Stop Rob Gronkowski:
The game plan for stopping the Patriots offense is fairly simple: Contain Rob Gronkowski. Unfortunately, slowing down the greatest tight end in NFL history isn’t exactly, uh, easy.
But if there was ever a week to do it, it would be this week.
While the Patriots are still the league’s No. 2 scoring offense, they’re a shell of their peak selves. With Dion Lewis, Julian Edelman, Danny Amendola and Aaron Dobson all likely out for the Broncos game, that basically leaves Brandon LaFell as the only true pro receiving talent to complement Gronk; that’s good news for the Broncos.
And as we saw on Monday, even when Amendola and Dobson were in the game, it’s a lot easier to contain Gronk when there’s nobody else worth covering. That’s exactly what Rex Ryan and the Bills did, as they focused in on Gronk, holding him to season lows in receptions and yards.
I expect Wade Phillips will let his secondary go one on one versus the Patriots wideouts while bracketing Gronk with Brandon Marshall and T.J. Ward, or a similar combination. If they can do that, this game should become a defensive struggle, and I’ll give the advantage to the Broncos.
