During his Wednesday press conference, Patriots coach Bill Belichick was asked how tight end Rob Gronkowski looks this week.
“We haven’t practiced today. We’ve just been sitting in meetings; he looked great sitting in the meeting,” Belichick said.
When Gronkowski met with the media later in the day, his thoughts on how he looked in the meeting was not a topic for discussion. How he was feeling was a much bigger issue and Ben Volin of the Boston Globe reports that Gronkowski said he has progressed “big time” and that his condition has improved “significantly since last week.”
There won’t be any specific idea about Gronkowski’s chances of playing until later in the week when the Patriots submit their final injury report for the game against the Buccaneers. PFT reported Tuesday that Gronkowski was closer to doubtful than questionable for the week, which is slightly less optimistic than Ed Werder of ESPN’s report that Gronkowski’s chances of playing are at 50-50 right now.
The Patriots have obviously missed Gronkowski in the first two weeks, which is all the more reason to be sure he’s ready to play because any step backward would likely keep him out for a much bigger chunk of the season than anyone would like.