It’s with a heavy heart that I write today that Robert James Gronkowski has retired from the NFL.

He has been a pivotal part of the time I’ve been watching the New England Patriots. His fun, carefree attitude out with his work ethic and dedication to his craft has been awe inspiring. He’s ran cruise ship boat parties, appeared in Demi Lovato videos and been a general dude around town. I think this was epitomised when Brandin Cooks piggybacked on Gronk’s back in celebration for him to later say in the press conference “We got yelled at we aren’t allowed to talk about celebrations. But I kind of want to talk about it, but I kinda don’t because I will get in trouble. So I don’t know what to do.“

The Man is a sure thing, 1st ballot Hall of Famer and will go down in history as one of the greatest Tight End’s in the history of the sport and definitely the greatest in New England’s history.

His career stats and records are phenomenal and hard to beat so only time will tell how others follow in his footsteps.

In the latter stages he became more of a blocker with his production falling and that ill-fated play in the Miami Miracle could’ve been a legacy tarnished but in the post-season he stepped up in KC AND in the Super Bowl itself. “Thank goodness” I said to myself.Phew! A huge sigh of relief.

Austin Seferian-Jenkins is the next man up with HUGE shoes to fill. Fingers crossed he’s half as good.

Let’s see how the draft plays out also.

(This was originally written on April 10th but forgot to post it)

So… I’ve been shit and not written since week 2 of the regular season. One of my new year resolutions is to write more on this site and here we are at Super Bowl Sunday with my first post of the year. Oh well, I promise myself I’ll get better.

I did start to write before the Colts game but fell asleep and woke up with the game in progress and posting a preview seemed silly. Anyways, on to the BIG GAME!!!!

I thought before the AFC Championships game that if we got past the Chiefs, we’d win the Super Bowl. Going in to Arrowhead I felt that it was a difficult, hostile place to go and the toughest challenge of the season. The hostility was there but in comparison to the Super Dome in New Orleans it lacked a bit of punch. I think that was down to Arrowhead being an open top bowl shape and the noise going up into the ether. We won the game and here we are, so why the nervousness?! To me the game against Kansas City was very dominant and one sided until the fourth quarter when Andy Reid and his Chiefs finally adjusted and started making plays. Let’s hope that if something similar happens in Atlanta, the Patriots are out of sight by 25 points to nullify anything that’s done towards the end of the game.

My main concern comes from the Rams RPO and screen plays very similar to what Philadelphia did last year. I remember screaming at my TV as Corey Clement came off the edge a few times to little or no coverage and picked up big yards. This is what Gurley will be used for this weekend. We saw it against the Saints but he was off form that night and dropped a couple of passes. The other fear is the soft zone coverage that’s built in to the Rams playbook. Goff will look for the crossing routes between the lines to Cooks or Woods who then switch on the afterburners as they race away from the linebackers. Cooks is an obvious outside threat with his speed but I think he’ll be used more horizontally and Reynolds could be the unexpected deep threat like Hogan is for us.

I’m not sure how much the Tightends will be a factor. My guess is Higbee and Everett will have a lot of paint on their boots as they hug the sidelines looking to gain 3 and 4 yard plays. They’ll maybe try to match them up against the McCourty twins but I think they’ll be placed on the heels of Cooks and Woods with the receivers going more deep and an option 1 or 2 read with option 3 being the Tightend on a shorter play gain. Enough to keep them marching downfield. CJ Anderson will lose the necessary 5 stone his doctor will have advised him to do in this game alone! He will be a huge bowling ball trying to knock over the Patriots skittles and happily be the bell cow that’s required to chip away at the Patriots.

LA might be a flashy place with Hollywood and the like on the doorstep of their building and the Rams may have flashy/brash players like Aqib Talib and Ndomukong Suh but Sean McVey will have a Patriots approach to this match and be happy to march down the field, keep the chains moving, keep the clock going towards zero and keep Tom Brady off the field. As much as it would be amazing for the neutral (and casual viewer) I don’t think this will be a hundred point game similar to the Chiefs game but you will still see a great game nonetheless.

What we saw the Patriots do in overtime of the Championship game, is what the Rams will try to emulate as the great saying goes “If you can’t beat’em, join em.”. Trying to play Coach Belichick at his own game is madness and that’s why I’m sayin “PATRIOTS WIN BABY! WOOOOO!!!”

Seriously though, I’m sticking to what I said at the start and what I said 2 weeks ago. This is a neutral field that will feel like home cos the New England Patriots fans always travel well. This nonsense that everything is taken for granted is bullshit. The true fans (and this year especially) never take getting to a Super Bowl for granted. The atmosphere will completely different and I don’t even think the Patriots haters in the crowd will be able to silence the Patriots fans.

As much as Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots love to apparently bore everyone with how they approach games, the razzmatazz will be from the men in white uniforms. Expect a flea-flicker or two and the guy who Tweeted a requestabet to SkyBet has a similar theory to me. Julian Edelman to score a TD PASS is not out with the realms of possibility and I’d give it a 65/35% chance of happening. Look back at some of Baltimore’s games with Jackson under centre and I think that’s how the Patriots nullify Suh and Donald. Outsmart them and out power them. Push the line one way or the other and Michel can run that way or James White can catch the opposite. Bootlegs and screens will be huge to the Patriots and Brady to catch a pass (maybe even a TD from Edelman) might well be the play that clinches ring number 6. What a story that would be!

So this Sunday at 9:25pm UK time, the AFC Championship rematch, as it’s being billed, takes place in the Sunshine State. Admittedly the Patriots don’t have the greatest of weapons at the minute but does that mean we should be worried? Should we be trembling at the thought of Sacksonville in Jacksonville?

At the start of the season I would’ve said yes but now I’m not so sure. Fournette is struggling with a hamstring injury, Yeldon is more of a backfield catcher than straight up grab the ball and run kind of guy and then there’s Blake Bortles… They don’t have a true number one receiver (or at least not figured out who it is yet) as last week the receptions were spread around with Westbrook getting 5 and Cole 3 whilst other receptions were shared between the runners and Seferian-Jenkins.

Until Doug Marrone trusts his QB to take them to the house with aggressive play start to finish then Bortles and the Jaguars will continue to struggle when it matters. They’re a run first team and when everyone knows you’re a run first team it’s easier to defend. Couple that with a promising glimpse of Patriots pass-rush, then I feel a lot happier about going in to TIAA Bank Field and taking home a W.

Match-ups to look out for:

Rob Gronkowski vs Jalen Ramsey – If you need to put your best Corner up against a TE then it says it all. It’s a waste of a Corner Back and plays in to Gronk’s hands.

Corderelle Patterson vs anyone – I have a sneaky feeling that Patterson might have a reasonably big involvement in this game than last week, especially now that Jeremy Hill has been confirmed on IR for the season. You could also replace Patterson with Corey Coleman as he could be thrown in on a few plays to surprise the Jags.

Yannick Ngakoue vs Trent Brown – This match-up is so intriguing it gives me goosebumps. If Brown repeats last week’s performance then he should keep Ngakoue quiet and Brady on his feet but if there’s any chink in the armour he could be flat on his back, along with Brady and the chances of a Patriots win.

All in all I feel relatively confident about this one but wouldn’t be surprised if we do lose. I’d rather take a loss now than in January when it really matters and being 1-1 is better than the 0-2 I thought we’d be to start the season.

Prediction: Patriots 24 – Jaguars 20

So with the intention of doing a preview blog for the Texans, I would’ve put the Texans down for the W. However a sick child needed tending to and I didn’t write my preview.

The Patriots usually have a slow start to the season but Gillette is something of a fortress to the team as well. The Texans have had a good grasp on us recently and with the D fully loaded to take on our O line and down Brady. It didn’t pan out like that though.

Trent Brown kept Jadeveon Clowney quiet all game, Deshaun Watson wasn’t as dynamic as expected and Sweet Feet had a solid as usual performance. Watson will feel his way into the season after his ACL injury cut short last season, where he was on for a huge rookie year. On Sunday vs the Patriots it wasn’t to be and those 7 games of available tape might be all that’s needed by the opposition to work out how to stop the Texans offense.

Even though they gave up 20 points, the 7 point difference was flattering towards a Texans team who weren’t really at the races. Watson had a 50% completion for 176 yards, 1 TD and 1 INT in comparison to Brady who had a 67% completion for 277 yards, 3 TD and 1 INT.

The New England Patriots were on point, efficient and ruthless. It wasn’t a stellar performance that will be remembered come Christmas but it was enough to start 1-0 as they head to Florida and take on the updated version of the Legion of Boom.

One sad note from week 1 is that Jeremy Hill’s season is over as he was placed on IR Tuesday with a torn ACL picked up from a collision with James Develin. Belichick said of the injury “He’s a tough kid, I know he’ll work hard and I’m sure he’ll be back.”

Every week I’ll have some takeaways from each game. Here they are for this week:

MOTM – Rob Gronkowski / Trent Brown
One to watch – Phillip Dorsett
Must do better – Chris Hogan

On to Jacksonville next and a rematch of the AFC Championship game. Will they be 2-0 after Sunday? Look our for my preview blog going up soon with my prediction.

So…the season is almost here, which means there’s been the off-season. OTA’s, draft, signees and cuts…not all in that order.

Going in to the new season I’m very excited. I have to be. I’m a Patriot. It’s in our blood is it not? However, the receiving core is a bit frightening in a bad way. Having Dorsett and Patterson as WR1 and 2 is a bit daunting BUT there’s Chris Hogan and Edelman (from game 5). And another plus is there’s no Kenny Britt.

The preseason games are a source of controversy for many but when I see what it means to the fringe players on a series like Hard Knocks it’s hard to justify getting rid of them, or scaling them down to reduce the number played. I understand the impact they have on players who go through season ending injuries but what’s the alternative? How do you judge talent on the cusp of making the 53-man roster? Flag football would just be plain weird with full gear on! And besides, you wouldn’t see a gut-busting run from your third string quarterback otherwise!

I was surprised to see Danny Etling fall to the 7th round but pleased we picked him up. He’s looking like a dynamic player with a bright future and being able to learn from the greatest QB ever will never be a bad thing.

This is a short blog, since the season is upon us. Having a baby and family life to juggle makes me forget to blog as often but I’m determined to make that change and up the content. Most things have been said now by various sources about the comings and goings between February and now. Time flies so quick that if you don’t write about it soon after, I’m not sure there’s much point regurgitating old news.

Look out for my season preview and week 1 preview coming out before Sunday against the Texans.