Rob Gronkowski practices, but will he play Sunday?
Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to practice Thursday, working on a limited basis and, by some accounts, looking like his old self less than two weeks after suffering a right knee injury against the Denver Broncos.
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Stop us if you’ve heard this before. In 2013, with Gronk recovering from an arm injury, analyst Troy Aikman relayed a story in which Tom Brady said Gronk was the “best’’ player on the practice field, despite Gronkowski being unavailable for games. That report led to speculation that Gronkowski would be playing, or even should be playing, when he wasn’t.
After Gronkowski hurt himself a couple of weeks ago against Denver, the Patriots took the unpredecented step of sending a press release updating Gronk’s status. The release said, in part, that there was no timetable for Gronk’s return. Given the controversy surrounding Gronk’s previous injury history, the statement, which was released jointly with Gronkowski’s family, could be seen as a response to several tweets that suggested Gronkowski would only miss a week or two.
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Which brings us to Sunday, and the Texans. We’ll know more about Gronk’s injury status when the Patriots release their injury report Friday afternoon. For now, Thursday’s practice session is an encouraging sign that he’s on the mend.
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