All signs point to the New England Patriots welcoming back a familiar face in Week 12.
Rob Gronkowski, who has missed three of the Patriots’ last four games, is in line to make his return to the field Sunday when the Patriots take on the New York Jets at MetLife Stadium.
There’s no denying it’s been an underwhelming season for Gronkowski, who’s battled injuries and been limited to just one touchdown reception. While some might just chalk this up as a tough stretch, Manish Mehta of the New York Daily News believes this is the new Gronk, a player lightyears past his prime.
Mehta on Tuesday published a column regarding the decline of Gronkowski, and it’s safe to say Patriots fans won’t be thrilled with what he had to say.
Here’s a snippet of the column:
If you love football, you want to remember Rob Gronkowski the way that he should be remembered: Strong, powerful and leaping tall buildings in a single bound.
You want to see him crush poor saps unlucky enough to be assigned to tackle him in the open field. You want to see him chugging – and spiking – beers on a parade float. You want to witness his God-awful dance moves as he tries to pry a smile out of Lord Vader on the sideline.
Alas, that Gronk is gone, replaced by this prideful wobbly 6-6, 268-pound dude plodding along like some tip-calculator-carrying resident of Del Boca Vista. His body is 29 going on 92. Watching him run around on the few fall Sundays that he’s actually available is cringe-worthy stuff.
Yikes.
It’s easy get caught up in Gronkowski’s disappointing 2018 campaign, but let’s not forget he’s one year removed from an All-Pro season in which he caught 69 passes for 1,084 yards with eight touchdowns in just 14 games. Still, Mehta believes Gronkowski’s tenure in New England is all but over.
“The Patriot Way means one thing and one thing only: Gronk’s key card into the gates of The Evil Empire will be deactivated the minute this season ends,” Mehta writes.
“It’s over for the best tight end of this generation.”
Given Gronkowski’s body of work, it’s only fair to give him the rest of this season before we start thinking about completely writing him off. Who’s to say Gronkowski doesn’t pick things back up in Week 12 and serve as an impact player for the Patriots in the postseason?
While that very well could happen, it’s clear Mehta has no interest in giving Gronkowski the benefit of the doubt.
