Rob Gronkowski is like one of those pesky little mosquitoes that bother you on an otherwise enjoyable summer night. One second you think you have him and then in another you realize he has once again slipped out from your control.
Just 4 seasons into his career, the 24 year old receiver has already carved himself a niche among the NFL that cannot be outdone. He is the greatest tight end playing the game of football in 2013 and yet, he cannot stay healthy. Ever since his promotion to the status of prime target early in his second season, Gronkowski has been a force to be reckoned with setting blocks while then turning around and leaping through the air to haul in some acrobatic touchdown catch. There is something about Rob Gronkowski that simply makes him dominant in the red zone as his massive power combined with a willingness to take a hit prefect fit the job description of a good red zone receiver. Go for the extra yard and NEVER drop a pass.
Living by that mantra, Rob Gronkowski has had the greatest start to a career a NFL tight end has ever had as he enjoyed his hauling in 42 touchdown passes in just his first 50 NFL games.
Rob's 50th game however positive scoreboard wise ended with bad news for the Patriot tight end as midway through the game a crushing but legal hit to the knees effectively ended Gronkowski's 2013 season and jeopardized the first few games of his 2014 campaign.
Just days after Patriots fans were delivered the news that their star tight end had torn both his ACL and MCL on the hit, anger has been a commonality in Foxborugh and yet, the most common phrase uttered by the Blue and White nation this week has not been one of anger. It had been one of question. Why was this hit legal?
Let’s face it upwards of 85% of all NFL plays end with a player being "tackled" by an opponent and yet even a play so prevalent within the landscape of and NFL game is not firmly defined within the rule book. Furthermore, many plays that are either legalized or banned via the words of the rule book are not judged the same way in the eyes of the referee thus causing a dangerous discrepancy between the strength of a player tackling another and the jurisdiction of a referee standing a few feet away.
One of those rules that was most likely to be ruled as one broken in this situation is one labeled as "The Chop Block"
Under terms of the NFL rule book, a chop block is a certain block that occurs when a defensive player blocks an opponent below the knees using either his forearm, shoulder or body itself. However there is one complication to this rule that unfortunately rules it out as a reason for penalty on the Gronkowski play. A Chop Block can only be called against a player who blocked a player away from the ball carrier.
The Chop Block was written into the rule-book to protect player’s lower joints (ie. knees and ankles) and yet is it fair to say that players knees are only vulnerable when they are not holding the ball? We were shown the contrary last Sunday with the TJ Ward hit on Rob Gronkowski.
As the NFL struggles to take hits to the head and the concussions that come as a result of them out of the game, players have realized that the gray areas as they pertain to tackling are massive. What is a great, powerful hit one moment is one that gets you suspended another and so in a league where each team plays just 16 games players are protective of their playing time. For that reason you just do not see hard shoulder to chest or core tackles on a regular basis and when you do they get penalized as was the case during that New England comeback last week where the ball was moved up 15 yards prior to the onside kick as a result of a "hit to a defenseless receiver call" in the end-zone.
For TJ Ward when he saw Rob Gronkowski storming in his direction last Sunday, he must have knew that he was trapped between a rock and a hard place. Tackle Gronkowski by his chest and due to Rob's great speed risk being called for a whole host of tackling violations regardless of where he hit or go low and risk injuring Gronkowski.
The answer is one that most anyone can associate with. In the heat of the moment people care more for their own well-being that that of anyone else.
Hits to the head are brutal and take some of the best players out of the game that loves them as much as they love it and yet the same can be said about hits to the knees. Tearing an ACL can in some rare cases serve as a lifelong hindrance to a person just in the same way that a concussion can and so hits to the knees must be cracked down on just as much as those to the head.
To propose a rule change, football tackles should follow a strike zone per se. Contact is allowed only between the shoulders and knees. Any lower and the league imposes any sort of penalty they deem fit to punish such an offence.
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