Arians: Buccaneers TE Rob Gronkowski 'Hitting His Stride'
A year away from the game would leave anyone with a lot of rust to shake off. That seemed to be the case with Tampa Bay Buccaneers' tight end Rob Gronkowski earlier in the 2020 season, but now, he's "really hitting his stride," according to head coach Bruce Arians.
“He’s exceeded my expectations, to tell you the truth," Arians said on Wednesday. "I think he’s gotten better and better."
The Buccaneers acquired Gronkowski via trade with the New England Patriots in April, after Gronkowski spent the 2019 season in retirement, to join his former teammate Tom Brady.
The 6-foot-6, 268-pound tight end was held scoreless across his first five games with the Bucs, catching 12 of 20 targets for 140 yards (11.6 yards per catch) in that stretch. He's since caught 31 of 53 targets for 454 yards (14.6 yards per catch) and seven touchdowns in 10 games.
Arians shared that Brady commended Gronkowski for his route-running and playmaking ability in practice just before the press conference, and after Saturday's 47-7 victory over the Detroit Lions.
"Tom and I were actually talking about it at practice today. [Gronkowski] ran an over route and [Tom] was like, ‘Man, that looks like six [or] seven years ago’," Arians claimed on Wednesday.
Gronk was on the receiving end of Brady's Bucs' single-season touchdown record-typing pass against the Lions, a 33-yard catch on a deep corner route against man coverage, one of his two touchdowns on the day. Brady went on to cruise past Jameis Winston's previous high of 33, ending the day at 36 with four scores.
"Watching [Gronkowski] in practice, other people don’t see him at practice, I see him making these plays, it’s just whether or not they come up in game," Arians said on Saturday. There’s been matchups that we’ve had that, ‘Man, if they played a different coverage because we knew we had him.’ This one, we got the matchup we were looking for, and a great throw, a great catch."
