The Patriots will eagerly await news on the status of tight end Rob Gronkowski’s knee today, which was unnecessarily injured in Sunday night’s loss to the Broncos. On first down and 10 with 2:51 seconds remaining on the clock, Gronkowski was hurt trying to make a catch down the field when New England should have been running the football.
Bill Belichick is normally a master tactician, but his gaffe on this drive not only got his best skill player hurt, it helped the Broncos hand the Patriots their first loss of 2015. At the time of the play call the Patriots had a 21-17 lead with 2:51 to go. Denver had only one timeout, with the two-minute warning looming. The Patriots could have played the field position game, running it three times and forcing Denver to use their final timeout. In that case, the Patriots could have wound down the time and eventually punted, leaving Brock Osweiler and co. less than two minutes to go down the field when they needed a touchdown.
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Instead, the Patriots threw on first and second down, punted anyway, and gave Osweiler a chance to take the lead with 2:31 seconds left. The loss is frustrating for the Patriots and their fans because a chance to run the table was flushed down the drain, but the perfect record being lost is secondary to what the play call may have cost them regarding Gronk. Tom Brady’s receiving corps is already decimated with injuries to Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola, so putting Gronkowski at risk was unwise.
Luckily for the Pats, reports are surfacing that his injury isn’t as severe as it appeared. The injury “doesn’t appear to be serious,” one source told ESPN’s Adam Schefter, and Gronkowski was seen walking on his own power in the locker room.
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Wide receiver Brandon LaFell summed up Gronkowski’s importance to New England in the locker room after the game. "Just seeing Gronk walking around ... I hope he's OK and it's nothing that will keep him out," LaFell said. "We need to get that guy back as soon as we can."
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