Tampa Bay Buccaneers head coach Bruce Arians jokingly disciplined tight end Rob Gronkowski for claiming he doesn’t watch game film.
“And he doesn’t have any more vet days (off), either,” Arians said humorously in response to Gronkowski’s antics in Wednesday’s press conference.
Gronkowski got the ball — or film in this case — rolling when told Peyton and Eli Manning on Monday Night Football that he doesn’t watch any film.
“My teammate Cam Brate just asked me the other day, and he goes ‘Rob, I have a serious question.’ He goes, ‘do you ever watch film?’ And I said, ‘no, I don’t. I just run by guys,” Gronkowski said. “If I’m feeling good, I’m feeling good.”
“No, I don’t. I just run by guys.”
—Gronk on if he watches film 😅
📺: MNF w/ Peyton and Eli on ESPN2
Gronkowski Reverses Course
Gronkowski quickly clarified his joke on Wednesday afternoon with the media following Arians’ comments. The four-time All-Pro may have landed in someone else’s dog house along the way.
“I actually watch a ton of film. An overload of film,” Gronkowski said. “They (the Mannings always get me joking around. They always get me in that type of silly atmosphere and that’s what happened. And coach threatened me now that I don’t get my vet day anymore because I don’t watch film. Trust me. I watch so much film that my girlfriend gets mad at me. She freaking throws s— at me because I’m watching so much film.”
Gronkowski also mentioned that he talked with Bucs vice president of communications Nelson Luis about what might happen on air with the Manning brothers. However, Gronkowski has been involved in other fictional portrayals of his football career via media such as his T-Mobile commercial with Bucs quarterback Tom Brady.
The banned Super Bowl LV ad depicted Gronkowski talking Brady into leaving New England for Tampa to win another ring. In reality, Brady went to Tampa first as a free agent in March 2020 followed by Gronkowski coming out of retirement.
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Brady: ‘The Real Rob Gronkowski Is Back’
Gronkowski’s four touchdowns in two games makes it plain to see that he’s back in full football form since coming out of retirement in 2020, but Brady sees something more than just playmaking.
“When I see him play now, the real Rob Gronkowski’s back,” Brady said on his podcast, Let’s Go! on Sept. 13 via Yahoo! Sports. “The spirit of him which makes everyone love him as a person, as a teammate, as a player, that spirit that he has in his eyes, about his joy of life, his joy of football is back. When I see him play the other night, that’s his most authentic self. For someone who’s watching him for a long time, he had it, it faded away. He ended up retiring because he didn’t find the joy that he had. To see him regain it is one of the really great, satisfying things for me in pro sports.”
Brady has connected with Gronkowski for 129 yards, four touchdowns, and an average of 10.8 yards per completion. Gronkowski didn’t even have a touchdown until October last season.
With the hot start by Brady and Gronkowski, they moved into second all-time for touchdowns by quarterback-receiver duos per CBS Sports. The all-time leaders are Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison. Gronkowski and Manning went back and forth about that, too, on Monday Night Football.
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Buccaneers’ Bruce Arians Jokingly Calls Out Rob Gronkowski