice yesterday, and his target return of mid-September remains in line. Whether that turns into this week against the Buccaneers or next week on the road against the Falcons remains to be seen, but for the first time, it seems possible that he could play, even if coach Bill Belichick was predictably noncommittal about his status.

“We’ll take everybody day to day here,” Belichick said yesterday.

In Week 1, it was virtually guaranteed that Gronkowski wouldn’t see the field despite practicing for the first time since undergoing back surgery and the latest string of forearm procedures. There were whispers that he could go in Week 2, but it still seemed like a longshot.

Now, the All-Pro might be ready to save an offense that lethargically navigated through the Bills and Jets. Gronkowski actually finished yesterday’s practice, which was in shells, and that wasn’t the case two weeks ago before the Pats ran nothing but walkthroughs last week.

 

[Uncle Rico]

Just put Gronk in on 3rd Downs and our Problems will be sloved.

And NO BLOCKING ON PATs!

 

[BradyManny]

I guess I'd also hope they take the long view and either just work him in slowly (10-20 snaps) or wait another week for the Atlanta game.

We'll need a healthy Gronk down the stretch this year. Last year, we had some semblance of a shot without him, but this year, if early results are any indication, we will be hopeless without him.

I think people have and continue to underestimate the monumental impact Gronk makes on this offense in not just the pass game but the run game. We all know he's great. But we're talking about adding a player whose impact on the offense, has at times, rivaled Brady's. This is a blue-chip, All-Pro caliber, game-changing player who makes everyone else around him better, and will dramatically improve the efficiency of the offense.

 

[Kontradiction]

I guess I'd also hope they take the long view and either just work him in slowly (10-20 snaps) or wait another week for the Atlanta game.

We'll need a healthy Gronk down the stretch this year. Last year, we had some semblance of a shot without him, but this year, if early results are any indication, we will be hopeless without him.

I think people have and continue to underestimate the monumental impact Gronk makes on this offense in not just the pass game but the run game. We all know he's great. But we're talking about adding a player whose impact on the offense, has at times, rivaled Brady's. This is a blue-chip, All-Pro caliber, game-changing player who makes everyone else around him better, and will dramatically improve the efficiency of the offense.

People keep advocating to wait for him until further down the stretch because we need him healthy for the playoffs. I don't understand that. For one, there is no guarantee that the Patriots will enter the playoffs this season. For another, he takes some of the heat off the rookies. For a third, there is absolutely no guarantee that holding how out longer will prevent injury later on in the year.

If he responds well to contact drills, they should insert him and limit his snap count to something like every couple of downs and/or to the red zone. The best way for a football player to get in shape is to play football. If he doesn't respond well to contact drills, then don't rush him back. It's that simple.

 

[Rob0729]

People keep advocating to wait for him until further down the stretch because we need him healthy for the playoffs. I don't understand that. For one, there is no guarantee that the Patriots will enter the playoffs this season. For another, he takes some of the heat off the rookies. For a third, there is absolutely no guarantee that holding how out longer will prevent injury later on in the year.

If he responds well to contact drills, they should insert him and limit his snap count to something like every couple of downs and/or to the red zone. The best way for a football player to get in shape is to play football. If he doesn't respond well to contact drills, then don't rush him back. It's that simple.

Yeah, I don't get it either. People think putting him on ice is going to make him healthy for the playoffs. Unless the medical staff thinks his back can be degenerative and he will wear down over the season or playing him now makes him risk serious injury, there is no valid reason not to play him if he is ready to play.

 

[yukon cornelius]

People keep advocating to wait for him until further down the stretch because we need him healthy for the playoffs. I don't understand that. For one, there is no guarantee that the Patriots will enter the playoffs this season. For another, he takes some of the heat off the rookies. For a third, there is absolutely no guarantee that holding how out longer will prevent injury later on in the year.

If he responds well to contact drills, they should insert him and limit his snap count to something like every couple of downs and/or to the red zone. The best way for a football player to get in shape is to play football. If he doesn't respond well to contact drills, then don't rush him back. It's that simple.

nailed

the notion of "saving a player" when healthy, or even the idea that a player is "injury prone" are both nonsense......while some players have chronic issues that need protecting (bad knees, turf toe, etc), injuries can and do happen, quite randomly, every play......look at welker's knee injury, that could happen to any player at any point in time, it was total non-contact, could have happened in 7v7 no contact drills just as easily

there is some credence to players putting themselves in bad position (or being hung out to dry repeatedly by their QB).....something tells me Gronk will learn when to fight for the yardage and when to go down (welker is pretty good at this), but if he's healthy (Gronk).....he plays



my gut tells me 20-25 snaps.....work him into game speed.....with the new CBA, it's hard to get them up to speed in practice......think of this game as a minor league rehab start

 

[Deus Irae]

Reporters say that Gronk has a 50 - 50 chance of playing, though there's only a 10 percent chance of that.

 

[BradyManny]

For a third, there is absolutely no guarantee that holding how out longer will prevent injury later on in the year.

You have a guy who hasn't really played football in 10 months, and has been unable to do his normal routine for the bulk of that. As a result, he's not in peak fitness, not at top strength, and not at his normal weight. I would say all of those things increase - even if its marginally so - the likelihood of re-injury or injury. Maybe these three weeks of practice were all he needed, in which case, let him play.

 

[PatsDeb]

I call BS. This is just a tease to make the Bucs prepare for him. I think he's coming back against Atlanta, where we are more likely to need fire power in the event that our O does not get on track this week.

 

[Kontradiction]

The Pats - like many teams probably have - have been burnt bringing an injured player back arguably too early at times in the past.

I'm not going to argue that. I've made that point before, specifically with Mayo in 2009 and Gronk even last year when it was disgustingly apparent that he shouldn't have played when the Pats hosted the Dolphins. His arm was literally dangling at his side on that touchdown catch.

I'm not saying that's what would happen here. But you do have a guy who hasn't really played football in 10 months, and has been unable to do his normal routine for the bulk of that.

Lots of players in the annals of time have been unable to really play football for that time period or more and have come back. So the timeline argument doesn't really work in this case. Further, he was practicing well before Week 1 and, by all reports, this should be the first week that he enters contact drills. If he responds to them well, it's a no brainer. He's easily the best weapon in the passing game at this point in time when healthy. If he doesn't, you hold him out longer.

As a result, he's not in peak fitness, not at top strength, and not at his normal weight. I would say all of those things increase - even if its marginally so - the likelihood of re-injury or injury. Maybe these three weeks of practice were all he needed, but if we can't beat Tampa Bay without him, we probably have larger problems anyway.

It's a fine line because keeping him out longer than you need to also increases injury. Brady made a statement after his injury in 2008 that he believed that if he were to play in the preseason prior to that, there was a better chance his torn ACL and MCL wouldn't have happened. I'm not for rushing Gronk back, but if the guy responds well to contact drills and looks ready to go, put him in. Ease him into action and let him get his wind up and get used to getting hit before the Pats head to Atlanta.

 

[dannydyn]

I call BS. This is just a tease to make the Bucs prepare for him. I think he's coming back against Atlanta, where we are more likely to need fire power in the event that our O does not get on track this week.

I agree. I think this is nothing more than smoke and mirrors for the Bucs. I don't see him playing this week, and even in the remote chance he does take the field, his role will be super limited to blocking and playing decoy in the backfield.

Just my .02

 

[Snake Eyes]

For a third, there is absolutely no guarantee that holding how out longer will prevent injury later on in the year.

It depends on the nature of the current injury, how healed is it? To what extent is the rest of his body off because it's been compensating to deal with the injury?

Just because he might respond fine to contact drills now does NOT mean he's healthy, sorry but it's not nearly that simple.

 

[JMC00]

I don't get the "hold him out of this game if he can go and have him ready for the Falcons" line of thinking.

If he comes back against the Falcons he will be limited. Can't just throw him out there in the game against Atlanta and say here play 65-80 snaps. He needs to see limited game action to get back into the flow of football and take a huge chunk of that rust off.

And with the way TEs have gashed the Bucs in the first two weeks
Winslow 7 for 79 1 TD
Graham 10 for 179 1 TD
there could be a good chance for Brady and Gronk to get back in rhythm right off the bat.