Gronk May Be Out for Start Of The Season

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski "very likely" will require a fourth surgery on his left forearm, this one to remove the plate inserted in the arm in order to ensure an infection has been eradicated, two sources told ESPNBoston.com's Mike Reiss.

The Patriots have to be concerned about the health of Gronk. He has already proven to be extremely injury prone and kind of a shithead off the field. No matter what Patriot fans say or refuse to admit, Gronk will be a problem. I don't think that he will be a "bad" guy off the field but he's obviously not taking his rehab as serious as he should because you shouldn't need to get 4 surgerys for the same injury.

The Patriots now have a whole receiving core of injury guys in Amendola, Gronk and Hernandez. This has really hurt the Patriots in the past years and will continue to. If I were a Patriots fan, I would be really concerned about how this team is going to stay healthy.

I Would Not Miss Brandon Lloyd

74 catches, 911 yards. 74 catches, 911 yards. 74 catches, 911 yards. All week, whenever Brandon Lloyd has been discussed, these figures were repeated. Over. And over. And over.

I'm not impressed. Not at all.

On the surface 74 catches and 911 yards seems productive. Especially compared to what Chad Ochocinco gave the Pats in 2011. However, other numbers tell a different story about Brandon Lloyd's season. He was soft, unreliable, and not explosive at all. Numbers prove it.

Before I delve into those numbers, how many catches and yards would Lloyd have had if Hernandez, Gronkowski, and Edelman been healthy all season? I'd say 55 catches and 650 yards would be fair. So that 74-911 is partially due to Brady's other options missing time.

Brandon Lloyd was 2nd on this team with 74 receptions. But was 5th in Yards After the Catch (YAC). With only 180 YAC from 74 receptions, that works out to be an average of 2.43 yards after the catch per reception. That's abysmal. Especially for a so-called "outside the numbers" receiver. Lloyd fell to the ground quickly and skedaddled out of bounds at the first sign of trouble. He was soft.

As a team, the Patriots had over 2,000 total YAC. Lloyd's contribution to that was a measly 8.9%. Lloyd's 2.43 YAC per Reception was the worst among Patriots with 20+ catches. Danny Woodhead was the best in that category with 6.55, followed by Julian Edelman at 6.48, then Rob Gronkowski at 5.55, Wes Welker at 5.25, and Aaron Hernandez at 3.82. All but Hernandez doubled Lloyd's production after the catch.

Another stat demonstrates Lloyd's inconsistency and unreliability. All season long, he made absurdly difficult catches, but struggled with the easy ones. He was targeted 130 times (only Welker was targeted more at 174) and managed to catch the ball 74 times. That's 56.9%. And that's for a guy who spends most of his time on the outside, not in the clustered middle of the field. 56 times this season, Brady threw the ball in his direction and Lloyd didn't catch it.

Welker caught 67.8% of his targets, Gronkowski 70%, Hernandez 61%, Woodhead 73%, Edelman 66%. Whenever Lloyd was on the field, he was Brady's least reliable target.

Lloyd was inconsistent from play to play, and was also inconsistent from week to week. He only had four games with 80+ yards. And only eight games with 50+ yards.

Finally, Lloyd was not explosive at all. He had 10 catches of 20 yards or more. So 64 of his receptions were for 19 or less. In the NFL last season, 55 players had 10+ catches of 20+ yards, so his 10 aren't stunning (especially considering his 130 targets). Lloyd only had 2 catches of 30+ yards. He averaged 12.3 yards per catch, which was a career low.

He did catch 50 first downs, which was 2nd only behind Welker's 74. Then again, the Pats had 256 receiving first downs, so his contribution was less than a fifth. And the Patriots ran for 151 more first downs (407 total), so his contribution is more like an eighth (12.3%).

I'm not arguing that Lloyd is a problem and needs to go. He was kind of productive, in his own way. But, he was also soft, limited, not explosive, inconsistent, unreliable.

Replacing Lloyd's 74 catches and 911 receptions might prove difficult. But getting more meaningful production from someone else won't be hard at all.

-The Captain

Gronk Had Surgery On Arm

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski underwent surgery last week for an infection in the same forearm that he broke on multiple occasions this past season, league sources told ESPN.

If I were a Patriots fan I would be extremely concerned about Rob Gronkowski and his future with the New England Patriots for a couple reasons. Before being drafted by the Patriots he always had injury concerns surrounding him and his back, and now after the second year of signing an 8 year, 55 million dollar contract hasn't been healthy at the end of 2 consecutive seasons and should be carrying the injury prone tag. The second thing about him is the lack of responsibility, the "Patriot way" is the biggest crock of shit when it comes to Gronk, he does stupid shit and puts his body at risk in very public events. When the Patriots lost to the Giants during the Superbowl he was seen jumping around on his hurt ankle at some type of after party, and a couple weeks ago he was seen wrestling with his brothers on the stage of something with a broken arm. Now we find out something went wrong with his arm and now needs surgery to clean out an infection.

Gronk probably needs to go away for the rest of this offseason and just focus on football (or at least don't go out in public places). The Patriots are constantly going to be right there in the hunt for a superbowl, and if they are going to win one, they need him to be healthy.

Basically Bill Belichick and Gronk Want To Blow Kobe Back to Back

"I'm sitting there on the bench, just beside myself, burning with frustration, and I look over and Bill Belichick is walking toward me," Kobe recalled. "I had never met him. Never spoken to him. He had courtside seats across from our bench, and with 20 seconds left in the game, he came over and said, 'Don't you worry about this. I know what you are going through. We just lost a tough one ourselves [to the New York Giants in Super Bowl XLII]. Just bounce back. Be ready next year.'

"He didn't have to say that. The clock was winding down, we were getting ready to walk off. I thought it was really cool. Respect across our professions."

Since then, Belichick and Bryant habitually have talked shop when Kobe comes to Boston. Last season, Belichick visited the Lakers' locker room and shared some pearls of coaching wisdom.

"He talked to me about how he coaches the game, how he minimizes mistakes, the value of a possession," Kobe reported. "Very interesting topics."

In spite of his newfound respect for the HC of the New England Patriots, Kobe said he hasn't switched pro football allegiances.

"No, I'm an Eagles fan, for better or for worse," he said. "I"ve got my fingers crossed that this Chip Kelly dude will work out."

Asked if Belichick would be visiting with him on Thursday, Bryant answered, "I'm hoping Gronk will be there. I like him. He seems to perform at a high level every time out. Last time we were in town we talked for a little bit. He was a fun guy.

"Everyone is so worked up about what he did [in Vegas]. It's funny. If there were camera phones back in the day, the biggest athletes in the world would have had a lot of explaining to do." ESPN

I thought I heard it all but Belichick wanting to blow Kobe every chance he has, has to be one of the biggest slaps in the face to Boston. Visiting the Lakers locker room and giving them words of advice? What the fuck is that about! Jesus talk about having no respect for a city that loves you. The Lakers throughout history have been the Celtics biggest rivalry and hearing about how Bill has a secret crush on Kobe and how Gronk double teams Vanessa is outrageous. I guess this is what happens with people who are similar to each other, Kobe is a dick and cheats on his wife, Belichick is a dick and cheats the game of football.

In my eyes this is way worse than Johnny Damon going to the Yankees or Judas going to play with the Queen in South Beach.

Time For Gronk To Grow Up?

So there is another video of Gronk dancing shirtless, and preforming wrestling moves. This of course is causing a bunch of people to tell him to grow up, and that the Patriots should be worried.

I get where those concerns are coming from, but honestly he really hasn't done anything wrong. If we found out he injured the arm because of it, or if this was before a big game then I would agree, but he is a young guy having fun, during the offseason. Honestly I really don't care.

I am sure the Patriots aren't pumped about this, but as far as I can tell this hasn't affected him at all, and I think it's a non issue till it does.

Sorry I can't put up the video at work, but if you Google you can find it easily.