Rob Gronkowski On Ridiculous Pace As Patriots Move To 2-0
Rob Gronkowski is starting to look like he belongs in a whole different league. The NFL simply hasn’t come up with a guy who can cover him yet. Earlier this week Buffalo coach Rex Ryan went as far as to say a player able to match up with Gronk one-on-one would “have to look like King Kong.” Well, the Bills didn’t have anyone who came close, and they paid for it.
The Patriots offense punished the Buffalo’s prematurely heralded defense early and often. Gronk’s fourth touchdown catch of the year came in the second quarter and put New England up 21-7. On the day, he caught 7 passes for 113 yards. The Bills managed to score 19 fourth quarter points to make the game much closer than it should have been, but the Patriots locked things up with a late Stephen Gostkowski field goal, to make it 40-32, followed by a Logan Ryan interception.
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Giving up those 32 points will no doubt be cause for concern among Belichick and his staff, but on the offensive side of the ball New England clearly has things humming. Tom Brady and Gronkowski are beginning their sixth season together and seem to be in perfect sync. Gronk’s four receiving touchdowns are tops in the league and he’s currently third in receiving yards with 207.
It might not be fair to expect this kind of productivity to continue for the entire season, but let’s just go ahead and do the math anyway. Right now Gronk’s on pace for 32 TDs and 1,656 yards. That’s a whole lot of spiked footballs and flexing. He already has NFL record for touchdown catches by a tight end, with 17 back in 2011. Could Randy Moss‘ wide receiver record of 23, set during his time with the Pats, be in reach?
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The double and triple teams are inevitably going to come, but they might not even be enough. Gronk’s arguably at his most dangerous when the Patriots are on the goal line. His touchdown against Buffalo came from two yards out and he had six and one-yard TDs against the Steelers. It’s difficult to stick multiple guys on him in that contained area and even if teams do it successfully the Patriots will likely make them pay anyway.
It’s important to note that Julian Edelman is off to his own fantastic start this year. He’s right behind Gronk with 194 receiving yards and had a pair of touchdown catches against Buffalo. He’s tied for the league lead with 22 receptions overall. Teams can opt to zone in on Gronk and try to not let him beat them, but that may leave them in a bad spot when to comes Edelman. We’re also talking about the greatest quarterback of all-time here, not one who’s going to force throws into coverage. At times Gronk may serve as the NFL’s most effective decoy as Brady picks teams apart spreading the ball around to other receivers.
Next Sunday the Patriots play Jacksonville at home. The Jaguars got a surprising win against the Dolphins yesterday, but gave up 359 yards through the air and could be in for a throttling. Like the rest of the league, they have no one suited to match up with Gronkowski. We’ll see if the tight end’s rampage continues. I’d say it’s a real good bet.