Morning sports update: Bill Belichick had more to say about Rob Gronkowski’s humorous pre-draft visit in 2010
"Sometimes the first impression is not always the best one."
Today, the Bruins return to action at home against the Kings at 7 p.m.
Tomorrow, the Celtics face the Mavericks in Dallas at 9:30 p.m.
And the Patriots will play a rare Saturday game when the Bills arrive at Gillette Stadium (4:30 p.m.) for an AFC East divisional showdown.
Bill Belichick had more to say about Rob Gronkowski: During the NFL 100 All-Time Team presentation, Bill Belichick — who has been a fixture on the show — told a humorous anecdote about Rob Gronkowski, who was selected as one of the tight ends.
The now-retired Patriot apparently didn’t make a strong impression during his pre-draft workout with the team in 2010.
“Rob was kind of a shot in the dark,” Belichick explained. “He came up on his pre-draft visit, had a bad visit. We put him in a room, came back and he was asleep on the floor.”
Bill Belichick tells the story of how the @Patriots drafted @RobGronkowski, with an interesting pre-draft visit 😂#NFL100 pic.twitter.com/dC8JMDh2BL
— NFL (@NFL) December 14, 2019
On Monday, Belichick offered a little more on Gronkowski’s pre-draft visit with the team during a weekly interview on WEEI’s “Ordway, Merloni, & Fauria.”
“It wasn’t a great visit,” Belichick admitted. “Look, you know how it is traveling around cross-country going from one team to another, getting MRIs and back x-rays, or whatever. I am sure it got to him. The energy that Rob has as a football player is I would say at a very high level. Maybe not a [Tedy] Bruschi, but it is up there. It’s pretty high and we didn’t see it.”
Of course, Gronkowski more than delivered as a draft pick. He totaled 79 touchdowns in his career, and was named a First Team All-Pro four times.
“But in the end once we got him here and once he got in the field, Rob was great,” Belichick said. “He was great. He had a great career here, but he was a great teammate. Everybody loved him — not because of his war dance and all that, but just the way he competed and the type of teammate he was.”
“Sometimes the first impression is not always the best one,” Belichick joked. “Fortunately in that case what we got on the visit wasn’t exactly what the player was, and that probably was a good thing.”
Trivia: Stephon Gilmore has six interceptions so far in the 2019 season. It’s the most by a Patriots player in a season since 2011, when another New England cornerback tallied seven. Who was that player?
(Answer at the bottom).
Hint: He went to Hofstra.
More from Boston.com:
- Josh Gordon was suspended indefinitely again
- Robert Williams diagnosed with bone edema in left hip
- Tom Brady discussed his changing role with Best Buddies International
- N’Keal Harry talked about finding his ‘groove’ against the Bengals
- New Boston College football coach Jeff Hafley: ‘We’re going to play tough’
- Tom Brady on the AFC East, Stephon Gilmore’s place in history, and his reaction to the videotaping controversy
- Julian Edelman didn’t want to make any excuses for his underwhelming performance Sunday
The Revolution produced a Home Alone parody for the team’s new training facility
:
https://twitter.com/nerevolution/status/1206740796394889216
Bill Belichick explains some of the Patriots’ big plays from Sunday’s win:
https://twitter.com/Patriots/status/1206748092562731008
“I’m very busy. I don’t have time to keep doing these videos for you, congratulating you”:
Reminder: Peyton Manning already congratulated Drew Brees on the TD record last year 😂 pic.twitter.com/VScOVXeRNl
— New Orleans Saints (@Saints) December 17, 2019
On this day: In 1933, the Chicago Bears and New York Giants met in the first NFL Championship Game. The Bears won, 23-21, but the ultimate winner was the NFL itself. Decades before the first Super Bowl, the game represented a major step forward for professional football.
Hall of Fame coaches George Halas (Chicago) and Steve Owen (New York) presided over a thrilling back-and-forth championship in which there were six lead changes. Possibly the most relevant development for fans looking back on the game was the usage of the forward pass.
Prior to the 1933 season, the NFL legalized the forward pass from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage. This helped to cultivate more offense in the game. And the ’33 championship was a primetime showcase.
In front of 30,000 fans at Wrigley Field, the Giants and Bears directed what the Associated Press called a “sensational shower of forward passes.” There were also trick plays, including Giants center Mel Hein hiding the ball under his jersey and running downfield.
The Bears took a late lead thanks to a 19-yard touchdown spurred by a lateral made by receiver Bill Hewitt to teammate Bill Karr. A last-second Giants drive fell short, and Chicago were the first winners of the league’s championship game.
The New York Daily News called it “undoubtedly the greatest game of football ever played,” and decades later, it’s clear that the NFL was vindicated for its rule change regarding the forward pass.
Daily highlight: Jordan Kyrou with the wrap around goal.
The wrap heard round the world from @JordanKyrou. pic.twitter.com/PSvMbVPLcF
— NHL (@NHL) December 17, 2019
Trivia answer: Kyle Arrington
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