Rob Gronkowski in significant pain
It's my understanding that Gronkowski has been dealing with significant pain these last two weeks. He's listed on the injury report with a hip ailment, and we know of the back problems from his college days at Arizona. He had his snaps scaled back last week in the win over Buffalo (he had an uncharacteristic lost fumble in that game), and was limited throughout this past week in practice.
This news is a little bit concerning seeing as the Bronco's major weakness on defense is defending the tight end. Both of the Patriots stud tight ends are banged up. I still think it's unlikely that Gronkowski sits out this game but this is not good. As Reiss points out, he struggled last week and you could certainly connect the dots here.
Reiss also speculates that the Patriots are more concerned about Gronkowski than Hernandez. Could that mean Hernandez suits up in this game?
This is a team that has had to deal with a lot of injuries this year. I'm not saying it's as bad the Jets but we've seen some big names like Logan Mankins and Aaron Hernandez miss games.
Still, if Gronkowski is healthy enough to be out on the field, we should still expect him to perform.
