The text messages started flooding Rob Gronkowski’s phone before the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ charter flight had even taken off from Green Bay.
Shortly after Gronkowski and his Buccaneers teammates clinched the NFC championship Jan. 24 with a victory over the Packers, the Bills and Chiefs kicked off with the AFC on the line.
That meant that the possibility of Gronkowski, an Amherst native, facing his hometown team in the Super Bowl was a very real one – which his friends and family in Western New York were quick to point out.
“That would have been nuts,” Gronkowski said. “I was thinking 'oh man, if Buffalo beats the Chiefs, I'm going to be playing my hometown.’ It was surreal, checking the score. You either play the reigning champs, or I'm playing my hometown Buffalo Bills. That thought came through many times. All my friends were texting me 'Bucs-Bills, Bucs-Bills, Bucs-Bills.' I was like, 'that would be the craziest Super Bowl just for myself, but it's also great because we're playing the reigning champs.’ ”
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Gronkowski, 31, has become accustomed to playing on the game’s biggest stage. Consider this: In 10 NFL seasons, Gronk’s team has made the Super Bowl six times – five seasons played with New England and this year, his first with Tampa Bay.
Gronkowski ended his one-year retirement after quarterback Tom Brady signed with the Bucs, a reunion that has gone as well as either of them could have hoped. Gronkowski played in all 16 regular-season games this season, the first time that's happened since 2011, which was his second year in the NFL.
“You know, I'm doing real well, man. Real well. Haven't missed a practice. Haven't missed a game,” he said. “You know, you live and learn. I would have never came back if I didn't live and learn. The way sometimes I was feeling at the end of my career ... it was like, what led to that? Why was I feeling like that? Yes, it's the game of football, it's tough, but there are always things you can do to make yourself healthier.
“I learned from those situations. ... I've learned how to take care of my body. I've taken that and applied it. I've played 19 games, this is the 28th week we're going on of straight practice. Overall, this year has been good to me in terms of my health.”
Gronkowski stayed active during his year off, playing hockey, basketball and volleyball on a regular basis while still running and lifting weights.
“I feel like the cardio is what you never want to lose if you're trying to come back, because I would feel like that's the toughest to gain,” he said. “Football movement wise, I've been doing that forever. Football movements I can do. That takes about a week or two to get back. It was just all about my cardio. My cardio was up there.”
Nevertheless, learning a new offensive system for the first time proved to be a challenge.
“When you're thinking, you can't really go out there and perform the way you want to perform,” he said. “The playbook throughout training camp was the hardest thing about coming back.”
Gronkowski finished the regular season with 45 catches for 623 yards and seven touchdowns – numbers that at first glance don’t compete with his peak Patriots years. Gronkowski, though, has brought more to the Bucs than just what shows up in the box scores.
"There's a lot of talk about what Tom has done for this locker room – and it's all warranted – but what Gronk has done for this locker room is equally as amazing. Just a great teammate and loves life," Bucs General Manager Jason Licht said.
"You know what kind of football player he is by watching him on film and seeing the things that he did," added Bucs tight ends coach Rick Christophel. "The great thing about him is his outlook. His outlook on life is unbelievable. He's a great guy to be around. He's a great teammate. A lot of people don't know, when it comes to football he's serious.”
Well, not always serious. During a Monday video conference call, Gronkowski shared a humorous story of pulling a fast one on Bucs strength and conditioning coach Anthony Piroli.
Getting tired of the at-home workouts required of each player, Gronkowski devised a plan.
“I started tricking him,” he said. “I would bring my shirt out, and then I would bring another shirt out, so when I'm running the sprints, I would film myself, like, 15 times for that session, that workout session. But I would run it in a couple different shirts – because you only had to send in, like, two or three reps – so that when the next time came, I didn't have to film myself because I already filmed myself running in a different shirt every time on that one day.
"He doesn't have a clue to this day that I was tricking him about half the time during those virtual workouts."
Gronkowski has two catches for 43 yards in three playoff games. He has a history of performing on the game’s biggest stage, though, with 23 catches for 297 yards in four previous appearances (he missed one Super Bowl because of injury). So while Gronkowski has had a quiet postseason statistically, a big play or two Sunday against the Chiefs would not be a surprise. Brady still looked Gronk’s way often in the red zone, with the tight end’s 16 targets inside the opponent’s 20-yard line matching the most at his position.
“I love playing my role in the offense, but at the same time I'm always trying to step up my role," Gronkowski said. "I'm always trying to find another way I can take my role to another level. But you never know what can happen, man. We got a bye week this week, an extra week to get fresh, get prepared. It's the Super Bowl. I'm trying to go big in the game. I'm sure every player that's playing the game is trying to go big in this game. But at the same time, I'm just trying to stay in my lane to help the team the best way I possibly can with my role in order to win."
