By now you’re probably sick of reading it here on the blog because I’ve been beating it like a drum all season — all that really matters for the Patriots are injuries. We can do countless hours of film study or discuss why Belichick decided to trade most of his defense away or search for a weakness on offense, but at the end of the season if the Pats are healthy, they’re probably going to the Super Bowl.
Of course, some Pats matter more than others, no offense to anyone, and the top of that list is Tom Brady, Julian Edelman and Rob Gronkowski which is why Wednesday’s injury report made me barf a little bit. Add in Martellus Bennett and their two best special teamers, and I’m wondering if we should just roll out the JV offense against the Rams and give those key guys a week of rest before the upcoming AFC showdowns with Baltimore and Denver.
Now Brady, obviously the most important, isn’t that concerning. His radio appearance on Monday was re-assuring. And I’m pretty sure you’d have to remove a limb to keep him out of a game.
But Edelman’s been dealing with that foot injury for well over a year now, not to mention multiple surgeries. Then you add in this…
On Edelman, I thought it was strange he didn’t talk after Sunday’s game. Not saying it’s related to the foot, but who knows with this team
— Mark Daniels (@MarkDanielsPJ) December 1, 2016
Not loving that information. Especially just as Edelman seemed to be returning to his form of 2013/2014. Last thing he needs is a setback at this stage in the game.
And then there’s Gronk, who the Patriots have handled with kid gloves all season in what appears to be a directive to get the unstoppable tight end to the playoffs even if they have to encase him in carbonite.
Initial reports were that the back injury wasn’t serious, but when it comes to Gronk and his back, I get a pit in my stomach. Gronk first had back surgery while still in college and it was what dropped him in the draft to where the Pats could nab him. Then he had another back surgery during the 2013 offseason. The guy’s back is the last thing that needs to be injured, and who knows how well things are even still held together back there.
So now even the crazy Patriot fans are coming out of the woodwork, spurred on by expert Pats pundits such as Bart Scott, saying the Pats might finally be fed up with managing Gronkowski’s injuries.
Personally I don’t believe that for a second. Gronkowski is one of the players where I’m not sure the same rules apply. He’s earned the privilege to have his injuries managed and he’s well worth the wait. This is football. Everyone gets hurt. Not everyone catches touchdowns at a record-setting pace.
So will these injuries derail the Pats just like injuries did last season? There’s no reason to panic just yet, and the Patriots certainly have some pieces in place this year that they didn’t in 2015 to help offset any problems presented by Gronk and/or Edelman missing more time. Though big parts of that were Bennett and Chris Hogan who, surprise, are also on the injury report.
Still, you never want to see your three best offensive players and one of your best special teams players missing practice. Especially when two of them are listed with injuries to body parts that have long been issues for them.
All we can do is hope and pray that this is just more of the injury-cautious Patriots we’ve been seeing this year. Belichick has spoken in the past that a healthy Gronk would’ve made a big difference in 2011-2013. And if the Patriots view of the season is now anything like your faithful blogger’s, it’s very believable that they’d rather take a loss to the Rams than lose one of these super important guys for the rest of the year.
Five more games to go, then the season really starts.
In the words of The Walking Dead, “just survive somehow.”
[…] here I was just thinking my post about whether or not the Pats should worry about their injury situations was dumb because Edelman only missed practice for the birth of his […]