FOXBORO, Mass. — Rob Gronkowski was almost unstoppable in drills during Sunday’s New England Patriots training camp practice at Gillette Stadium.
Defensive backs struggled to contain him in red-zone drills, and he was just as difficult to stop in team drills.
The superstar tight end caught multiple touchdowns on the day, and newly acquired tight end Martellus Bennett also was productive, giving Patriots fans a preview of the potentially incredible duo New England is forming at that position.
“It was super exciting to see (Bennett) go out there. I made a couple big catches, and then he went and made a couple big catches,” Gronkowski said. “It’s great to see that, other players out there making big plays. It’s all about the team coming together and celebrating together after.”
All of these touchdowns produced some hilarious, Gronk-esque moments, too. He was high-fiving teammates, jumping in the air, making noises at defensive backs as he trotted into the end zone and just having his normal amount of fun on the field.
“It feels great, it’s the whole grind about camp. It’s great to go out there and have some fun,” Gronkowski said. “Obviously you got to grind, but you wanna go out there and have some celebrations when you make plays. The defense celebrates when they make plays. As a group it’s a lot of fun. You wanna have some fun out there. The crowd was getting into it, so it was a fun day out there.”
At one point, Gronk spiked the ball into a tent of fans during a team drill in the red zone. He made sure to go back over there after the next touchdown to make sure everyone was OK and also give out some high-fives.
“After that first play, I accidentally threw the ball. I wasn’t sure if I hit someone or not,” Gronkowski said. “But I didn’t, it was all good. Next time I scored right there I just ran by, saw them all cheering, so I was like ‘why not go high-five them?’ They were all excited. It’s cool to get the crowd involved, get the energy up and I felt like it did.”
The rainy conditions had the potential to put a damper on the energy level during practice, even though the level of physical contact was high because players practiced in pads. Gronkowski’s competitiveness, enthusiasm and attitude certainly brought the energy level up another notch.
“We’re all here for the fun of it, for the grind,” Gronk said. “We understand if (the defense) makes a play, you see them celebrating, and it’s part of the competition. If you don’t want them celebrating, make a play and stop them. If they don’t want us to celebrate, they got to stop us. It goes both ways and that’s what’s cool about it.”
Thumbnail photo via Greg M. Cooper/USA TODAY Sports Images
