Gronk Surgery Part IV?

Just when you thought the Patriots were starting to recover from the Welker loss and move forward with new pieces to the puzzle, Patriot Nation received some troubling Gronk Dancingnews. Rob Gronkowski will “very likely” require surgery on his left forearm, according to ESPN’s Mike Reiss.  Ever since breaking it originally on November 18th when we crushed the Colts, he has gone through multiple surgeries. This would be the fourth one he has to get.

This surgery would remove that plate that they inserted into his arm originally in order to make sure that there is no infection. Gronk was in California with friends (doing Gronk things) when he noticed a large swelling in the morning and noticed some stuff oozing out of it. He called the Patriots front office and they immediately flew him back.

Even if Gronkowski gets surgery right away, he still needs 10 weeks typically to get him healthy. This time frame is creeping up towards training camp. And that’s if it can even be done right away. Hopefully they can figure out another way but the way it looks now, Gronk will be in a cast a while longer.

Gronk Setback?

It was recently discovered that Rob Gronkowski has underwent surgery a few days back for an infection in his arm that he hurt multiple times last season. The good news is that he isn’t expected to miss any extra time and should be reporting to camp with the rest of the Patriots. Hopefully this is true, since we probably would have had a gronkowskishot at two Superbowls with him healthy. That’s speculating, but still. Gronk has been under the knife three times since getting hurt against the Colts midway through November.

This won’t stop Gronk from being Gronk though, as he was criticized for his craziness at a Las Vegas nightclub a few weeks back. Obviously, Gronk is still young and making the most of his youth, as he deserves to do. It’s gotta be tough for all of us Patriots fans to know that he has yet another injury, but at least it isn’t a major setback…hopefully!

NFL PLayoff Predictor: AFC/NFC Championship Matchups

Well so much for my prediction of a Denver Broncos vs. Seattle Seahawks Super Bowl. As you probably know by now, both those teams lost this past Saturday and Sunday. The Baltimore Ravens beat the Broncos 38-35 in OT at mile high and the Atlanta Falcons edged their way past Seattle by a score of 30-28 in Hot-lanta. The other two teams to advance were the New England Patriots who defeated Houston 41-28 and the San Francisco 49ers who beat Green Bay 45-31.

With that, here’s a look at the AFC and NFC Championship games, and My New Predictions:

AFC: New England Patriots vs. Baltimore Ravens:

Tom Brady and Joe Flacco meet up in the AFC Championship game for round two of what is sure to be a great grudge match between these two squads. If you find yourself feeling a sense of Deja Vu’ this Sunday, that’s because these two teams met up in last year’s AFC Champ showdown. The Ravens though are hoping this Sunday is anything but a re-run of last year’s finish, which left them a few plays away from reaching Super Bowl XLVI.

Meanwhile, the Pats will be trying to return to the Super Bowl once more to avenge last year’s loss to the New York Giants and capture their first Lombardi Trophy since 2005. The Patriots will also have to try and beat Baltimore without the help of Rob “Gronk” Gronkowski. Gronk suffered an injury to his forearm in last Sunday’s win over Houston and will miss the remainder of the post-season.

My Prediction: Despite missing a big-time weapon like Gronk, I feel as though the Pats can outlast the Ravens in a great showdown between Brady and Flacco. Though on a sad note, it will be tough to watch knowing it could likely be NFL linebacker great Ray Lewis’ last NFL game. Nevertheless, New England wins 24-21 edging Baltimore out again and returning to their second straight Super Bowl.

NFC: Atlanta Falcons vs. San Francisco 49ers:

This matchup will be a slightly different grudge match between these two teams. On one side you have San Francisco who like Baltimore were a few plays away from last years Super Bowl when they lost to the Giants in OT by a field goal. So, like Baltimore, the 49ers will look to avoid the same fate twice against 1st seeded Atlanta.

On the other hand, the Falcons want to prove their the same team who started the season 8-0 and finished the season tied for he NFL’s best record with the Denver Broncos at 13-3. Atlanta will look to avoid another fruitless post-season and return to their first Super Bowl appearance since 1998 (where the Falcons lost the then defending Denver Broncos 34-19).

My Prediction: This game will ultimately come down to one key factor that has been absent throughout this year’s playoffs…DEFENSE. The Falcons arguably sport one of the top QB’s in the league with Matt Ryan behind center. Ryan can light up a scoreboard and uses his weapons on offense like a General on the battlefield.

Meanwhile, the 49ers, have an X-factor at QB…Colin Kaepernick. He put up a stat line against Green Bay that was like something straight out of a Madden game: 444 total yards of offense with 4TDS (2 passing, 2 rushing) that’s 263 passing yards and 181 rushing yards (the most ever by a QB in a playoff game).

With that said, whichever defense can hault the others QB first wins this battle. I give this one to San Fran as Patrick Willis and Co. find away to stop Matt Ryan and the Falcons at home. 49ers win 31-21 as Kaepernick does it again with 276yds passing for 2TDS and 77yds rushing and 1 rushing TD.

Super Bowl XLVII: New England Patriots vs. San Francisco 49ers:

On the games biggest stage two storied franchises collide in a Super Bowl for the ages. In what will be a grueling back and forth battle in the Superdome of New Orleans, I have the Patriots edging out the 49ers 28-24 as the Pats capture their first Super Bowl title since 2005. Tom Brady wins SB MVP.

Final Thoughts: We’ll see how it all plays out this Sunday. Until then, what do you think will happen in the Championship games? Who do you have winning Super Bowl XLVII? Leave a comment.

Gronk Spikes London

Gronk made it quite clear he wanted to leave a mark in London. Aside from ripping the Rams a new one and making me regret I didn’t start him on my FanDuel team, Gronk made waves on and off the field. Guy simply dominates everywhere he goes. So it begs the question, which London Spike was his best performance?

 

 

 

 

 

Pats Sit Atop AFC East

Finally, all is right in the football world again. The Dolphins don’t worry me at all and the Bills continue their trend of starting out decent and then realizing that they’re just the Bills so they let up 97 points in two games while scoring only 31. Rex Ryan, Sanchez, and the Jets continue to show what a disgrace to football they are and the Patriots stand alone atop the AFC East.

And things are only looking up for the Pats. Our offense is steamrolling defenses and not because of what we’re used to. Gronk was basically invisible on the field Sunday and Hernandez was out. The duo we relied on last year was absent and we still dominated offensively. The Welker we all know and love is back, in addition to a newfound running game that we’ve longed for since the days of Curtis Martin. It’s just unfair how many options the Pats have offensively. Simply no way to cover it all. On the other side of the ball, despite having the third worst passing defense in the league, we have the Seahawks next week who are second to last in overall passing yards on offense. McCourty may get picked on more than he ought to but it might not be a terrible day for the secondary. Not to mention Hernandez could be back in action. Sprinkle in replacing Monday with a Tuesday and a fantasy win to top it off…I’d say it’s a good start to the week. Happy Monday Tuesday Boston!

Gronk Still Being Gronk

The Celtics are finishing up their season strong heading into the playoffs, the B’s start their playoff run Thursday at home, and the Red Sox open up at home Friday despite their subpar start to the season, yet the Pats still make headlines, all thanks to Gronk and his continuing quest to make the cover of Madden.

 

Gronk’s Going Viral! (Again)

For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, Patriots star Tight End Rob Gronkowski has made a YouTube video to make his case for why he should be on the cover of Madden 2013. I guess he couldn’t care less about the Madden curse.. He is going up against one player from every other team, but also going up against Wes Welker.  Anyways, this video is hilarious and just describes Gronk in full.  Take a look!

Patriots Offseason: Tight Ends

The Patriots clearly do not need to address the tight end position this offseason. With Rob Gronkowski and Aaron Hernandez the Pats have two of the top tight ends in all of football. Gronkowski is not only an elite pass-catching tight end; he is also one of the best blockers at his position. I’m sure the Patriots will carry three tight ends on the roster so expect them to go after a veteran as more of a blocking presence to throw out their on the occasional running down. I’m sure the Patriots will be looking to give the tight end tandem some new contracts very soon. Whether or not that will happen this off-season has yet to be determined, but either way Hernandez and Gronkowski have earned themselves a serious payday. If healthy; the Patriots will enter the 2012 season with by far the best tight end tandem in the NFL.

 

Patriot Nation: Not Our Finest Moment

I don’t know if anyone caught on, but yesterday was more or less a day of silence here at the Boston Sports Blog. A protest, hometown sorrow, reluctance to think about the event that occurred Sunday…call it what you will, but it was in everyone’s best interest to just leave it out of the equation. After all, there really is nothing to say.

With a day gone by we’ve now had some time to reflect on the game, although it’ll definitely take a whole lot longer to get over it. Regardless, I’m not going to dive into the details of the game because we all know how it ended and no one wants to hear it. Instead, how about the aftermath? It hurts to lose to New York in any sport, whether a preseason game or spring training baseball game. What happened after the Pat’s loss Sunday, notice I’m calling it a Pat’s loss not a Giants’ victory, was very “unPatriot-like”. The two most obvious:

-Gronk and Co. getting Gronked (that’s an understatement) at a post game party

-Mrs. Tom Brady ripping on the receivers

A very New York-esque reaction to a loss if you ask me. We’re not used to seeing this in Boston, especially from a Belichick disciplined Patriot squad. It’s hard to hate on Gronk for doing his thing but it’s just not exactly the same a few hours post loss. Granted, Giselle isn’t a player and the rest of the team came to the receiver’s defense, here’s my question. Which incident was the worst to see as a Pats fan?