It was a bit out of the norm for a Patriots player to be so forthcoming, as the team seldom tips its intentions with anyone, let alone a game-changer like Gronkowski.

Gronkowski, who underwent surgery on a torn right ACL on Jan. 9 and returned to full-team drills for the first time Aug. 18, did not play in the preseason. Because of that, he could still be listed on the team’s first injury report, to be released Wednesday afternoon.

“Super excited, super pumped. I feel mentally and physically ready, for sure. No doubt about it,” Gronkowski said Monday. “My mentality now is I’m ready to go, I’m ready to be out there, I’m ready to hit, I’m ready to start going.”

Once Gronkowski returned from a forearm injury last year, it wasn’t until his fifth game that he played every snap. He doesn’t expect a full workload Sunday against the Dolphins.

“Definitely not [playing] every single snap, but just get out there, get my feet wet, whatever coaches have, whatever we game-plan this week will be good,” he said.

Gronkowski said he will most likely wear a brace over the knee but doesn’t plan to change his style of play. After months of challenging rehabilitation, he flashed several smiles and laughed a few times while answering questions from reporters Monday.

“It feels good to be out here now this week, preparing for the Dolphins, knowing that I put myself in the best situation the last few weeks and few months to get back out here,” Gronkowski said. “That was my plan the whole time — to work as hard as I could so I’d be ready for this week.”

Though Gronkowski’s return is news to the rest of the league, the Dolphins were not surprised.

“We were fully prepared. We saw he was on the 53-man roster so we have to be prepared for every combination,” Dolphins coach Joe Philbin said Monday. “He’s an excellent player. He’s been very productive throughout his career. So we will have a good plan in place. … We will be ready for him, for sure.”

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“Sure. I think we put much more time in this year than we — for example, like last year, when we played the Super Bowl, it was our first game without him in two years,” Brady said during his weekly appearance on the “Dennis and Callahan Show” on Boston sports radio station WEEI. “Not that that’s any excuse because there are no excuses, but there’s an uncertainty of how guys are going to play and step in. Well we know now, we know the types of packages we’ll use and what we’ll do and the different ways we’ll try to find some weakness in the defense based on our groups and so forth.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts. Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, sources told ESPN.

Gronkowski, who had the forearm heavily wrapped, appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory over the Texans.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick credited both Shane Vereen and Michael Hoomanawanui for stepping up Sunday to fill Gronkowski’s absence.

“It’s disappointing to not have Rob available, but I thought that Shane and Hooman both did a great job of stepping in to the game yesterday,” he said.

When asked if Gronkowski was 100 percent entering the game, Belichick reiterated what he said Sunday.

“I covered that yesterday. He was cleared medically,” he said. When pressed for more information, he adamantly responded, “I don’t have anything to add to it.”

Brady added that offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels’ ability to excel when the team has had to adjust this season gives him confidence.

“That’s what Josh does better than anybody else that I’ve been around; his ability to adjust like he’s done all season,” he said. “That’s just the way it’s gone. I think we’ve played a bunch of games now, we’ve never really been fully healthy, and obviously now won’t be.

“But you know what? We’ve still got a very good team and there’s different guys that step up and make those big time plays, whether it’s Wes [Welker] or Brandon [Lloyd] or Deion [Branch] or Shane or Rid [Stevan Ridley] or Woody [Danny Woodhead], Aaron Hernandez had another big game. They’ve got to stop all of us, and that’s what we’ve got to continue to do this week.”

Woodhead also was injured against Houston when he hurt his thumb carrying the ball on the Patriots’ first offensive play. The club provided no update on his condition Sunday but Belichick said Monday that the running back could have re-entered the game if he was needed.

“Now that we are into a new week, we will re-address the whole situation and try to get a good feel of what he would and wouldn’t be available to do, and how functional he would be doing it,” Belichick said. “So I would say that’s something we’ll have to look at during the week.

“Assuming the doctors clear him to play, which is a medical decision, then the next situation would be from a football decision, what can he do and how well can he do it? & That would all be determined at a later point in time.”

Brady and his team will now focus their attention on the AFC Championship Game and the Baltimore Ravens, a team they lost to back in Week 3. Brady said he’ll use that tape to study this week, while also noting the familiarity between the two teams, who also met in last season’s AFC title game.

“We learn from the last game, but like I said last week, it’s just more of a few matchups and so forth,” Brady said. “I think you get a feel for some coverages, but we’ve played them enough where we know the players, we know their strengths, we’ll just work hard to see what they’ve done since our game. There’s a lot of tape to be watched, but they’re playing their best football right now.

“The way their offense played [against the Broncos on Saturday], I did see a few of those Torrey Smith catches and those were incredible. He had a great game against us and he had a great game on Saturday. They’ve got a very good offense, very good defense, they’ve got some Pro Bowl special teams guys, they’ve got a great team and they’re very well coached. That’s why they’re in the same position that they were last year. I feel the same way about us. I feel we’ve got the best coaching, we’ve got a lot of mentally tough players, physically tough players that are going to be facing our toughest challenge of the year. I know we’ll be ready for it when we kickoff next week.”

Before the Patriots had even punched their ticket to the AFC title game, Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo fueled the anticipation for this week’s game with some inflammatory remarks on Twitter about the Patriots’ offense, referring to the Patriots’ up-tempo attack as a “gimmick.”

Ayanbadejo later apologized for his comments in a Monday tweet.

Asked whether his team would once again push the tempo against the Ravens next week, Brady replied. “We’re going to play the style that we’ve played all year. I don’t know what we are going to do. I just woke up this morning.”

Brady made it clear that he didn’t need the remarks for motivation, instead focusing on the fact that his team is one win away from a return to the Super Bowl.

“That’s the only motivation we need,” he said. “That’s the ultimate motivation.”

The post Tom Brady says New England Patriots ready to adjust minus Rob Gronkowski appeared first on IdealCapper.

However, inside the red zone is where Gronkowski definitely will be missed.

Gronkowski is almost unstoppable in the red zone. His size, long wingspan and strong hands made him an ideal target for Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to spot in the end zone. Gronkowski caught 38 touchdowns in three seasons, and a majority of his scores were inside the 20-yard line. He caught 11 touchdowns in 11 regular-season games in 2012 despite being in and out of the lineup.

The Patriots will be fine between the 20s. Aaron Hernandez can stretch the field at tight end. Wes Welker can get open over the middle and move the chains. And other Patriots like receiver Brandon Lloyd, Deion Branch and tailbacks Shane Vereen and Stevan Ridley will pick up the slack.

But the Patriots cannot afford to settle for field goals instead of touchdowns this deep in the playoffs. Outside of Gronkowski, no other Patriot caught more than six touchdown passes this season.

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Gronkowski, who had a team-leading 11 touchdown catches this season, will require a second surgery on his arm, according to sources.

Pro Football Talk reported earlier that Gronkowski would undergo the season-ending surgery.

Gronkowski appeared to suffer the injury while attempting to make a catch in the first quarter. The two-time Pro Bowler returned to the Patriots’ sideline early in the second half but eventually departed with members of the team’s medical staff and did not return to New England’s 41-28 victory.

He was seen leaving the Patriots locker room wearing a sling on his left arm just as the media entered after the game.

“It’s always a tough break,” Patriots guard Logan Mankins said. “Everyone on the team loves Rob. Loves him as a person, player. It’s a tough break for him, and it’s always a tough break for our team, but whoever gets put in that spot, they have to do that job. We’re all counting on him.”

It was the same arm that Gronkowski broke on Nov. 18 against the Indianapolis Colts.

Gronkowski missed five games because of the original injury but played in New England’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins.

Although Gronkowski had his forearm heavily wrapped, Patriots coach Bill Belichick said he did not regret allowing the star tight end to play.

“The doctors handle medical decisions,” Belichick told reporters after the game.

Patriots running back Danny Woodhead and rookie defensive end Chandler Jones also left Sunday’s game.

“We had a whole plan built for (Gronkowski) and Woody,” quarterback Tom Brady said. “We run the first series of the game and all those plans change. I think a little of it was, ‘What are we going to do now? How are we going to adjust?’ But we seemed to settle in there midway through the first quarter and put together a pretty good game.

“Obviously it’s a bummer to lose anybody, but someone of Rob’s importance or Danny’s importance, we need guys to step in and fill the void, whether it’s this game or any game after.”

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Houston at New England
When: 4:30 PM ET, Sunday, January 13, 2013
Where: Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, Massachusetts
TV: 4:30 p.m. ET, CBS.
Line: Patriots -10, O/U 47.5

Oddsmakers currently have the Patriots listed as 9½-point favorites versus the Texans, while the game’s total is sitting at 48.

Arian Foster scored the game’s lone touchdown last week and compiled 174 total yards from scrimmage (140 rushing, 34 receiving). Foster’s dual threat was rendered nearly obsolete after the Patriots breezed to an early 21-0 lead. The electric runner was held to 46 yards on the ground. Houston would be wise to feed Foster the ball on Sunday; the Texans are 8-0 when he rushes for at least 100 yards.

Last time out for Houston, they were a 19-13 winner as they battled the Bengals at home. The Texans covered in the match as a 3.5-point favorite, while 32 combined points moved the game UNDER for totals bettors.

Houston: 12-4 SU, 9-7 ATS
When playing in January are 4-4
When playing on turf are 3-7
After outgaining opponent are 7-3
When playing outside the division are 7-3
The total has gone UNDER in 5 of Houston’s last 6 games
Houston is 13-4 SU in its last 17 games
Houston is 6-2 SU in its last 8 games on the road
Houston is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games on the road

Brady isn’t shy about distributing the ball as he guides the league’s highest-scoring team. Wes Welker, who had 118 catches for 1,354 yards this season, was held to just three receptions in the teams’ earlier meeting. Rob Gronkowski, who was a spectator against the Texans earlier this season, led the Patriots with 11 touchdowns. Fellow tight end Aaron Hernandez, who had two scores versus Houston, and wideout Brandon Lloyd could be the wild cards in the high-octane attack.

New England won its last outing, a 28-0 result against the Dolphins on December 30. The Patriots covered in that game as a 11.5-point favorite, while the 28 combined points took the game UNDER the total.

New England: 12-4 SU, 9-6-1 ATS
New England most recently:
When playing in January are 6-4
When playing on turf are 8-2
After outgaining opponent are 6-4
When playing outside the division are 6-4
New England is 9-1 SU in its last 10 games
New England is 6-1 SU in its last 7 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 6 of New England’s last 7 games at home
The total has gone OVER in 11 of New England’s last 14 games

Prediction: Patriots 31, Texans 20

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