It feels safe to say Rob Gronkowski couldn’t have become one of the best tight ends of all time without Tom Brady.
But the Patriots quarterback might not be the only signal-caller Gronkowski has to thank for helping him put together a legendary career.
As we learned during the “NFL 100 All-Time Team” finale, Brady years ago made a trip out to Tennessee for an offseason meeting with Peyton Manning. Brady learned quite a bit from his longtime adversary, and one specific lesson he brought back to Foxboro helped produce the legend that is Gronk.
“They had a protection, the counter hot protection. It was basically a trap pass,” Brady said on NFL Network. “Sometimes they would pull the front-side guard, sometimes they’d pull the center and sometimes they’d pull the off-side guard. They would run a play-action and they would throw a couple combinations off it. Well, after this meeting I had with him (Manning) down in Tennessee, I came back — Bill O’Brien was the coordinator — and I said, ‘Billy, we got to put this protection in.’ It was the lockout year, we ended up putting this protection in and I swear to God, off of that action we do a lot things. We absolutely call that protection at least one or two times a game against them and Rob Gronkowski has probably 50 percent of his offensive production on that play.
“So to use that play against him (Manning) as well as to have basically Rob become a dominant player in the league off of that particular play is thanks to Peyton Manning.”
"One offseason we got together to talk football for two or three days. Just the two of us." ??@TomBrady talks about his experience working with his #NFL100 All-Time teammate Peyton Manning ?
?: NFL 100 All-Time Team on NFL Network pic.twitter.com/l8Ct3Rl3t5
— NFL Network (@nflnetwork) December 28, 2019
Go figure.
Despite this anecdote, we have a feeling Brady will be the only QB Gronkowski mentions as he makes his Hall of Fame induction speech in Canton, Ohio.
