New England Patriots: Here’s Rob Gronkowski’s Strategy for Avoiding Injury

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski explained how he tries to avoid injury.

As arguably the best tight end in the NFL, New England Patriots playmaker Rob Gronkowski knows how important it is to stay on the field.

So far in his young career, Gronkowski has missed several games due to serious injury and was slowed earlier this season by an injured hamstring. Now that he’s back at full strength, the big tight end has come up with a strategy to avoid injury and preserve his body. It is actually rather simple as he explained Thursday.

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"“You’ve always got to protect yourself whenever you can,” Gronkowski said. “You know when the journey’s done. If you’re running the ball, just get down. Don’t take that extra shot. You can always show your toughness, you can have five guys take you down, but really, that’s sometimes not the case. [You] really don’t want to show that. You just want to get down — you want to preserve your body for the next play if you know the journey’s done and you’re not going to get any more yards.”"

That is easier said than done for a man who has dragged defenders down the field for extra yardage. But Gronkowski has learned the hard way how important it is to avoid those extra shots. He also knows how important it is to take care of his body off the field and do the necessary work to prevent injury, at least the injuries that are preventable.

"“It started coming in the last few years,” Gronkowski continued. “I remember a couple times my rookie year I’d just try (to gain extra yardage), and ‘boom!’ I remember I was like, ‘Ooh, that one hurt.’ It hurt for me to go one more inch. So definitely, when the journey’s over and you know you gave it all, you’re not going to be able to carry five guys. Sometimes not even two guys. Just whenever you feel like you need to get down, you need to get down.”"

Since returning, Gronkowski has paced himself through the first couple of games. In Weeks 3 and 4, he basically served as a decoy and spent most of this time on the field blocking. But the last couple weeks, the pass-catching tight end has exploded for 364 yards and two touchdowns. Coincidentally, Tom Brady was the quarterback throwing the ball.

And while he hasn’t always done down like he described, he has gotten in the face of defenders who he thought were purposely trying to go low to take him out.

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But at the end, Rob Gronkowski realizes its “a physical game.” When you are the best, everyone will try to take their best and hardest hit.

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