It’s the sight no one wanted to see, and it happened Sunday night out in Denver.
With just over 2-minutes to go in the game, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski took a shot to his right knee that left him writhing in pain on the ground, and it didn’t look good as the veteran didn’t get up after the hit.
He was later carted off, looking completely dejected. Gronkowski talked quite a bit back in training camp about how great he felt and how nice it was being able to spend the offseason getting stronger instead of having to come back from an injury. That was likely the thought going through his head as he headed to the locker room.
The only solace now seems to be the fact that initial reports are saying that it might not be as bad as initially feared, with Gronkowski being spotted after the game without crutches while walking on his own out of the locker room on his way to the team bus.
Gronk outside locker room. Just boarded bus. No brace. No crutches. pic.twitter.com/4OVXis5xVA
— Mile High Sports (@MileHighSports) November 30, 2015
That was certainly a positive sign given how upset Brady was after seeing his friend go down, which the veteran quarterback talked about after the game.
“I mean, he’s the best tight end in football,” Brady told reporters after the game. “So it’s just…you know, it’s so hard to see these guys get hurt like this. I always have a lot of respect for players who play this game because you risk a lot to play and I think a lot of times that gets overlooked because, you know, you sacrifice a lot. I think guys sacrifice their bodies and you know it’s hard to see your friends get, you know, taken down like that. It’s part of the sport and we understand that but it’s also…you know I have a lot of respect for the players who take the field.”
Either way it was encouraging to hear that there’s hope that he’ll be O.K. For now we’ll have to see how it plays out but it certainly left the Patriots undermanned in overtime after they couldn’t do anything offensively. Unfortunately after their opening drive stalled in overtime, the Broncos ended up scoring on their ensuing possession thanks to a 48-yard touchdown run by C.J. Anderson to win the game.
It’s been a rough year after the Patriots have lost some of their most talented players in Dion Lewis, Julian Edelman, and now potentially Gronkowski. They’ve only lost one game, but it’s likely going to be a difficult road over the rest of the season as they continue dealing with the loss of the best parts of their offense.
Hopefully they’ll finally get lucky and this latest one will only be temporary.
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Ian Logue is a Seacoast native and owner and senior writer for PatsFans.com, an independent media site covering the New England Patriots and has been running this site in one form or another since 1997.
