Tuesday Patriots Notebook 4/3: Bruschi “It’s Hard to Be a Player Under Coach Belichick”, Gronk Brightens a Fan’s Day
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We’re on to Tuesday, and here’s a quick look at some of this morning’s top stories.
Gronk Makes a Moving Appearance – When you’re waiting for a heart and kidney transplant, it probably takes quite a bit to put a smile on your face. Thankfully, Rob Gronkowski managed to come up with yet another clutch play and pulled off such a feat on Monday.
The Patriots tight end surprised Massachusetts resident Lauren Meizo with a visit at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, bringing a huge smile to the face of the 27-year old who is reportedly awaiting a second heart transplant.
According to NBC Boston, Meizo suffers from a rare form of muscular dystrophy and is getting ready to undergo her second heart transplant in five years. She’s spent the last 85 days “living” at the Hospital, and Gronk’s visit definitely made her day.
She posted an Instagram photo with the caption, “GRONK MADE MY WISH COME TRUE”
Kudos to Gronkowski, who definitely brightened the day of someone who is obviously going through something incredibly scary. Best wishes to Meizo, as reports say there’s still no word on when a potential transplant will take place.
Patriots Expected to Get Calls For Gronkowski – It’s hard to say which offseason was more irritating. The one surrounding Tom Brady’s potential suspension during deflategate was maddening, but all the Gronkowski speculation is beginning to reach a ridiculous level.
Albert Breer of SI.com piled on Monday with some news that isn’t much of a surprise, with Breer reporting that multiple clubs are expected to test just how serious Bill Belichick may be about moving him as all of these reports seem to suggest.
Breer reports that a couple teams in Orlando told him that they were planning on making offers to try and pry Gronkowski away.
Last week, we mentioned this in the GamePlan (https://t.co/3cCCQbHsEU), and I'd repeat it — my expectation is the Patriots will be getting trade calls on TE Rob Gronkowski. In fact, a couple teams told me in Orlando that they were planning on making them.
— Albert Breer (@AlbertBreer) April 2, 2018
Belichick has said in the past that he’s always open to listening to offers regardless of the player, and he’s obviously no stranger to doing the unexpected.
Despite the reported tension between the two, it seems unlikely that Belichick would move Gronkowski unless, of course, he becomes a malcontent or does anything that could disrupt the locker room. That hasn’t ever been the case throughout his entire career, so that seems unlikely at this point. The fact Gronkowski wants to go out there and play as long as Brady is here is also telling, with the veteran tight end essentially signaling that he wants to make another title run with the future Hall of Fame quarterback.
As a result, Gronk wants what both Belichick and Brady each want. That trait alone will likely be one that plays a big role in his future, and unless another team comes with a king’s ransom, it would be fairly shocking to see him get shipped off.
But then again, get ready to read other stories over the next few months about why it could happen – because they’re probably coming.
Edelman Gets Inducted into the Hall…sort of – Julian Edelman has probably already secured a place in the Patriots Hall of Fame, but he recently got inducted into another Hall of Fame.
According to Patriots.com, the veteran receiver was inducted into the Peninsula Sports Hall of Fame in his hometown out in the Bay area, with the team’s official site pointing out that he’s joining a variety of others for this year’s class including Jeremy Lin of the Nets, local football coach Larry Owens, along with Olympians Caroline “KK” Clark, Jack Daniels and Archie Williams.
Edelman’s had a busy offseason spending time with former Patriot Danny Amendola and working out as he continues recovering from the season-ending knee injury he suffered last preseason.
Edelman posted a video of him working out back on March 12th and the recovery appears to be going well as he looked pretty strong. The veteran receiver had his daughter on hand during called a “bring your daughter to work day”.
Bruschi Rehashes a Time Belichick Lit Into Him in 20017 – Former Patriots linebacker Tedy Bruschi knows better than anyone how Belichick thinks and operates, and he’s no stranger when it comes to facing the wrath of New England’s head coach.
Bruschi was trying to make sense of the Rob Gronkowski situation on Monday and reminded everyone that while Gronkowski may feel that he’s experiencing mental fatigue under Belichick, he also needs to understand that Belichick is just doing what he’s always done and is simply trying to keep everyone on an even keel.
He brought up a story during their undefeated regular season run in 2007 where despite a win, Belichick came down hard on both Bruschi and Junior Seau in the locker room.
“I was in the locker room after one game. We had just beaten Baltimore. It was me and Junior Seau,” Bruschi said via USA TODAY on ESPN on Monday. “It was 2007. … We’ve won the game. Bill comes in. We’re 12-0. … Bill comes in, ‘Hey, Bruschi. Hey, Seau. How many years of experience in the NFL do you both have? 50? Look at this read.’ And he rewinds the play over and over and over again. All we did was take a wrong step, a wrong step to our left, and the read was to our right.”
“Have we made that read a bunch of times? Yes, but we took a little false step this way and there we were on film going like this the entire way,” Bruschi said, shifting back and forth in his chair to simulate what he looked like on film. “[We were] getting called out in front of the entire team. Me and Junior looked at each other and we sort of laughed at it. Because at that point in your career, you know what the old man’s trying to do. And I think that’s what a lot of players in this locker room need to understand.”
Many fans likely remember that the battle against Baltimore was actually the most mortal they had looked up to that point during that season, with the team escaping with a 27-24 win on Monday Night Football. It took Tom Brady finding Jabar Gaffney for an 8-yard touchdown with 0:55 left in the game to pull off the dramatic come-from-behind victory, which improved them to 12-0 on the season. The defense in that game allowed 166 yards rushing on a night when then-Ravens-quarterback Kyle Boller finished with 210-yards passing, including 2 touchdowns and one interception.
Bruschi admitted that playing for Belichick isn’t easy, because he simply always expects your best.
“It’s hard to be a player under Coach Belichick with the way he coaches,” said Bruschi. “He will ride you every single day because he wants – to get every single ounce of greatness out of his players.”
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