Pats tight-lipped on tight end Gronkowski
Rob Gronkowski #87 of the New England Patriots twist his ankle while being tackled by Bernard Pollard #31 of the Baltimore Ravens in the fourth quarter. (Jan. 22, 2012) Credit: Getty Images
INDIANAPOLIS
Journalists the world over have descended upon this quiet Midwestern burg, where they will spend the next week posing thousands of questions to dozens of players.
But it is unlikely that any of them will get to the bottom of the most important football-related story of the run-up to Super Bowl XLVI:
Will Rob Gronkowski play, and if he does, how effective will he be, given the high ankle sprain he suffered against the Ravens Jan. 22?
Wait, did someone say high ankle sprain?
Yup, we know that much, only because the scoop of the Super Bowl so far goes to Gordy Gronkowski, father of the Patriots tight end, who revealed all last week.
Gordy also said Rob would play against the Giants despite the injury, which usually takes longer than two weeks to heal.
It is difficult to overstate the importance of Gronkowski to the Patriots after a season in which he set NFL records for a tight end in receiving yards (1,327) and touchdown receptions (17). So the Giants naturally must spend much of their defensive preparation time on him.
But they have no way of knowing what he will be able to do, and no way of finding out from the notoriously secretive Patriots.
Coach Bill Belichick has been in an unusually expansive mood in his two media sessions here, waxing poetic Monday about his fondness for the Giants, for Tom Coughlin and for the decade of the 1980s in general.
But he fielded as many questions about Gronkowski as he did about offensive tackle Sebastian Vollmer, whose status was of grave concern to a German journalist. The total for both players was one.
"He didn't practice,'' Belichick said of Gronkowski. (Vollmer? He's feeling better after his foot injury, thank you.)
Perhaps reporters got the idea Sunday that they wouldn't get far on this subject when Belichick said of the tight end, "It's a day-to-day.''
Sorry we couldn't be of more help, Giants.
After Belichick was done, I asked wide receiver Deion Branch if he thinks Gronkowski will be able to give it a go. "I don't know, you'd have to ask Gronk,'' he said. "It's not up to me.''
Fair enough. So how much would not having him hurt the offense? "It would mean a lot,'' Branch said. "He has a very important role in this offense and we expect him to be there. I know he expects to be there as well.''
Gronkowski came off the plane from Boston Sunday wearing a walking boot. That can't be good.
"It is concerning,'' receiver Wes Welker said. "But at the same time, you don't really worry about it. You just go out there and do your job.''
Quarterback Tom Brady sounded a less-than-promising note when he said Sunday: "Hopefully, Rob can play. We'll see how he does. Nobody can really predict that. We're preparing for both.''
Gronkowski is scheduled to speak for himself when the Patriots show up for media day at Lucas Oil Stadium Tuesday. Then we shall see whether he gets on the practice field Wednesday.
Not that the Patriots will say much about him even then.
Upon arriving here Sunday, guard Logan Mankins demonstrated to the Gordy Gronkowskis of the world the proper procedure for injury updates in the Belichick regime.
Asked about the tight end's status, Mankins said, "I didn't even know he was hurt, to tell you the truth.''
