Everyone needs to relax on blaming Belichick for leaving Gronk in the game because he was injured on a PAT (has that ever happened before?). Belichick may not be the most charismatic NFL personality but this is one of his more insightful analysis' of the situation:
“You only have so many players. You only dress so many players,” he said on WEEI Radio’s “Big Show.” ”Somebody’s got to play. I think you’ve got to be careful when you’re trying to run a team, to go up to one guy and say, ‘Michael, we’re going to leave you in the game because we care about you, but Glenn, we’re going to take you out because you’re really important. You other guys go in there because if something happens to you, we don’t really care.’
“Again, I think football players play football. I don’t know how — you tell me which guy is going to get hurt and I’ll get him out of there. I don’t know how you do that.”
This is exactly why the Patriots are the Patriots and not any other team in the NFL that doesn't win. Everyone keeps saying "Oh is Belichick's style hurting his players?" By hurting his players, do they mean winning? If I'm not mistaken Belichick is 116-45 with the Patriots and if you dare to bring up the 2 Super Bowls lost you are a terrible person. I do love the end of this quote though like can we trade for Tebow so he can tell us which players are going to get hurt and then he could heal them?
But in my real world analysis of Gronk's injury, here's my theory. I remember distinctly watching the week 2 game against Arizona and after Aaron got hurt, they couldn't get anything going on offense. Besides the fact that the offensive line was atrocious, it seemed like the game plan was so obviously focused around Aaron that McDaniels and Belichick didn't have the playbook handy that had any other plays. I went to 2 of the practice sessions over the summer and noticed a heavy focus on featuring Aaron as the main offensive weapon, "matchup nightmare" if you will, this season. It looked like Tom and Aaron we're having sleepovers and working on some male bonding so that he'd be the best weapon on the team (taking a mental break to imagine this scenario in my head). What I'm getting to here is that there must be an entire playbook that runs the offense around Aaron. I know most of those plays probably involve Gronk since he had played 93% of offensive snaps all year but that's the reason we've signed 29 tight ends. I know it's impossible to replace Gronk and there's no way Shaincoe can bulk up like 50 lbs in time for Thursday but he's going to really have to step up if the Patriots have any chance of winning. It would also be nice if we could have Lloyd round into form and start catching some 40+ yard bombs that we've grown accustomed to seeing on the first drive of every game from the other team.
In other news, just heard that the Patriots offensive line got some type of award for their week 11 performance. Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time to start thinking about Dante Scarnecchia for league MVP. In a game where the Patriots are without Logan Mankins and Dan Connolly you would never guess they'd win any type of award let alone keep Tom Brady on his feet all day. I know Philly and Chicago fans would trade head coaches for an offensive line coach as good as Dante Scarnecchia.
Last week I wrote about Danny Woodhead's performance and this week I want to point out Rob Ninkovich. BTW I just Wikipedia'd him and who would have ever guessed he was of Croatian descent? The man has 6 sacks and 5 forced fumbles in 10 games this season. For everyone saying the Patriots don't have any pass rushers, look no further than Jet Killer Rob Ninkovich. He might not be Demarcus Ware or Aldon Smith but he is a playmaker. Another Patriot success story of a 5th round draft pick who floated around on practice squads and released by many teams who finally finds a home here in New England. It's cause to Bill, all players are equally important and everyone gets a chance. Hopefully in a few weeks I'll get to write about Talib and how great he is (fingers crossed). Mixed feelings on his first performance as a Patriot but since we hadn't seen a pick 6 in an eternity, I'll let him pass this week.
Love Kraft sitting next to Henry Kissinger at this week's game. One week it's Steven Tyler, Bon Jovi, then Henry Kissinger. Some owners have people wiping their glasses, other owners have Nobel Peace Prize winners.
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