Rob Gronkowski's Return Puts Patriots Offense Back on Track in Time for Playoffs

It's rare to hear Bill Belichick speak as candidly about a player's value to his team as he spoke about Rob Gronkowski in the Do Your Job documentary of the New England Patriots' 2014 Super Bowl championship season. But in reflecting on the Patriots' three playoff losses from 2011-2013, Belichick offered up some lofty praise of his high-profile tight end.

"Had Rob been healthy in any of those three years," Belichick said, "as close as those outcomes were, it might have made a difference." 

Yes, Belichick basically just said that a healthy Gronkowski might have been the difference in the Patriots potentially winning a Super Bowl in 2011 and advancing to the Super Bowl in 2012 and 2013.

Opponent	Broncos	Eagles	Texans
Week	12	13	14
Points	24	28	27
Yards	301	427	313
Pass yards	262	324	197
Rush yards	39	103	116
Third down %	2/13	7/17	7/16
Red zone %	1/1	4/5	3/3

That's why there was such a high sense of alert and anxiety when Gronkowski suffered a knee injury against the Denver Broncos in Week 12. That's why it was completely predictable when the Patriots offense was a shell of itself in Week 13 against the Philadelphia Eagles, when Gronkowski missed the game. That's also why the offense once again snapped back into form this week against the Houston Texans.

His mere presence anywhere on the field is game-altering in ways that no other skill position player on the Patriots roster can claim.

Whether it's his ability to open up holes on the edge as a run-blocker, his ability to stretch the seam in the passing game, his physical dominance in the red zone to get open and win contested catches or his ability to draw double-teams and bracket coverage to open up the field for the other Patriots playmakers, Gronkowski's presence on the field makes everything the Patriots offense does a little bit easier.

On Sunday against the Texans, Gronkowski caught all four of the passes thrown his way for 87 yards and hauled in his 10th touchdown catch of the season, marking the fifth time in Gronkowski's six-year career that he has reached that benchmark.

His touchdown catch was a one-yard catch in the back of the end zone on a fade route—a Gronkowski special. He faked the slant route to the inside, then broke his route toward the back corner. This is a move that always gives defenders trouble; let Gronkowski get inside, and there's no way you're going to get back in front of that physical beast. Let him go to the back of the end zone, and it becomes a jump ball, where few are better at coming down with the touchdown than Gronkowski.

In his six-year career, Gronkowski has caught 67 of the 102 throws in his direction in the red zone (65.7 percent) and has come down with 47 touchdown catches. That's a touchdown every 1.4 times he catches the ball in the red zone. This year, he has 10 catches on 18 red-zone targets (55.6 percent) for six touchdowns.

But receivers like Danny Amendola can also thank Gronkowski for some of their production.

Credit: NFL Game Pass

After all, it's thanks to the constant double-teams on Gronkowski that the Patriots receivers are often left one-on-one in coverage or uncovered altogether. 

On 2nd-and-11 with 8:10 remaining in the first quarter, Brady hit Amendola on a slant route for 10 yards, but watch Gronkowski. He takes three defenders with him on the corner route, while the right inside linebacker trails with Gronkowski and leaves a soft spot for Amendola to make the catch.

It's not a huge play, but it was certainly made possible by Gronkowski.

Gronkowski is not the only one who will be making plays now that he's back in the lineup. Everyone on the Patriots offense should be excited that his job gets a little easier thanks to Gronkowski's presence.