Week Six has arrived for the Patriots, and the verdict has arrived for tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Per a league source, Dr. James Andrews has recommended that Gronkowski not play.
Earlier in the week, Gronkowski was optimistic that he’d get clearance. The failure to get medical permission to return to action with a forearm that was broken twice and invaded in the offseason by infection through six weeks of the regular season raises an obvious question -- when will clearance come?
Gronkowski will miss the minimum number of games he would have missed if he has remained on the physically unable to perform list. However, he has been able to practice during the past six weeks, and New England’s opponents have been forced to prepare to face him.
Still, as Tom Curran of CSN New England explained during Friday’s PFT Live, the lingering inconsistency between Gronkowski being able to practice but not play is creating frustration for his teammates. Curran believes that one of the frustrated teammates is the one responsible for throwing the football to Gronkowski and other receivers.
The Patriots have three more games until their bye week -- at the Jets, and at home against the Dolphins and Steelers.