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THE ROCKPILE REVIEW - Get the Job Done, Keep Learning


Shaw66

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The Bills put away the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, 37-20, sweeping the season series and taking another step toward the playoffs.  Several big steps remain ahead of them.

 

Wins over the 2019 Dolphins, of course, are not the measure of a playoff caliber team.  The Dolphins don’t score many points and they give up a lot (second last in the league in both categories).  In fact, most of the games the Bills have played this season have been against teams in the bottom half of the league in both points scored and points allowed, and that’s one reason why the Bills have for weeks been number 3 in the league in both categories.  But as many people keep saying, all you can do is play the games on your schedule.  It’s a one-game-at-a-time league: prepare for this week’s opponent, win, and move on.

 

The game wasn’t as close as the first go-round with the Dolphins in Buffalo.  The Bills took the lead early and never gave it up, scoring in every quarter.  It was one of the most consistently effective offensive performances of the season for the Bills.  Particularly satisfying was that the Bills shook off their usual third-quarter stumbling.  The Dolphins opened the quarter with the ball, trailing by 9.  The Bills stopped them on six plays, and then the Bills went on their own nine-play TD drive to widen the lead.  The Bills coasted to the victory from there.   The TV announcers made a big deal out of the fact that the defensive stop was aided by a questionable holding call against the Dolphins, but they ignored the fact that the Bills actually had just forced a three-and-out but for an even more questionable spot on third down. 

 

The game is best seen as another step in a process, a multi-year process to build a consistent winner.   There was plenty of room for improvement.   The Bills’ first two offensive drives, and three of their first four, stalled.  The Bills settled for field goals, leaving the score much closer early in the game than it should have been.  When the Dolphins scored to make it 16-7, the Bills compounded their early inability to find the end zone by being totally surprised by the Dolphins’ onside kick.  The Bills were saved from that gaffe when the Dolphins turned the ball over on an unforced fumble, and the Bills took control again with another touchdown to go up 23-7.   That comfortable lead was short-lived, as the Bills immediately coughed up a 101-yard kickoff return. 

 

The first-half problems on special teams demonstrated, again, that the Bills are not fundamentally sound in all aspects of the game.  A fundamentally sound team is prepared for everything, and the Bills were unprepared for both the onside kick and the kickoff return.  Every week the Bills make some big mistakes, and every week Sean McDermott says they have some mistakes to clean up.  The process is supposed to correct the problems and assure that the mistakes don’t recur.  All teams, including fundamentally sound teams, get beat on one play or another occasionally, but it doesn’t happen week after week to the best teams.   It seems to happen week after week to McDermott’s Bills, and that is one of his on-going coaching challenges.

There were other issues with the Bills on Sunday, but there were a lot more positives than negatives.

 

1.  Josh Allen once again showed the kind of quarterback he can be, even if he isn’t yet that quarterback as consistently as he needs to be. Sunday he took another step in the process.  He threw the ball effectively, including no really bad decisions, and he stung the Dolphins with a 36-yard option run.  Most impressive, perhaps, was his control of the team on the field.  Allen was in charge throughout, running the huddle efficiently, directing and redirecting teammates to the proper position in the formations.  He understood what he was looking at and he executed against it.   His command on the field was noticeably different from a week ago in Cleveland.   Does it mean he’s now a master field general?  No.  Miami’s defense isn’t Cleveland’s, let alone New England’s.   But it means he’s learning and he has the ability to do what the job demands.   It was an excellent outing for him.  

 

The best quick measure of how a quarterback is doing is the passer rating; the best quarterbacks usually have the best passer ratings.  Last season, Allen’s passer rating was below EJ Manuel’s rookie year.  I said coming into this season (as I said about Manuel as he entered his second season) that Allen needs to make a comfortable improvement in his passer rating, to get someplace around 15th to 20th in the league, and then he needs to improve beyond that.  Manuel improved, but not enough.  Ten games into the season, Allen’s almost doing it.  His rating is 85.4, ten points higher than last season and 23rd in the league.  85 used to get QBs into the top 20, but as the passing game around the NFL continues to improve, 90 seems to be the new 85, so Allen still has a way to go.  Allen had only two games over 100 in his rookie season; he’s already had four this season, once again demonstrating that he can be the effective QB the Bills have been looking for.   Whether he can stay at, let alone improve on, 85 is an open question, as he faces winter weather and some tough opponents in the coming weeks.

 

2.  John Brown isn’t the best receiver in the league, but his game is sweet to watch.  He runs so effortlessly, with speed and quickness.   He’s sure handed.  He fights for the ball and to break up potential interceptions.   It was nice to see him have the kind of day he had against the Dolphins.

 

3.  It was nice, too, to see the Bills return to attacking over the middle in the passing game.  Allen throws those short and intermediate balls over the middle really well, and Brown, Beasley and Knox all are good at the crossing patterns attacking that space.  

 

4.  Edmunds seems to be becoming the special play maker that made him a first-round pick.   Edmunds and Milano together are becoming a formidable tandem.   Edmunds reads and attacks, especially in the passing game.  His break up of the pass to Gesicki on 4th and 16 was spectacular, running with the tight end down field and then finding and making a play on the ball.  He’s a serious problem for quarterbacks in the middle of the defense.

 

5.  Singletary.  Nothing much to say, except nice job, don’t fumble. 

 

6.  Ryan Fitzpatrick had another solid outing, but the Bills wouldn’t let him find the end zone.  Talk about in control on the field; Fitzpatrick lets nothing bother him.  He seems to understand everything that’s going on out there.  Fitz’s body just can’t quite deliver what his brain can see.  He must look at Allen’s arm and running ability and just wonder what he could have accomplished with that kind of physical talent. 

 

7.  My wife insists that watching games at the Harp in Boston is better than watching live at New Era Field.  I won’t go that far, but the Bills Backers in Boston throw a great party at the Harp.  The place was packed and raucous, as it almost always is.  The beer was flowing, the food was good, and we all had a good time singing the shout song, over and over.  Great afternoon.

 

8.  The Bills defense is good, but all you needed to see to understand how much room they have to improve was to watch the Patriots throttle the Eagles, the same team that ran the Bills out of the stadium a few weeks ago.  The Pats pass defense looks like they have 14 guys playing back there.   Receivers rarely seem to get open, and when they do, they are tackled immediately.  The Pats defense is unspectacular, in the sense that they don’t have a Watt or a Mack or a Clowney, but it is so fundamentally sound, so full of guys who just execute, that it is stifling   That’s McDermott’s goal, but the Bills aren’t there yet.

 

9.  One thing the Patriots do, and it’s something we saw more of from the Bills against the Dolphins, is blitz.   The Patriots don’t get great pressure from their front four, and the Bills don’t either.  The Patriots aren’t afraid to send an extra rusher, and they benefit a lot from doing that.  They benefit in two ways:  (1) they get better pressure and (2) they create a lot of uncertainty for the QB and the O line, because they know the Pats may very well send an extra rusher or two, but they don’t know who’s coming.   We saw the effectiveness of that approach by the Bills yesterday.  The Bills kept Fitzpatrick off balance with an array of blitzes, coming at different times from different rushers.  They didn’t always get home, but they created enough uncertainty and enough pressure to force the ball out quickly.  I expect the Bills will stick with this approach, especially because Milano and Edmunds have the talent to cover a lot of ground in the defensive backfield when the Bills send an extra rusher. 

 

There are some tough games down the road, but it’s one game at a time.  The Broncos will be a test, even though they are another team in the bottom half of the league in scoring.   Their defense is stingy, and to win the Bills will need a quality performance from Allen.  He’s still young and has a lot to learn, but it would be great to see him deliver a quality win when the Bills need it. 

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

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7 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

In fact, most of the games the Bills have played this season have been against teams in the bottom half of the league in both points scored and points allowed, and that’s one reason why the Bills have for weeks been number 3 in the league in both categories.  But as many people keep saying, all you can do is play the games on your schedule.  It’s a one-game-at-a-time league: prepare for this week’s opponent, win, and move on.

 

I love how some detractors/whiners trash the Bills as pretenders who haven't beaten anyone, yet the Patriots (who have largely played the same opponents) are the greatest.

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7 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

The Bills put away the Miami Dolphins on Sunday, 37-20, sweeping the season series and taking another step toward the playoffs.  Several big steps remain ahead of them.

 

Wins over the 2019 Dolphins, of course, are not the measure of a playoff caliber team.  The Dolphins don’t score many points and they give up a lot (second last in the league in both categories).  In fact, most of the games the Bills have played this season have been against teams in the bottom half of the league in both points scored and points allowed, and that’s one reason why the Bills have for weeks been number 3 in the league in both categories.  But as many people keep saying, all you can do is play the games on your schedule.  It’s a one-game-at-a-time league: prepare for this week’s opponent, win, and move on.

 

The game wasn’t as close as the first go-round with the Dolphins in Buffalo.  The Bills took the lead early and never gave it up, scoring in every quarter.  It was one of the most consistently effective offensive performances of the season for the Bills.  Particularly satisfying was that the Bills shook off their usual third-quarter stumbling.  The Dolphins opened the quarter with the ball, trailing by 9.  The Bills stopped them on six plays, and then the Bills went on their own nine-play TD drive to widen the lead.  The Bills coasted to the victory from there.   The TV announcers made a big deal out of the fact that the defensive stop was aided by a questionable holding call against the Dolphins, but they ignored the fact that the Bills actually had just forced a three-and-out but for an even more questionable spot on third down. 

 

The game is best seen as another step in a process, a multi-year process to build a consistent winner.   There was plenty of room for improvement.   The Bills’ first two offensive drives, and three of their first four, stalled.  The Bills settled for field goals, leaving the score much closer early in the game than it should have been.  When the Dolphins scored to make it 16-7, the Bills compounded their early inability to find the end zone by being totally surprised by the Dolphins’ onside kick.  The Bills were saved from that gaffe when the Dolphins turned the ball over on an unforced fumble, and the Bills took control again with another touchdown to go up 23-7.   That comfortable lead was short-lived, as the Bills immediately coughed up a 101-yard kickoff return. 

 

The first-half problems on special teams demonstrated, again, that the Bills are not fundamentally sound in all aspects of the game.  A fundamentally sound team is prepared for everything, and the Bills were unprepared for both the onside kick and the kickoff return.  Every week the Bills make some big mistakes, and every week Sean McDermott says they have some mistakes to clean up.  The process is supposed to correct the problems and assure that the mistakes don’t recur.  All teams, including fundamentally sound teams, get beat on one play or another occasionally, but it doesn’t happen week after week to the best teams.   It seems to happen week after week to McDermott’s Bills, and that is one of his on-going coaching challenges.

There were other issues with the Bills on Sunday, but there were a lot more positives than negatives.

 

1.  Josh Allen once again showed the kind of quarterback he can be, even if he isn’t yet that quarterback as consistently as he needs to be. Sunday he took another step in the process.  He threw the ball effectively, including no really bad decisions, and he stung the Dolphins with a 36-yard option run.  Most impressive, perhaps, was his control of the team on the field.  Allen was in charge throughout, running the huddle efficiently, directing and redirecting teammates to the proper position in the formations.  He understood what he was looking at and he executed against it.   His command on the field was noticeably different from a week ago in Cleveland.   Does it mean he’s now a master field general?  No.  Miami’s defense isn’t Cleveland’s, let alone New England’s.   But it means he’s learning and he has the ability to do what the job demands.   It was an excellent outing for him.  

 

The best quick measure of how a quarterback is doing is the passer rating; the best quarterbacks usually have the best passer ratings.  Last season, Allen’s passer rating was below EJ Manuel’s rookie year.  I said coming into this season (as I said about Manuel as he entered his second season) that Allen needs to make a comfortable improvement in his passer rating, to get someplace around 15th to 20th in the league, and then he needs to improve beyond that.  Manuel improved, but not enough.  Ten games into the season, Allen’s almost doing it.  His rating is 85.4, ten points higher than last season and 23rd in the league.  85 used to get QBs into the top 20, but as the passing game around the NFL continues to improve, 90 seems to be the new 85, so Allen still has a way to go.  Allen had only two games over 100 in his rookie season; he’s already had four this season, once again demonstrating that he can be the effective QB the Bills have been looking for.   Whether he can stay at, let alone improve on, 85 is an open question, as he faces winter weather and some tough opponents in the coming weeks.

 

2.  John Brown isn’t the best receiver in the league, but his game is sweet to watch.  He runs so effortlessly, with speed and quickness.   He’s sure handed.  He fights for the ball and to break up potential interceptions.   It was nice to see him have the kind of day he had against the Dolphins.

 

3.  It was nice, too, to see the Bills return to attacking over the middle in the passing game.  Allen throws those short and intermediate balls over the middle really well, and Brown, Beasley and Knox all are good at the crossing patterns attacking that space.  

 

4.  Edmunds seems to be becoming the special play maker that made him a first-round pick.   Edmunds and Milano together are becoming a formidable tandem.   Edmunds reads and attacks, especially in the passing game.  His break up of the pass to Gesicki on 4th and 16 was spectacular, running with the tight end down field and then finding and making a play on the ball.  He’s a serious problem for quarterbacks in the middle of the defense.

 

5.  Singletary.  Nothing much to say, except nice job, don’t fumble. 

 

6.  Ryan Fitzpatrick had another solid outing, but the Bills wouldn’t let him find the end zone.  Talk about in control on the field; Fitzpatrick lets nothing bother him.  He seems to understand everything that’s going on out there.  Fitz’s body just can’t quite deliver what his brain can see.  He must look at Allen’s arm and running ability and just wonder what he could have accomplished with that kind of physical talent. 

 

7.  My wife insists that watching games at the Harp in Boston is better than watching live at New Era Field.  I won’t go that far, but the Bills Backers in Boston throw a great party at the Harp.  The place was packed and raucous, as it almost always is.  The beer was flowing, the food was good, and we all had a good time singing the shout song, over and over.  Great afternoon.

 

8.  The Bills defense is good, but all you needed to see to understand how much room they have to improve was to watch the Patriots throttle the Eagles, the same team that ran the Bills out of the stadium a few weeks ago.  The Pats pass defense looks like they have 14 guys playing back there.   Receivers rarely seem to get open, and when they do, they are tackled immediately.  The Pats defense is unspectacular, in the sense that they don’t have a Watt or a Mack or a Clowney, but it is so fundamentally sound, so full of guys who just execute, that it is stifling   That’s McDermott’s goal, but the Bills aren’t there yet.

 

9.  One thing the Patriots do, and it’s something we saw more of from the Bills against the Dolphins, is blitz.   The Patriots don’t get great pressure from their front four, and the Bills don’t either.  The Patriots aren’t afraid to send an extra rusher, and they benefit a lot from doing that.  They benefit in two ways:  (1) they get better pressure and (2) they create a lot of uncertainty for the QB and the O line, because they know the Pats may very well send an extra rusher or two, but they don’t know who’s coming.   We saw the effectiveness of that approach by the Bills yesterday.  The Bills kept Fitzpatrick off balance with an array of blitzes, coming at different times from different rushers.  They didn’t always get home, but they created enough uncertainty and enough pressure to force the ball out quickly.  I expect the Bills will stick with this approach, especially because Milano and Edmunds have the talent to cover a lot of ground in the defensive backfield when the Bills send an extra rusher. 

 

There are some tough games down the road, but it’s one game at a time.  The Broncos will be a test, even though they are another team in the bottom half of the league in scoring.   Their defense is stingy, and to win the Bills will need a quality performance from Allen.  He’s still young and has a lot to learn, but it would be great to see him deliver a quality win when the Bills need it. 

 

 

GO BILLS!!!

 

The Rockpile Review is written to share the passion we have for the Buffalo Bills. That passion was born in the Rockpile; its parents were everyday people of western New York who translated their dedication to a full day’s hard work and simple pleasures into love for a pro football team.

 

Regarding the eagles - most of the damage was done with screens and obviously the 200+ on the ground.  Eagles also didn't have Jeffery, and Matthews is a huge downgrade there especially 1x1.  Some of those 0 blitzes don't happen with a guy like Jeffery available in a 1x1 situation.

 

The patriots rush discipline basically took away the screen game and their man cov. helped them get 5 sacks as Wentz is getting forced to hold the ball.  Agholor dropped a chance to tie the game, but it felt like they deserved to lose the game.  They couldn't get the run game going, and couldn't give Wentz the extra time he needed.  

 

Eagles defense played pretty well though - they gave their team a shot and held the patriots under 300 yards of total O, and under 100 on the ground.  

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The onside kick doesn't bother me nearly as much as the KO return for TD. Remember they also essentially gave one up against the Bengals too (if wasn't for a suspect hold call). Give Miami credit for the onside kick - it was a total surprise and they executed it perfectly. Actually, it's probably a good thing it happened (in a way)... for even greater awareness in future games.

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17 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

 

I love how some detractors/whiners trash the Bills as pretenders who haven't beaten anyone, yet the Patriots (who have largely played the same opponents) are the greatest.

 

Their offense is pedestrian right now... only Edelman and scrapheap Watson are keeping them alive... Sanu has dissappeared, Harry is a bust so far, and they can't protect Brady like they used to. I would not be surprised if Gronk did come back.

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17 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

 

I love how some detractors/whiners trash the Bills as pretenders who haven't beaten anyone, yet the Patriots (who have largely played the same opponents) are the greatest.

There is a difference in that one team dominated those same teams. The Bills had to come from behind in most of the same games. 

 

The one question I have is why wait til the Miami game to finally be aggressive with the play calling. The defense blitzed more then they normally do and the offense didn't sit back in the second half.   

 

IMO the Bills need to stay aggressive if they are going to make the playoffs. They play teams with winning records and this season they haven't done well against winning teams yet. 

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7 minutes ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

Their offense is pedestrian right now... only Edelman and scrapheap Watson are keeping them alive... Sanu has dissappeared, Harry is a bust so far, and they can't protect Brady like they used to. I would not be surprised if Gronk did come back.

 

I'm not sure Gronk will come back, at least as a TE. He looks like he's lost a ton of weight since retiring. Maybe as a receiver...

 

That's assuming he's even interested in abusing his body more.

 

7 minutes ago, Jrb1979 said:

IMO the Bills need to stay aggressive if they are going to make the playoffs. They play teams with winning records and this season they haven't done well against winning teams yet. 

 

I hope they stay aggressive; fortune favors the bold.

 

I don't think it will happen, though.

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20 minutes ago, Koko78 said:

 

I'm not sure Gronk will come back, at least as a TE. He looks like he's lost a ton of weight since retiring. Maybe as a receiver...

 

That's assuming he's even interested in abusing his body more.

 

I really hope this doesn't happen. A trimmed down, faster, and well rested Gronk is not what the doctor ordered for Buffalo,

 

and anyone else for that matter...(not named Patriots)

 

...unless...

 

...hmmmm... 

 

Great review OP , can you imagine Allen throwing to Gronk

 Can Dawson Knox be that guy?

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I liked that the defense is starting to play a lot more aggressively and it flustered Fitzpatrick.  We do have to be careful though, since depending on who you send it could leave Wallace on an island.  He's not been good enough lately to handle that.

 

Knox, John Brown, Cole Beasley, and Devin Singletary should be staples for Josh.  Those are your playmakers who should be getting the vast majority of the touches.  Keep letting Josh be Josh as a QB and look to get the ball to those four.

 

No attention to special teams, which have basically sucked the entire season?  Not sure how Heath Farwell still has a job.

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47 minutes ago, Shaw66 said:

The TV announcers made a big deal out of the fact that the defensive stop was aided by a questionable holding call against the Dolphins, but they ignored the fact that the Bills actually had just forced a three-and-out but for an even more questionable spot on third down. 

 

Ding.

Drove me nuts when they talked about the "big swing" that play was.

I do agree - it looked more like a nice pancake block than a hold, and they do seem to be calling those holds now for some reason. But it's moot, because they should have been punting on that play anyway.

 

Kind of like if you're driving without a license and someone hits your car. They might have hit you, but in the courts you're not going to win because you shouldn't have been there in the first place.

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To your points 8 & 9 on the PAts and D, the reason they can do both of those is they have probably the best secondary in the NFL including the much maligned (by Bills fnas) Stephon Gilmore.  The PAts are very content to go man on man almost all the time, that allows them the flexibility to blitz whenever they want to.  They also play a lot of cover zero and that is why,to your point "looks like they have 14 guys playing back there" is because they have so many guys on the line, you never knew where the rushers (blitz) is coming from. Or they can drop many back if they want to, T=that is how Sam Darnold that he was "seeing ghosts".

 

All those possibilities open up because they can leave the DBs  on islands freeing up so  many other defenders. 

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Earn while they learn, what a deal.  No team is the same in January as they were in September and this team has a chance to really make something of themselves in 2019.  Back in August the depth of the roster and the quality of the coaching showed in a 4-0 preseason and the Bills took advantage of their strange schedule to get to this point and are gearing up to face a tough finishing stretch.  As Van used to say, "Buckle your seatbelts!" Bills fans.  

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25 minutes ago, RoyBatty is alive said:

To your points 8 & 9 on the PAts and D, the reason they can do both of those is they have probably the best secondary in the NFL including the much maligned (by Bills fnas) Stephon Gilmore.  The PAts are very content to go man on man almost all the time, that allows them the flexibility to blitz whenever they want to.  They also play a lot of cover zero and that is why,to your point "looks like they have 14 guys playing back there" is because they have so many guys on the line, you never knew where the rushers (blitz) is coming from. Or they can drop many back if they want to, T=that is how Sam Darnold that he was "seeing ghosts".

 

All those possibilities open up because they can leave the DBs  on islands freeing up so  many other defenders. 

The Pats have one of the best secondaries in the league for 10 years, even though the personnel keeps turning over.  They don't have a bunch of Pro Bowl players back there, other than Gilmore.  What they do is find, train and keep good athletes in a very disciplined system.  I don't think the Bills are too far from being there.  The Bills secondary plays a pretty sophisticated game based on communication, knowledge and understanding.  

7 minutes ago, JESSEFEFFER said:

Earn while they learn, what a deal.  No team is the same in January as they were in September and this team has a chance to really make something of themselves in 2019.  Back in August the depth of the roster and the quality of the coaching showed in a 4-0 preseason and the Bills took advantage of their strange schedule to get to this point and are gearing up to face a tough finishing stretch.  As Van used to say, "Buckle your seatbelts!" Bills fans.  

I'm afraid the Bills are a little short of talent to make much of a splash in January, but I agree with you that it's possible.  As always, Allen is the real key.  If Allen stsarts stringing together 100+ passer rating games, the Bills could be a tough out. 

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4 hours ago, Koko78 said:

 

 

I love how some detractors/whiners trash the Bills as pretenders who haven't beaten anyone, yet the Patriots (who have largely played the same opponents) are the greatest.


Pedigree my friend.

 

It’s as simple as that.

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23 hours ago, Koko78 said:

 

I'm not sure Gronk will come back, at least as a TE. He looks like he's lost a ton of weight since retiring. Maybe as a receiver...

 

That's assuming he's even interested in abusing his body more.

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures was my point... and the Patriots are desperate at this point.

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7 minutes ago, EasternOHBillsFan said:

 

Desperate times call for desperate measures was my point... and the Patriots are desperate at this point.

 

The question isn't how desperate the Cheatriots are to bring him out of retirement; the question is how desperate Gronk is to want to come back.

 

He may not be interested in taking any more beatings.

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