Harrison: Kelce better TE than Gronk right now

[Ring 6]

I think it's fair to say Gronk has faced two issues that have prevented him from being as effective this year as he was last year. First, he's still dealing with lingering injuries. Second, he was double-teamed heavily in the first three games.

It's worth noting that Kelce was also dealing with lingering injuries (a sprained ankle) in the first two games of the season. Kelce played almost every snap in the first two games but only ran 11 and 13 routes in those games. In the first game he did nothing, catching 1 pass on 6 targets for 6 yards; in the second he caught 7 passes on 10 targets for 109 yards and 2 TDs.

Gronk has run between 22 and 34 routes in each of his games this year, with the 22 being the Dolphins game where he missed a large chunk of the second half. The Patriots have actually averaged marginally more pass plays per game than the Chiefs have, and Gronk has run a route on more of those than Kelce (though Kelce's are dragged down by the first two games). Last year, both players ran a route on 90% of their team's pass plays. This year, it's 77% for Gronk and 68% for Kelce.

All this is to say is that, while Kelce has clearly recovered from his injury, Gronk is still probably feeling the effects and was limited in the early going by the ineffectiveness of the Patriots' offense. Gronk is likely to see a resurgence while Kelce will probably not maintain this torrid pace, especially given that he plays for Andy Reid and the Chiefs, a group notorious for fading fast. We'll see. Can't take anything away from Kelce. He's still not as good as Gronk though.

Do the % running routes include screen passes because that would make them less indicative of anything.

 

[Ring 6]

Nink ends the debate that wasn’t a debate any way.

 

[chris_in_sunnyvale]

Jesus, Nink. Tell us how you really feel. LOL!

Regards,
Chris

 

[Wheelman]

He totally does. Reminds me of the kid in Whiteboyz

You could see that if you even watched a little of that reality bachelor type show he was starring in.

 

[Wheelman]

Look man, they’re both great players. Gronk is more complete as a blocker, but injury prone. Kelce is a bit more athletic & less injury prone. Gronk is a once in a generation player. Glad we have Gronk, but I wouldn’t mind having Kelce either. Stop being homers and be pragmatic.

I wish people would get off this nonsense. Every single human would have hurt his ankle with the way Pollard wrapped around it and put his weight down on it. Heck, Eifert just broke his ankle in a similar situation. Every single human would have torn his ACL with the way that scumbag TJ Ward went for Gronk's knees(and went for it again in 2014). That's not being injury prone.

Other than that he's had a back history and a freak forearm break that's never come back. All the other little things nobody ever calls someone injury prone for that, especially the way Gronk plays.

Basically Gronk has a history with the back. Would you call that injury prone?

You know who is injury prone? Sean Lee.

 

[Wheelman]

Jesus, Nink. Tell us how you really feel. LOL!

Regards,
Chris

Honestly he was just telling the truth. Unfortunately it's all about fantasy football today. There are not a lot of real tight ends in the league anymore. And it's hard to know who those tight ends are because "analysts" rarely talk about blocking. It's all about numbers.

 

[IllegalContact]

let's see what happens to gronk's numbers as edelman and gordon are more integrated into the offense.......teams will no longer be able to send 2 guys wherever he goes

one of the things I noticed with gronk is he tends to not try to drag defenders as much..... I think I saw him try once so far this year......he who goes down after then catch gets back up for the next play

Kelce is concussion prone

 

[Kontradiction]

Ninko wants to join this party..

 

[TinhWoodhead]

rhody has cte

 

[Uptown]

I wish people would get off this nonsense. Every single human would have hurt his ankle with the way Pollard wrapped around it and put his weight down on it. Heck, Eifert just broke his ankle in a similar situation. Every single human would have torn his ACL with the way that scumbag TJ Ward went for Gronk's knees(and went for it again in 2014). That's not being injury prone.

Other than that he's had a back history and a freak forearm break that's never come back. All the other little things nobody ever calls someone injury prone for that, especially the way Gronk plays.

Basically Gronk has a history with the back. Would you call that injury prone?

You know who is injury prone? Sean Lee.

Dude, Gronk is injury prone whether you or anybody likes it or not. It is what it is. Gronk is one of my favorite players, so it’s nothing personal. Why do you think we go into every season guessing whether or not Gronk will get through an entire season??? I’m not a fan boy like many posters here. Yes, I am a fan of the Pats, but I still keep everything in perspective. Gronk is a sure fire hall of famer today if he didn’t take another snap, but the man is injury prone. He’s missed roughly 31 games in his career (so far). Sean Lee has missed about 35 games. So essentially what you’re saying is exactly what I’m saying; Gronk’s injury prone. What’s the difference???

 

[Wheelman]

Dude, Gronk is injury prone whether you or anybody likes it or not. It is what it is. Gronk is one of my favorite players, so it’s nothing personal. Why do you think we go into every season guessing whether or not Gronk will get through an entire season??? I’m not a fan boy like many posters here. Yes, I am a fan of the Pats, but I still keep everything in perspective. Gronk is a sure fire hall of famer today if he didn’t take another snap, but the man is injury prone. He’s missed roughly 31 games in his career (so far). Sean Lee has missed about 35 games. So essentially what you’re saying is exactly what I’m saying; Gronk’s injury prone. What’s the difference???

I explained my position. You know that's not what I'm saying. Gronk's not injury prone.

And I don't go into every season guessing whether Gronk will make it the entire season. That never even crosses my mind. So please, drop the "we" pronoun.

 

[TommyD4207]

Dude, Gronk is injury prone whether you or anybody likes it or not. It is what it is. Gronk is one of my favorite players, so it’s nothing personal. Why do you think we go into every season guessing whether or not Gronk will get through an entire season??? I’m not a fan boy like many posters here. Yes, I am a fan of the Pats, but I still keep everything in perspective. Gronk is a sure fire hall of famer today if he didn’t take another snap, but the man is injury prone. He’s missed roughly 31 games in his career (so far). Sean Lee has missed about 35 games. So essentially what you’re saying is exactly what I’m saying; Gronk’s injury prone. What’s the difference???

When was the last time he WASN'T on the injury report?

 

[TommyD4207]

I explained my position. You know that's not what I'm saying. Gronk's not injury prone.

And I don't go into every season guessing whether Gronk will make it the entire season. That never even crosses my mind. So please, drop the "we" pronoun.

I don't know how that never crosses your mind. He hasn't played an entire regular season since 2011, and got injured in the playoffs that year.

He's injury-prone, made of glass, fine china, whatever. It doesn't make him a bad football player, just one who's not always available.

 

[Wheelman]

I don't know how that never crosses your mind. He hasn't played an entire regular season since 2011, and got injured in the playoffs that year.

Every single human being would have got hurt with what Pollard did. Do you not remember what happened?

He's injury-prone, made of glass, fine china, whatever. It doesn't make him a bad football player, just one who's not always available.

Based on what?

 

[TommyD4207]

Every single human being would have got hurt with what Pollard did. Do you not remember what happened?



Based on what?

Read my post.

0 full participation (16 games) seasons since 2011, and he was injured in the playoffs that season, and it likely cost them a championship, despite the decoying.

I mean, you can scream 'it's all bad luck' as much as you want, but the fact remains, in the last 7 years, even when he was on the field, he wasn't 100% healthy. How about 2016 when he tapped out "hurt" until Brady came back?

No one's saying he's a ****ty player. He just can't be counted on to be available, which is a problem when so much of the offense is focused around him.

 

[Wheelman]

Read my post.

0 full participation (16 games) seasons since 2011, and he was injured in the playoffs that season, and it likely cost them a championship, despite the decoying.

I mean, you can scream 'it's all bad luck' as much as you want, but the fact remains, in the last 7 years, even when he was on the field, he wasn't 100% healthy. How about 2016 when he tapped out "hurt" until Brady came back?

No one's saying he's a ****ty player. He just can't be counted on to be available, which is a problem when so much of the offense is focused around him.

That doesn't make one injury prone. Otherwise we're all injury prone and made of "fine china".

 

[TommyD4207]

That doesn't make one injury prone. Otherwise we're all injury prone and made of "fine china".

If you're injured and miss games every year, yes, that makes you injury prone. Even you admit he has a chronic back issue.

 

[Wheelman]

If you're injured and miss games every year, yes, that makes you injury prone. Even you admit he has a chronic back issue.

Got it, we're all injury prone and made of glass or "fine china".

 

[TommyD4207]

Got it, we're all injury prone and made of glass or "fine china".

How many games did you miss to injury this year? In the past 7 years?

I'm not really sure what your point is. Some people get hurt all the time and miss games (Gronkowski, Hightower, Cannon) some guys don't.

I don't understand why you can't just admit that Gronkowski is injury-prone. He's the NFL poster child of 'injury prone', right there with Sean Lee.

 

[Wheelman]

How many games did you miss to injury this year? In the past 7 years?

I'm not really sure what your point is. Some people get hurt all the time and miss games (Gronkowski, Hightower, Cannon) some guys don't.

I don't understand why you can't just admit that Gronkowski is injury-prone. He's the NFL poster child of 'injury prone', right there with Sean Lee.

I understand, we're all injury prone and made of glass.