The Gronkowski Effect

Rob Gronkowski is one man.

Granted, a huge, freakishly athletic man-child that demands double teams and makes defensive backs cry - but one man nonetheless.  Regardless, when the all world tight end returns to the lineup for the New England Patriots' offense, the fans and the coaching staff must be careful about anointing him as the savior to this offense...

...because players who attain such a moniker generally get beaten to a pulp then crucified by the media - all due to expectations that may not seem fair, but are of his own doing.  He's so good that he set his own standard.

It seems that many are hanging their hat on the return of Gronkowski from his multiple surgeries over the offseason as the cure for all of the Patriots' offensive woes - and there is some truth to all of that, as the man that they call Gronk is such an imposing weapon that he can impact a game like few others in the NFL.

"I think any time you have a player that can make the kind of impact that Rob has made in the past, if you have a player like that back, it has to affect your plan and hopefully only in a positive manner." offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels said Tuesday in typically understated Patriots' fashion, "I definitely think that you would like to have a guy like that on the field as much as you can if he is ready and able to contribute in the way that Rob has always been able to".

Well, duh.  McDaniels is getting pretty good at issuing soliloquies that go on forever but state only the obvious - something that he no doubt has picked up from endless hours of listening to Belichick's monotone droll - tending to devalue one player's impact on a game plan, but it's tough to minimize Gronkowski's value to this offense.

He is simply New England's best run blocker - better than any offensive lineman, and is also an able pass blocker, though his value in the passing game consists of chipping the defensive end and curling into the pattern, taking the short pass from quarterback Tom Brady and shifting into tank mode, running folks over.

There's no questioning Gronkowski's value to the Patriots and there's no question that the Patriots are a much better team when he is on the field - in fact, there are only two questions yet to answer in regard to Gronk - those being, when exactly is he coming back and will he be on a snap count....

...the answers to which will not be forthcoming until closer to game time in Foxborough on Sunday afternoon - but either way, don't expect the all world tight end to be handed a heavy workload, as these first snaps will be his first meaningful non-bone breaking snaps since before last Thanksgiving, and the man hasn't had a preseason to re-acclimate himself.

But once he does, and assuming his surgically repaired, and repaired, and repaired again (and once more again) forearm holds up and also assuming that his back is in tip-top shape, the entire dynamic of the New England offense changes - and if move tight end Zach Sudfeld's sore hammy will allow him to suit up, the two bigs will force the opposition to pick it's poison, because there's no way to shut it all down...

...particularly as the young greyhounds at receiver begin to settle in, because what ills the youngsters is nothing that experience won't cure - and what's got everyone else down is nothing that a little rest and rehabilitation can't solve.

The Patriots are hurting, and people who don't know any better are writing them off - but a Gronkowski return to the field should serve as a reminder to all of their detractors that New England has an offense that will be perpetually one player away from being whole until Halloween...

...at which point the final piece to the amazing puzzle will join his fellow former wounded and the no longer wet behind the ears rookie receivers to form a juggernaut that no one will want to meet in the playoffs, and Belichick will honestly be able to count on his team playing their best ball after Thanksgiving for like the 13th year in a row.

Right now, it's all about survival.  On paper, the Patriots have one the most potentially explosive offenses in the NFL, and one of their weapons is about to jump off the paper and onto the field.