When healthy, Rob Gronkowski has been an absolute nightmare for opposing teams to defend throughout his career. At 6’6″ and 265 lbs, he’s basically uncoverable. Unlike some of the other players that are considered top TEs, Gronk’s value goes beyond just being a formidable pass catcher, as he can block for the running game as well, and it makes him the best TE in the NFL by a wide margin.
Gronkowski dominated last Thursday night in the season opener. He caught five passes for 95 yards, and three of those five catches went for TDs. His impact extended far beyond those two plays, however, as his versatility forced the Steelers to have to account for him, which opened up other opportunities in the passing game. In addition, his blocking helped lead the way for the virtually unknown Dion Lewis to put together a respectable performance at RB. This article will examine all of Gronk’s targets on the day, and it will also cover a couple plays that show the mismatches Gronkowski helps create as well as his blocking prowess. Let’s get started by looking at his targets:
Targets
1-10-PIT 43 (Q1, 8:31) (No Huddle, Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete short right to R.Gronkowski.
This is Gronkowski’s first target of the game, and it’s an incompletion. However, I believe Gronk is the wrong person to target on this play. It’s a simple route concept, and one of the Patriots’ favorites. Defensive coordinators will call this a pick play, and offensive coordinators will call this a rub play. What happens is Gronk is running a slant, while Danny Amendola is running a flat route underneath him. When the defense is in man coverage, the defender covering the player running the slant (in this case, the player on Amendola) will tend to run into the player running the slant (Gronkowski). As you can see, that’s what happens here. This is why I don’t think Brady should be throwing to Gronk, but instead he should be throwing to Amendola.
1-10-PIT 35 (Q2, 11:40) T.Brady pass deep right to R.Gronkowski to PIT 16 for 19 yards (R.Golden).
After having their drives stall outside of scoring position earlier, the Patriots were knocking on the door once again. This play put the team firmly in the red zone, poised to score. Let’s look at the route setup:
Gronkowski and new addition Scott Chandler are lined up tight in a double TE set at the top of the screen. With the addition of Chandler, the Patriots have opened up new ways for their offense to be successful. With the players lined up like this, the play is a run heavy set. So, to defender against the possibility of a run, the Steelers need to keep the four linebackers of their base defense in the game instead of adding a 5th DB in a nickel package. This actually creates a big mismatch for the Patriots to exploit. The Steelers have a single high safety, and have man coverage underneath. This means that a LB must cover either Gronk or Chandler. It’s a big deal because Chandler is a good pass catcher as well. Once the players release into their routes, something very critical happens. Check out this picture:
At this point, one of the defenders needs to man up on Chandler (running the outside route) and one needs to cover Gronkowski, who is heading towards the seam. However, the CB on the play allows himself to drift towards the outside instead of protecting the seam. This is a costly mistake as it leaves Brady plenty of room to throw the pass to the open Gronk, who makes a pretty easy catch for a big chunk of yards.
1-10-PIT 16 (Q2, 11:16) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass short right to R.Gronkowski for 16 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
The Steelers made a massive mistake on this play. They simply did not account for Gronkowski splitting out wide. Gronk and Brady realized this, and Brady got the snap off as soon as possible, and just threw it to Gronk. He did the rest, by breaking the tackle of the DB rushing over to cover him and then taking the ball into the end zone. It kind of amazes me how one play after allowing a 19 yard gain to Gronk the Steelers totally forgot about him.
2-6-PIT 6 (Q2, 4:06) T.Brady pass short middle to R.Gronkowski for 6 yards, TOUCHDOWN.
This TD shows what is probably Gronk’s best attribute as a receiver: his ability to go up and fight for the pass, then come down and make a catch. The play is pretty simple. It’s a play action fake, and Gronk runs straight to the back of the endzone. The Steelers bite on the fake, and Gronkowski is able to get behind the defenders. Brady just needs to throw the ball up there and Gronk brings the pass in for the TD.
1-10-NE 21 (Q4, 11:34) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass deep right to R.Gronkowski to PIT 27 for 52 yards (A.Blake).
On this play, the Steelers frankly make a huge mistake. They put Bud Dupree in coverage on Gronk. Dupree, their first round draft pick in 2015, is a freak athlete, but played defensive end in a 4-3 scheme at Kentucky. He’s a pass rusher first and foremost, and has minimal experience in coverage. Putting him in man coverage on Gronkowski is not a recipe for success. And, on this play, Dupree messes up his assignment. Everyone else on the defense is playing man coverage, but Dupree looks like he’s trying to play zone. He lets Gronk run right by him, and Gronk ends up wide open. This is an easy completion for Brady and a huge gain for the Patriots.
2-1-PIT 1 (Q4, 9:28) S.Mason reported in as eligible. T.Brady pass incomplete short right to R.Gronkowski.
On this pass play, the Patriots are running play action, and the leak Gronk out on a crossing route with 1 on 1 coverage. They hope is to get the defense distracted and let Gronkowski use his size to make a catch over a smaller defender. However, Dupree is the reason this play doesn’t work. He gets a great jump off of the snap and gets into the backfield very quickly. The FB, who is supposed to block him, can’t get there in time, and Dupree hits the RB. He gets too close to Brady for Tom to be comfortable, and causes Brady to throw a pass off of his back foot, which sails too far. Gronk catches the ball, but he is out of the back of the endzone, so it’s an incompletion.
3-1-PIT 1 (Q4, 9:24) T.Brady pass short left to R.Gronkowski for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
I will talk about the setup of this play later in this article. For now, you should know that the Patriots set this play up with what they did on their third TD. On that play, Chandler and Gronk crossed each other and Chandler got the pass for the TD. On this play, the Patriots’ hope is that the Steelers are expecting the cross. But, instead of running it, they have Gronkowski run a fade. With a LB covering him and Gronk’s catching ability, this is a huge mismatch. The linebacker doesn’t even put up much of a challenge and Gronk has an easy TD catch.
2-12-NE 24 (Q4, 7:58) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass incomplete deep right to R.Gronkowski.
For all of Gronkowski’s size and strength, he’s not quite as proficient of a route runner as a standard WR is. That shows here, as he’s forced out of bounds by this corner. On this play, the corner does a very good job of turning with Gronk, and stays with him far down the field. To an extent, Gronkowski makes a mistake by keeping his arm out the entire time. This allows the defender to keep in contact with him (Gronk is the one who initiated and is trying to maintain it, so it’s not a penalty) which allows the CB to squeeze Gronk towards the sideline. Gronk does eventually get past the CB, but shows a lack of boundary awareness in doing so by stepping out of bounds. Gronk is a great target in the passing game, but he is not quite as savvy a pass catcher as most WRs are. If he was that savvy, the combination with his size would just be even more unfair to opponents.
2-6-NE 11 (Q4, 6:29) (Shotgun) T.Brady pass short middle to R.Gronkowski to NE 16 for 5 yards (R.Shazier)
This play got nullified due to a penalty that the Patriots accepted, so it doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. However, it does show one important attribute of Gronk’s game that we haven’t seen so far: quickness. Gronk isn’t just some big oaf lumbering around the field, he can move fast and fluidly, and it shows on this inside break. He gains solid separation from the corner, and picks up 5 yards on this play to theoretically give the Patriots an easy to convert 3rd and short. While it won’t make the highlight reel, consistently executing on these types of plays can help sustain drives and is very important for offenses to do.
Blocking
1-10-NE 20 (Q3, 6:43) D.Lewis right tackle to NE 33 for 13 yards (C.Allen).
Gronkowski is an excellent blocker in the run game, and it’s an attribute not many other top TEs have. Gronk was in on almost every (if not all) offensive snap for the Patriots, and was asked to run block quite a bit. The results were very good. I’ve chosen to highlight one this snap for a couple reasons. First, the run was to his side, and he has to make a heads up block on a defender. Secondly, it’s a great block and shows the level of proficiency Gronkowski consistently outputs in the run game. On this play, Gronk is facing Arthur Moats. He faced more difficult assignments in this game, occasionally going up against defensive linemen, and also held his own in those situations.
Now let’s get down to the meat of the play. The Patriots are running off tackle to the right (with a pulling guard, this play is called Power), which is Gronkowski’s side. On this kind of play, the goal of both the offense and the defense is to “set the edge”. For the offense, this means to block the players on the edge of the line so they can’t affect the play. For the defense, this means to beat the blocks and get in the runner’s path so he is forced to cut the run back inside. Gronk and Julian Edelman (who, it should be noted, also does very well on this play) are the ones who are tasked with setting the edge for the offense.
Immediately off the snap, Gronkowski acts as an aggressor and steps towards Moats. He is the initiator of contact as he gets his hands up and hits Timmons squarely in the chest. Something that is also important, although it might be a bit hard to see from this angle, is that Gronk gets his hands inside of Moats’ hands. This allows him to control the LB while blocking him. He is able to force Moats to the left a few steps, which is an added bonus. After that happens, Moats tries his best to release from the block, ripping to the outside. Gronk, however, is able to hold onto his block for long enough that Lewis gets into the hole and by Moats. That hand position is once again important, because it prevents Gronk from grabbing Moats and getting a holding penalty called on him. Once Lewis is past, Moats turns to pursue and Gronk has to let go, but he’s already won his battle.
Other ways Gronk affects the play
2-1-PIT 1 (Q3, 10:43) T.Brady pass short left to S.Chandler for 1 yard, TOUCHDOWN.
I referenced this play before, but it’s a very effective goal line wrinkle that the Patriots employed multiple times on the 1 yard line. Obviously, many teams try to punch the ball in by running it in these situations. The Patriots show that they are trying to do the same, and counting Chandler (who is lined up at FB) they have four TEs in the game. Because they are trying to stop the run, the Steelers only have one DB in the game. This is where the play design gets good. The Patriots have TE Michael Hoomanawanui motion out wide. The Steelers counter by putting their lone DB on him. Hooman is not a great pass catching threat, but you want the DB to defend against the possibility of a fade. Then, with the DB out of the picture, the Patriots send both Gronkowski and Chandler out wide to the other side. This forces LBs to cover them. As receivers, both Gronkowski and Chandler are huge mismatches when they are covered by LBs, so this is a big advantage for the Patriots.
To put the icing on the cake, the Patriots make it even harder for the same rub route that they did on Gronk’s first target. This time, Brady throws to Chandler, and for good reason. Gronk doesn’t actually run into the other LB on this play, but he does force him to run around him, and it gives Chandler enough separation to catch the pass and reach the ball into the end zone.
This is a great play design by the Patriots, and it was made possible in large part because Gronk is a formidable threat as a blocker. The Steelers needed to go to goal line personnel, and it prevented them from being able to properly defend the play once the Patriots split three TEs out wide.
Rob Gronkowski was a huge contributor to the Patriots win in the opening game of the NFL season last Thursday. He scored three TDs and showed why he is such a valuable asset to the Patriots. As the best TE in the game, he creates a mismatch in both the passing and running game because he’s very difficult to cover and is a great blocker. Look for him to continue to be a large part of the Patriots’ success throughout the course of the season.
