Rob Gronkowski OUT For Sunday Night Football Against Patriots

The highly anticipated return of quarterback Tom Brady to New England will be without one of its biggest stars and another former Patriot making his return to Gillette. According to reports, Buccaneers’ tight end Rob Gronkowski will not play due to a rib injury he suffered against the Rams.

Tight end Rob Gronkowski is OUT against the #Patriots on #SNF, per @Schultz_Report. #FPC #GoBucs @FullPressNFL

— Full Press Buccaneers (@FPC_Buccaneers) October 2, 2021

It will be the first game Gronkowski has missed as a Buc as he played in all 16 regular-season games and four postseason games a year ago. Coincidentally, it comes against his former team where, when healthy, he was one of the most dominant football players of all time.

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It is certainly a disappointing bit of news for the Bucs and, of course, some Patriots fans that were looking forward to seeing the Brady/Gronk combination one more time, albeit with a different team. In addition, it is unfortunate for Gronkowski himself who has been having an excellent start to his season. Through three games, Gronkowski has 16 receptions on 20 targets for 184 yards and four touchdowns. He had 45 receptions for 623 yards and seven touchdowns in his first season with the Buccaneers following his one-year retirement.

2020 was only the second time that Gronkowski had played all 16 games in a season, the last came in 2011…his second year in the league. The 6-foot-6, 265-pound tight end was plagued by injuries during his career with the Patriots and were partly responsible for his early retirement. Despite all that, Gronkowski is arguably one of the greatest, if not the greatest, tight end of all time. If he can avoid a long absence, he could certainly continue to add to his legacy in 2021.