Posts tagged Rob Gronkowski

Subversive Predictions for 2012

Time to set the league on its ear while I have a Coke and a smile.

Warning: If you use my picks to place bets, make fantasy picks, or enter other contests of prognostication, you are a fool and you deserve to lose. Unless you have a stroke of dumb-luck success and you’re giving me a cut of the winnings, don’t write me about your failure.

It’s that time of year, folks.

What a lame lead sentence. When isn’t it that time of year? If you’re an American sports fan, don’t you get tired of “that time of year?”

Barring the strategically accented tokens of estrogen, sometimes it all seems like an endless, besuited parade of middle-aged, balding, flaccid white men trying to tell us what time it is. CNBC lookalikes promoting, informing, and sometimes (if not purely by accident) entertaining the masses about an upcoming season. It’s all brought to you by corporations selling its brand of self-medication: booze, junk food, and pills marketed with hints of lurid fantasies to escape whatever part of reality you dread facing at any moment.

Welcome to [insert sport here] season, brought to you by Propecia, Viagra, and Celebrex. You’ll be able to hold your water, keep it up, and move your hips long enough without an ache so you can have just enough fun with that special someone before your skin develops a horrific rash, your kidneys fail, and your heart explodes. 

Continue reading

The Pats Two-TE Sets: A Long Time Coming?

Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski is not the joker Aaron Hernandez is, but is production will still be as serious as a heart attack. Photo by WBUR

 

Aaron Hernandez and Rob Gronkowski combined for 13 receptions, 189 yards, and 2 touchdowns against the Dolphins on Monday night. Yesterday they combined for 11 receptions, 143 yards, and 3 touchdowns against the Chargers. If you’ve been reading this blog throughout the summer then you know the hybrid position has been a common theme.

While I’m not certain the Patriots intended to incorporate two tight end sets immediately into their base offense when they drafted Hernandez and Gronkowski in 2010, I think they envisioned it. These are two very different types of players so redundancy wasn’t the intent. Continue reading

Jokers

It might not be obvious, but Reggie White's role on the defensive line was the football equivalent of slang. Photo by Keith Fujimoto.

One of the pervading themes in this blog has been discussion of  the hybridization of football players:

  • The zone blitz and the evolution of the 3-4 linebacker/defensive end ‘tweener capable of dropping into coverage and sticking his hand in the ground and rushing off the edge.
  • The safety/cornerback capable of covering slot receivers and supporting the run.
  • The tight end/wide receiver capable of playing at the line of scrimmage and  split from the formation.

When I asked my colleagues about a significant trend in the sport, hybridization was the first thing on their mental checklist.

Although hybridization might be a trend, history shows it’s not new. Continue reading

Greg Cosell Part II:The Pats TE Duo and Rookies

Patriots TE/H-Back/WR Aaron Hernandez is a prospect Greg Cosell really liked on film. Read how Cosell views the second-year TE’s role in the offense as well as his takes about the 2011 rookie class. Photo by Patriotworld.

Greg Cosell is the co-author of The Games That Changed the Game with former Eagles quarterback and ESPN analyst Ron Jaworski. The senior producer has watched decades of NFL coaches tape – the all-22 angle that very few people gain consistent access. In Part I of this conversation, Cosell graciously undergoes a voir dire of his knowledge of nearly two-dozen current players. In this portion of our conversation, Cosell supplies his take on the Patriots duo of second-year tight ends, quarterbacking in different eras of the pro game, and his thoughts on several rookies from the 2011 Draft class. Continue reading