The New England Patriots always seem to have the injury bug. However, coming into the AFC Championship Game, no one on their 55-man roster is injured.
It's very rare for a team to have all their players fresh and available, and their star tight end Rob Gronkowski is thankful for it, via NBC Sports.
“Of course it does [help]. When you’re dealing with that type of stuff with a lot of guys, you see what you can do and stuff like that. When that’s out of the picture, I mean, it just makes practice that much easier, that much better. Just go out there, do what we’ve got to do, focus on the job that you’ve got to do and do it at full speed, do it however you need to do during practice so you can go out and replicate on game day on Sunday.”
Gronkowski has dealt with a handful of injuries himself over his entire career. In fact, he's even said that he might consider retirement soon. He hasn't played a full season since his sophomore year in 2011 and has since missed 29 regular season games over seven seasons. He's a huge factor for the team when he's healthy and one of Tom Brady's best end-zone targets.
This past season Gronkowski through 13 regular season games had 682 yards with three touchdowns and 47 total receptions. Hopefully, he'll remain healthy for the rest of the playoffs and going forward.
The Patriots went 11-5 during the regular season and finished first in the AFC East. They shocked the world by dominating the Los Angeles Chargers in the second round of the playoffs. They will now face off against the Kansas City Chiefs and young quarterback superstar Patrick Mahomes in the AFC Championship Game.
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