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FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is hurt, having been carted off the field with a right knee injury in the fourth quarter of last Sunday night's overtime loss to the Broncos in Denver. That much we know. The rest of the situation surrounding the injury to the All-Pro tight end, who is the centerpiece of the Patriots' passing attack, is very much curious.
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Not long after Gronkowski was carted off the field in Denver, minutes after he was writhing in pain on the turf after the hit from Broncos safety Darian Stewart, videos on Twitter showed the tight end walking on his own in the locker-room area.
A day later, when Gronkowski underwent an MRI, reports from ESPN and NFL Network surfaced saying the tight end had suffered a bruise and sprain, but avoided serious injury. His return was a supposed pain management issue that could sideline him as little as a week or less.
Then, Tuesday evening at 5:01 p.m., New England took the unprecedented step of issuing a joint statement in conjunction with the Gronkowski family regarding the health of the tight end's injured right knee.
"During Sunday night's game, Rob Gronkowski sustained a bone bruise/sprain of his right knee," the release stated. "His status will be evaluated on a week-to-week basis and listed accordingly on the practice participation and injury reports. There is no timetable for his readiness to return, which will be determined in the days or hours prior to the appropriate game. Any timetable reported prior to that final determination would be speculative."
A few hours later Gronkowski took the strange approach, certainly for a Patriots player, of posting a video online in which he thanked fans for their support and said he would return when cleared by doctors and the team, when he is "100 percent."
Not surprisingly given New England's history of offering up no injury information over head coach Bill Belichick's 16 years at the helm in Foxborough, the coach was asked during his Wednesday press conference about issuing the statement about Gronkowski's injury.
Belichick cut off the questioner and pounced on the topic.
"To try to do everything we can to help you out. Sorry if you're offended by that," Belichick said, lashing out and glaring at the reporter. "Just trying to be cooperative and help you out, so if that's a problem just let me know."
Asked if he was informed that Gronkowski would be posting a video before it went viral, Belichick was less snappy in his response but cut off the questioning.
"We did what we did," Belichick said simply. "If you have any other questions really you should take it up with our public relations department, which is very capably run by Stacey (James) and his staff."
Gronkowksi has a long history of injuries. He also has a history of distrust with the New England medical staff after breaking his arm, returning to action and breaking the arm again, leading to infections and multiple surgeries. That issue dragged on and also brought Dr. James Andrews into the picture as a second-opinion working on the tight end's behalf.
Regardless of the issues with the strange way New England and the tight end handled the information surrounding his injury, the Patriots' passing attack that's already been playing without running back Dion Lewis and wide receivers Julian Edelman and Danny Amendola has taken another hit.
Quarterback Tom Brady isn't worried about the way the injury information is being disseminated, rather about how he and his offense can bounce back from its first loss against the Eagles this Sunday at Gillette Stadium. Guys are going to have to step up and Brady's offense is going to have to find new, different ways to successfully move the ball and score points, with Gronkowski now "week-to-week" as the latest key cog to go down.
"I think that's a lot what the coaches try to do on Mondays and Tuesdays is figure out scheme-wise how we're going to try to move the ball down the field," Brady said. "It does take on a little bit of a different approach when certain guys are missing because it's just pretty natural for you to do as an offense because different guys have different skill sets. When a certain player is in there, you may do something really well, and then when he goes out, another guy who goes in that position might do something else well and you try to do those things.
"I think it's just a concerted effort by everybody, the coaches and the players, to try to get to the things that we're good at versus the things that they're not good at, which is obviously a big challenge. And it's not easy to do over the course of 16 weeks. That's why it's hard to win every week because every week changes and the availability of players change and schemes change. It's just, it's always very challenging."
SERIES HISTORY: 12th regular-season meeting. Eagles lead series, 6-5. As is the case with so many New England opponents, the Eagles dominated the series against the Patriots by winning six of eight games played from 1973 to 1999. But things changed once Bill Belichick took over in Foxborough as New England has won all four games since 2003, including the 24-21 victory in Super Bowl XXXIX following the 2004 season. The Patriots won a close 31-28 battle late in November 2007 to remain on track for an undefeated season and got the job done in the most recent meeting, a 38-20 win in Philly in November 2011.
GAME PLAN
--The Patriots offense is very much in a transition period with injuries sucking the life out of the passing game. Tom Brady should get Danny Amendola back for this week, but the quarterback will also have to lean on Brandon LaFell and Scott Chandler to do more than they have to date this season. Ideally New England will balance out the offense with a better running game against an Eagles front that allows 4.4 yards per carry on the season. But LeGarrette Blount just hasn't run the ball in increased chances over the last month, failing to top 3.5 yards per carry in any game. It's not going to be easy and if the offensive line can't protect better than the two dozen QB hits it has allowed in the last two weeks Brady may struggle after a season-low 301 total yards in Denver. But look for Josh McDaniels to piece together a more balanced, productive attack against a lesser Philly defense, likely with a wide variety of personnel groups throughout the evening.
Defensively the Patriots top priority will be to tackle well. That may not be as easy as it sounds with top linebackers Jamie Collins and Dont'a Hightower dealing with injuries. The Eagles want to run the football and will do so often, some out of zone reads. They also will use a short passing game, with running backs a key factor in the air. That puts a premium on tackling for the defensive ends, linebackers and safeties. After that it will be about the pass defense taking advantage of its chances to make plays. Eagles quarterbacks Sam Bradford and Mark Sanchez have combined for 14 interceptions and 27 sacks on the season. So the front end of New England could add to its 35 sacks on the year through mostly base rushes and a few interior line games/blitzes. The back end could have a chance to get its hand on the ball and when it does needs to maximize those opportunities to get Brady and the struggling offense more chances of their own.
MATCHUPS TO WATCH
--Patriots LB Jonathan Freeny vs. Eagles RB Darren Sproles.
Sproles remains one of the more active playmakers from the running back position. The veteran has 36 catches this season and will test a banged up group of New England linebackers. Jamie Collins hasn't played in a month and even if he returns is likely to be rusty. Dont'a Hightower is dealing with an MCL injury. That could leave Freeny or the aging, slowing Jerod Mayo to deal with the dangerous Sproles. Regardless, it's a concern for the Patriots defense.
--Patriots Ts Sebastian Vollmer and Marcus Cannon vs. Eagles DE Fletcher Cox.
Vollmer and Cannon have swapped between the left tackle and right tackle spots in recent weeks. Each has struggled at times as Tom Brady has been sacked and hit way too often. Bill Belichick called Cox one of the best defensive linemen in the league. The veteran leads the Eagles with 5.5 sacks, 12.5 tackles for a loss and 16 QB hurries. He also has three forced fumbles and a pair of recoveries. Keeping Cox in check will be the first priority for Vollmer, Cannon and the rest of the Patriots line.
