It’s safe to say that Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski’s announcement that he’s playing against the Dolphins this week didn’t come with the approval of coach Bill Belichick.
For one thing, Belichick feels the same way about sharing information about his football team as certain celebrities feel about having their intimate photos pulled out of the cloud and shared across the globe. For another, Belichick says that no decision has been made about whether or not Gronkowski will be on the field.
“I’m glad that Rob’s optimistic about this situation,” Belichick said, via CSNNE.com. “We’ll go through the week of practice and take a look at everything, everybody, and see where everybody’s at and try to do what we feel like is best for the team. With all due respect to Rob -- I’m glad he feels the way he does -- but, in the end, we’ll have to make the decision we feel like is best for the team and we’ll do that as we go through the week.”
Belichick may be telling the truth or, given the previously mentioned distaste for sharing information, he may know exactly what the Patriots plan to do this Sunday. Either way, the Dolphins aren’t likely to get a clear idea of the team’s plans until much closer to kickoff so they’ll have to be prepared for all eventualities.