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Rob Gronkowski on M&M: ‘It wasn’t the way I wanted to go out’ 01.31.13 at 11:45 am ET
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Rob Gronkowski

Rob Gronkowski

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski broke his silence on Thursday when he checked in with Mut & Merloni and provided an update on his broken left forearm.

“The arm’s doing all right. Just casted it up,” he said. “Got a lot of time to heal now. So, there’s no hurry, no rush. Just taking it week by week and day by day, and just getting it stronger every day. So, I’m improving every week. It’s the offseason now, so, no time to rush it. Get it 100 percent before camp starts.”

Gronkowski broke his arm for the second time early in the playoff game against the Texans when he used the arm to brace himself while falling after an incomplete pass.

“Right when I landed obviously I was in huge pain,” he said. “I knew there was something wrong right when I hit. I just wasn’t sure what it was. Because sometimes you get a stinger, sometimes you get a charley horse and they go away after two minutes — they just hurt real bad, real quick for like two minutes. So, I was just hoping it was that — like a quick stinger, hitting your joint in your elbow or something where it just numbs your arm real quick. I was just hoping it was one of those. But the pain wasn’t going away, obviously, and obviously it broke.

“It wasn’t the way I wanted to go out. Definitely it wasn’t. It is what it was. That’s what happened.”

Despite it being the second time the arm broke this season, Gronkowski said he doesn’t feel that he came back too soon.

“I couldn’t really tell you if it was healed or not. It felt good,” he said. “Just going into the playoff game I felt ready, I felt confident about it. Like I said, it was just a freak accident. It didn’t go the way I planned. It broke in a different spot. It just happened. Obviously I wasn’t planning on that.”

Gronkowski originally broke the arm in the final minutes of a 59-24 rout of the Colts on Nov. 18, while blocking on an extra point. He said there was no injury prior to that play, and he doesn’t regret being on the field late in a blowout win.

“It happened on the extra point,” he confirmed. “I mean, it’s football. You’ve got to be out there. It’s a team game. You’ve got to be out there for your team. it doesn’t matter when it happened. It can happen at any time. It’s just a freak accident. Just got to get it 100 percent now.”

Gronkowski returned for the final game of the regular season, a meeting with the Dolphins on Dec. 30, but he clearly was not yet comfortable with the arm.

“I really wasn’t that confident obviously going in, because obviously I was using one hand, as you can see,” he said. “I was just getting used to it and all, just getting used to the flow of the game again, it’s good to get the speed down and all that, and just getting me prepared going into the playoffs, playing in that Miami game.”

Despite the fact that he was not comfortable in that game, Gronkowski said he has no regrets about returning then.

“If the doctors didn’t clear me and they said it wasn’t smart to play in the Miami game, then I wouldn’t have,” he said. “But the doctors cleared me and they said I was good to go. Obviously I want to be out there whenever I can get out there. So, right when they said I was cleared, I was definitely ready to go.”

To hear the interview, go to the Mut & Merloni audio on demand page. For more Patriots news, visit the team page at weei.com/patriots.

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  • Monstatroll

    Here’s to hoping that next season we can have a healthy Gronk through the playoffs. He is the only receiver on the team that can go up the middle and snatch a ball out of the air in coverage. Not saying that it would have guaranteed a win these last two years but I certainly would have liked their chances better.

  • Mayor Marbles

    Hurry up back Gonk!

  • jj

    Personally I am really tired of all the “freak” injuries. You know why jerry rice is supposedly the best receiver ever? Watch the film, the guy always knew when to dive and avoid hits. That prolonged his career immensely. 

  • Tito

    What a wuss…………..

  • jj

    The would have beat the Giants in the Superbowl by 7-10 points and beat the Ravens last week by 3-6.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_HDV4GI6CHKTCVEXRQENW7DA2LI da

     He was injured on two no contact plays. Rice wasn’t in there for XPs.

  • Ty

    He’s such a wuss he played in SB 46 on an ankle he needed surgery on after the game. A broken bone is a broken bone, Tito.  There’s nothing about that injury that you can even come close to qualifying him as “a wuss”.  As far as we all know, he has the same bone density as anyone else out there on the field, so it could’ve happened to anyone.  It’s actually his physical style of play which increases his risk of being injured.  But yeah… he’s a wuss, right? Open your eyes.

  • Bruinman86

    Let’s hope he doesn’t have any more freak accidents!

  • Bruinman86

     Something tells me that if you were in a room with him you wouldn’t have the stones to call him that.

  • Bruinman86

     He made contact with the ground.  At his size, and with that plate, it was inevitable.

  • Bruinman86

     I bet if Gronk played for the Packers, he’d be singing his praises.

  • Johnny Spygate

    Looks like the Red Sox medical staff was moonlighting with the patriots this past season.
    “Sure…he’s healed.  As far as you know”

  • ih8sno

    The Red Sox have a new medical staff in place. That advised the Red Sox to reduce, and reject two players contract offers, after they received medical evaluations by Red Sox team doctors,..which the Red Sox did then do. If you’re going to troll,and play the roll of a gimmick, at least keep up with what’s going on in baseball. That way you won’t continue to look so foolish.

  • Johnny Spygate

    You mean they figured out that Napoli’s knee was held together with chewing gum & duct tape?  Well good for them.  Nice work team!
    You should all feel much better now.

  • Monstatroll

    Too bad they didn’t have Arod’s medical staff. They would have shot him up till he was foaming at the mouth. He probably would have ripped off Pollard’s head and s**t down his throat.

  • Enough Said

    Never underestimate the power of duct tape.

  • Schwank

    I just hope they remove that damn “insert” be it a plate, screw or whatever after he heals.  To me it does no good (medical fact that it does not make it stronger….just keeps things in place during healing.)  But it CAN cause other issues and I will bet dollars to donuts that his landing and how he landed on it combined with the plate contributed to the 2nd fracture.  Essentially it was a freak thing.  But that freak thing could happen again if that thing in there next year. 

    Also remember Pedroia’s ankle screw?  That caused him issues until they took that out.  If memory serves Ty Law had issues with  a screw in his foot as well. 

  • Anonymous

    We need you healthy

  • Sicko

     Weird the Yankees’ medical staff rubber stamped Aroids’ deal….You stupid moron.

  • Bruinman86

    I love the Yankees sound thinking in over-paying Youk to replace what’s left of A-Fraud.  Almost as if he could still hit and stay healthy. Good luck with that. Enjoy our cast off. Sounds like the Yanks brain trust is overrated as well.

  • The Joker

    Aww gosh darn! Looks like Tito and Johnny had enough of us on this subject.  Shame.. was really looking forward to their next witty retort.  Will Tito and Johnny please come out and play?  Pwetty pweeeease???

  • Boring Media Hype

    Pats need much more of these body type wide receivers.  The smurfs just have demonstrated they can’t deliver the Lombardi.  Great regular season stuff, very exciting, but after seeing how this simply doesn’t work as you go deeper into the playoffs it’s time to rethink the Welkers and Edlemans of the world and start thinking more about big tough receivers that Brady can just throw the ball up to and they go and get it.  I’ve seen about enough key drops in big games to realize the ding and dunk method won’t work in the end.

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