Rob Gronkowski missed practice Thursday, and now we know why.
According to Mike Reiss and Adam Schefter of ESPN.com, the New England Patriots tight end was at a local Boston hospital receiving an injection in his knee, and it’s not a guarantee he’ll play Saturday.
“The Patriots believe Gronkowski will play in Saturday’s divisional-round playoff game against the visiting Kansas City Chiefs, but will ultimately need to see how Gronkowski feels on game day.”
Gronkowski is one of the biggest offensive weapons in the entire NFL, let alone for the Patriots. He caught 72 passes for 1,176 yards and 11 touchdowns this year and is almost unstoppable when healthy.
However, he’s been far from healthy ever since Week 12 when he took a shot to the knee during the game against the Denver Broncos. He re-aggravated the injury in Week 15 and hasn’t been the same since.
If Gronkowski is unable to make it work Saturday when the Patriots host the Kansas City Chiefs, then Tom Brady will have to pull a rabbit out of a hat to make his offense work against the nasty defense coming his way.