Captain Fear
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- Mar 20, 2019
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Rob Gronkowski has a reminder of the last game he ever played. It’s not the Super Bowl ring he never wears.
It’s the indentation in his quadriceps that he always wears.
During a conference call Wednesday, the tight end shared the pain he played through in his nine-year career with the Patriots and how much better he feels now after a year out of football.
“There was hands down that I was in a very painful situations and even my very last game I couldn’t walk for four weeks,” Gronkowski said. “I couldn’t walk that well after the last Super Bowl game we won from my quad contusion. I actually still have a little indent from it, too, but I’m going to get rid of it. I’m going to get rid of it. That’s my goal. That’s like one of my last final things I’ve got to get fixed on my body. It’s that quad contusion I took from the Super Bowl over a year ago. There’s still a little dent in my quad from it. But, you know, it’s all for the love of the game. I was in some pain at some serious times, even while playing the game, even while in games.
“But that’s what I did the last year. I took care of myself. I let my body heal. I let my body rest. I let my body get the treatments that I needed. I feel like I broke up all the scar tissue that was in my body, got rid of the inflammation in my body that was holding me back my last year, I felt like. It feels good. Definitely going forward, I definitely feel like this is an opportunity to play the game of football and play a whole season the real way that it’s supposed to be played. When you’re a young buck, you just go out there. You just do what you’ve got to do. You don’t really know how to take care of your body. You don’t really know what to do, because you just haven’t. You’re a young buck. Now being 30 years old, it’s going to be a whole different mindset. It’s going to be a transition that I’ve never done before, and the whole focus is going to be taking care of my body and doing the best I can on the football field and not be distracted by anything else. So I’m excited for that opportunity, and I’m excited to see how I hold up and how I can play throughout a whole season taking care of myself.”
Gronkowski caught six passes for 87 yards in the Patriots’ 13-3 victory over the Rams in Super Bowl LIII in his final game. He unretired Tuesday, reuniting with Tom Brady in Tampa.