Is Patriots' Rob Gronkowski a shell of himself? Some analysts think so
ESPN NFL analyst Damien Woody, who is also a former New England Patriots, Detroit Lions and New York Jets offensive lineman, hasn’t been shy in criticizing current players this season.
Last month, Woody traded barbs with Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield after Mayfield admitted to being bothered that Hue Jackson quickly joined the staff of the rival Cincinnati Bengals after being fired as head coach of the Browns.
On Monday, Woody was critical of the Patriots’ Rob Gronkowski, saying he “doesn’t even recognize” the tight end right now.
‘A shell of himself’
Appearing on “First Take,” Woody and the other panelists discussed the Patriots’ loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers the day before, and he set his sights on Gronkowski.
“I’ve always pointed to the fact that Gronk has always been the guy that sets the table in the passing game. Gronk is a shell of himself,” Woody said. “And because he’s a shell of himself, it’s trickled down to everyone else.
“And in a team game, in a team sport, you’re only as good as the guys you play around and right now when you look at the Patriots — Gronk is not what he used to be, guys can’t separate like they once did in the past, and it has an effect on Tom Brady.”
Woody isn’t the only one: former coach Rex Ryan said Gronkowski looks “slow and stiff” on a different ESPN show Monday.
Gronkowski had two catches for 21 yards against the Steelers, a team he has historically done well against. He averaged six catches, 110 yards and a touchdown in his first six games against them. Sunday’s receptions came in the fourth quarter, on the drive that saw Brady throw a red-zone interception for the first time in two years.
Gronk had a big game previous week
There have long been questions about Gronkowski’s durability and how long he’ll play. At 6-foot-7, 275 pounds, he’s a nightmare matchup for defenses, but he takes a beating, both in defensive players doing whatever they can to try to take him down and from being a strong blocker.
He has missed three games this season and 13 over the past two-plus years, and Bill Belichick and the Patriots reportedly tried to trade Gronkowski to Detroit last offseason but Gronk said he’d retire rather than go to the Lions because he doesn’t want to play with any quarterback but Brady.
But Gronkowski had a huge game just a week earlier, against the Miami Dolphins, when he had eight catches on eight targets for 107 yards and a touchdown. He had seven catches for 123 yards and a touchdown in Week 1 against Houston, and three catches for 97 yards in Week 6 against Kansas City, both wins for New England.
Whether it’s because of his health or game plans or a combination of both, Gronkowski isn’t getting as many targets as he has in the past: last year he was targeted 7.5 times per game, and in 2015 it was 8.0 times per game; this year, he’s at 6.1.
Brady victim of receivers’ struggles
Woody, who didn’t play with Gronkowski but did play with Brady for four seasons, winning two Super Bowls, wasn’t as hard on Brady. While others are ready to write Brady’s obituary, Woody doesn’t see it that way.
“If I think of a cliff, when somebody falls off a cliff, it is just a straight drop,” he said. “When I watch Tom Brady, there’s nothing that signals to me that this dude is a scrub, because when someone falls off a cliff, that’s the first thing you think of, is that this dude is now a scrub. There’s no scrub in Tom Brady right now.”
Brady’s numbers for the season aren’t that far off from what they usually are: he’s completing 65.9 percent of his passes, with 24 touchdowns against nine interceptions and averaging 7.8 yards per attempt.
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