The Bad Karma of Cheap Hits
No one wants to hear it, but Gronk's suspension hurt the psychology of this team tonight. We've looked tentative and unsure of ourselves both in terms of motivation and how to structure our offense without his presence. Moreover, Gronk's hit gave the Dolphins extra incentive to play hard tonight because the media circus surrounding it was bulletin board material. In other words, Gronk's selfishness let the proverbial genie out of the bottle.
The Patriots need to regroup and get back to being a selfless and smart group. No more dumb decisions that are about "letting the refs know." We've won Super Bowls by focusing on football instead of worrying about things out of our control and it's time we get back to that. Yeah, sure - it was only one dumb play. But a play can define a season - and that play may be what defines this season if we don't wake up.