On the final play of Super Bowl XLVI, Tom Brady’s Hail Mary pass reached the end zone, where Aaron Hernandez had a chance at catching it cleanly, and Rob Gronkowski nearly grabbed it off the deflection.
Gronkowski told NBC’s Alex Flanagan after the game that they had a chance of making the play, but having a chance doesn’t mean anything.
“It was just a jump ball,” Gronkowski said. “Aaron did a good job going up there and we almost had it, but almost isn’t enough.”
Gronkowski wasn’t at 100 percent after suffering an ankle sprain in the AFC Championship Game, but when asked about his ankle, Gronkowski said, “no excuses.”
Another close play in addition to that Hail Mary was Tom Brady’s interception on a pass intended for Gronkowski, a play when Gronkowski got open behind Chase Blackburn but couldn’t come back for the ball when Brady underthrew it. Gronkowski didn’t blame his inability to get back to the ball on his ankle, but he did seem to blame himself for not reaching the ball.
“It was just a deep ball, I’ve got to get up there and deflect it out of the way,” Gronkowski said. “The linebacker made a nice play.”
Gronkowski said he’s going to have a difficult time getting over this one.
“It’s really hard,” Gronkowski said. “We went through so much together as a team, we’re all there for each other as a team, we all fight for each other. It just didn’t end the way we wanted it to, but we all worked hard, we all dedicated ourselves all season long. It just didn’t happen at the end.”