< Back to front page Text size – +

Gronk: 'It's a good thing when I black out'

Print | Comments () Posted by Albert Breer September 3, 2010 11:17 AM

Tweet
E-mail

Last week, Patriots quarterback Tom Brady said during his weekly radio appearance that he's looking forward to see his mammoth rookie tight end, Rob Gronkowski, start making big plays when the games count. And not just because it'll help the team win.

See, Gronkowski, as Brady put it, "tells us after he makes big plays he kind of blacks out and really doesn't know what he does." Last night, after scoring another touchdown (his fourth in his last three preseason games), the big man explained.

"I told him sometimes, on a big play, I just don’t know what happens," Gronkowski said. "You just make a play and sometimes it happens, sometimes it doesn’t. The very first touchdown I had in the preseason, I did. I just knew I scored. I didn’t know what happened."

So he shouldn't be held responsible for an over-the-top celebration, should he score against Cincinnati next week. "That's true," he said, laughing. "Yeah."

On a more serious note, Gronkowski does seem to be happy with where he's at right now. Remember, he hasn't played a lot of football, of any sort, since 2008, having missed his final year at Arizona with a back injury. So he's happy to see his hard work and determination paying dividends.

"I feel a lot more comfortable," he said. "When I first got here, I mean, my head was spinning everywhere. I gotta say that going into camp with the team and having all the preseason games, practices, of course I feel a lot more comfortable.

"But there’s always that point, you’re never 100 percent comfortable. So this week of practice, I’m gonna go out there, working hard and trying to get 100 percent comfortable when it comes to the game."

Mentioned to him that last week he and fellow rookie Aaron Hernandez, who'd been held out of practice, stayed late to get extra work in with Tom Brady.

It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out why he'd do that. But it is clear that he's considers building a rapport with No. 12 important.

"You need a good relationship and chemistry with the quarterback," Brady said. "I feel like I need to feel out the quarterback throwing the ball, and of course the quarterback needs to feel out how I run my routes with my type of speed. That’s where it comes to practice.

"We gotta be out there practicing hard and we have about a week-and-a-half to go to do that."

And should it pay off against the Bengals, well, maybe some of that form of "time travel" hits Gronkowski again.

"Yeah, possibly," he said. "But I like it. It’s a good thing when I black out."