http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/s...-season-is-over-brady-calls-loss-challenging/
If the
Patriots are going to make another Super Bowl run, it looks like they'll have to do it without one of their best players. Tight end
Rob Gronkowski is set to have back surgery and that could mean an end to his 2016 season.
The Patriots and the Gronkowski family
released a joint statement Thursday evening to update the tight end's status.
After a hit early in the
Jets game, Rob began to experience significant back and leg pain. This injury forced him to leave the game and he did not return. With the help of the Patriots medical staff, along with the consultation of several medical experts, it has been determined that it is in Rob's best long-term interest to undergo surgery to address his lower back injury. Rob is expected to have surgery [Friday]. We do not expect that he will be able to play for the remainder of the 2016 season, but will await the results of [Friday's] surgery before making a final determination.
This development obviously makes
Tom Brady's professional life much more difficult, a reality he talked about during his weekly interview with Jim Gray of Westwood One.
"Well, you know, it doesn't help losing great players," Brady said, via
CSNNE.com. "And to not have Gronk out there -- one of our best players and most dependable, consistent players -- and not in the lineup makes things challenging for us. But that's what the NFL season is about. It's about overcoming challenges.
"We have a lot of good players on our team that are going to need to fill the void, and it's a big void left by such a spectacular player in Gronk. But I don't think that any of us are going to give up on what we're trying to accomplish."
Injuries have been a recurring theme throughout Gronkowski's otherwise dominant career. The former second-round pick out of Arizona is unstoppable when healthy, but he hasn't played all 16 regular-season games since 2011, his second year in the league. Gronkowski also had back surgery in college, forcing him to miss 13 games in 2009.
Since 2012, Gronk has broken his forearm (requiring four separate surgeries), torn his ACL and had another surgery on his back.
Gronkowski has played in eight games this season, and has 25 receptions for 540 yards and three touchdowns. Despite missing three games, he ranks third among all tight ends in total value, according to
Football Outsiders' metrics, and is first in value per play.
No. 4 in total value? One of those other good players Brady alluded to:
Martellus Bennett, who the Patriots acquired via trade in the offseason and
very much sound like they want to lock up long term. Partly because he has remained relatively healthy in his
NFL career, but also because he has big-play potential, especially when Brady is throwing him the ball.
Meanwhile, Gronk may be gone (for now), but he hasn't been forgotten.
"I've seen him the last few days so I've spoken to him a few times," Brady said. "Everyone's thinking about him and what he's gone through. It's such a physical sport, it's hard to see people you care about go through injuries. He's gone through his fair share, but I also know the resolve that he has, and that will never change with him. He'll be as determined as ever to get back and get better as soon as possible."
As for the Patriots' Super Bowl aspirations,
they're looking at a 24 percent chance to win the
Super Bowl in a post-Gronk world, according to SportsLine's Stephen Oh. That still puts them well ahead of the
Cowboys and
Seahawks, who each have a 15 percent chance of hoisting the Lombardi Trophy in two months.
