"No one feels sorry for the Patriots." That is what quarterback Tom Brady thinks about the news that Rob Gronkowski will be out for the remainder of the season after tearing his ACL against the Cleveland Browns. New England is once again left without their star tight end causing the team to make necessary adjustments to the offense. Brady admits he is concerned, but is stressing that everyone must step up and adapt.
"It just shifts; you just have to find a different formula," Brady said, via "Dennis & Callahan Show" on WEEI sports radio in Boston. "I think that's the important part. And Gronk provides a certain margin of error because of how talented a player he is, and the other guys play different roles for us. Those roles are going to have to shift, kind of what we did on the last two drives of the game. We had four receivers at points, at different points we had more [tight ends] with Develin and Mulligan on the field."
In wake of the injury, veterans Matthew Mulligan and Michael Hoomanawanui will be relied on heavily. DJ Williams is expected to re-sign with New England after getting released last week. Playing without Gronkowski is certainly nothing new for the Patriots. He sat out the first six games of the season after undergoing multiple offseason surgeries. Without the tight end, the Patriots were 22ndi n the league in scoring. Brady is confident everyone can adjust once again.
"We're going to have to make do, whatever the combinations are," Brady said. "If Gronk's not out there, we've got to try to figure those out. We're going to go down to Miami with confidence that we can win the game, confidence in our game plan, confidence in what we're doing and confidence in what we're asking all the players to do."
Can Gronkowski return the same kind of player that he was before the injuries started taking over? The quarterback certainly believes that his favorite offensive target can return better than ever once he recovers from the knee injury. Brady credits Gronkowski's mental toughness as the x-factor to getting him back on the field.
"All injuries are different, and he's as tough a guy as there is," Brady said. "And what he's been through the last really two years since he hurt his ankle in the postseason, and then to come back from that and deal with his back and his arm and to deal with that all season last year and all offseason, he's a tough guy and a tough kid."