I watched the NFC and AFC championship games yesterday, and they were both pretty dull. I fell asleep during the Patriots-Jags game for one. I know it was a close game, but when the Patriots only get called for one penalty, it is pretty obvious who is going to win. The Eagles-Vikings game, sorry RD (ed note: ARGHHH), was done by the middle of the second quarter. The game was on, but I was not even paying it half attention. We ended up getting both number one seeds, and I think the Super Bowl will be a pretty competitive game.

I'm not going to touch on the game today. I have already picked the Patriots to win multiple times, and nothing I saw yesterday changed my mind. What I want to talk about is a very hot take that I came upon yesterday during the Patriots-Jags game. In the middle of the second quarter Tom Brady threw a pass over the middle to Gronk. Gronk got lit up, maybe it was an illegal hit, I just thought it was a football hit, and he was sent to concussion protocol and didn't return to the game. After the hit, Patriots Twitter was all a flutter. The tweets ranged from "what a cheap shot!" to "we are done without him". The announcers too, the highly overrated Tony Romo and the god awful Jim Nantz said that this could, "doom the Patriots the rest of the game". Everyone was terrified. I'm sure the fact that the score was 14-3 at the time added to the nervousness. And, I'm sure the fact that Brady threw 4 straight passes to him prior to him getting hurt added even more stress. But, after the injury the Patriots went right down the field and scored. The Jags ended up adding a few field goals, but the Patriots did what they do and won the game late in the fourth quarter. They scored all but 3 of their points after the Gronk injury.  

I then started to think about the past Patriots playoff and Super Bowl runs since Gronk has been on the team. Everyone assumes he is the best tight end in the league, and while I think he is a very good tight end, maybe he isn't as crucial to the Patriots offense as some want us to believe. That is my hot take. I think Gronk might be the most overrated player in the NFL. Yes, I just said I think he is good, but I do not think he is the best tight end in the league, and he definitely isn't the best tight end to ever play in the NFL. I'm sure Patriots fans will read this and call me names and tell me how stupid I am. I'm sure football people will read this and think I'm an idiot too. But, if you take away his gaudy regular season numbers and break down his playoff numbers, it is pretty telling that this team thrives not because of him, but maybe despite him. Also, we can even look at the regular season if you want to too because he is constantly injured. So, while I think he is good, I also think he is just another in a long line of Patriots that have benefited due to Tom Brady and the system they run.

Lets look at the regular season stuff real quick first. He does put up very solid numbers. When he is on the filed, he is a great red zone threat. When he is on the field he can rack up 10 catches some games. When he is on the field he commands double teams opening up spots for other Patriot receivers and tight ends. But, he is not always on the field. He is, at least to me, the NFL's version of Joel Embiid. He is a marvel to watch when he plays, but he doesn't play all that much. Yes, he has played more than Embiid, but he is also older than Embiid. And, as far as regular season tight end stats go, Antonio Gates has consistently put up the same numbers as Gronk for a decade plus, and he stays relatively healthy. Travis Kelce has started to become more reliable than him. Vance McDonald emerged big time this year for the Steelers. Kyle Rudolph, Tyler Eifert and Greg Olsen do the same things for their teams that Gronk does for the Patriots. Hell, even his backups, take Martellus Bennett last year, step in, and it feels like Gronk isn't missed at all. So while he puts up gaudy numbers, no, I do not think he is the best tight end in the NFL. I'll take Antonio Gates over him any day or any year. 

Now, for the postseason stuff. First off, again, he is not usually healthy come playoff time. He always has some lingering issue, and everyone freaks out. Well, the Patriots are 5-2 in the Super Bowl's they've played in, with a chance to win a sixth, and Gronk may not play in the game. But lets just look at his career postseason numbers. He has played in 12 total playoff games, tallying 96 total catches and 10 total TD's. Not bad, but, we need to look at the important games. We need to look at conference title games and Super Bowls. He puts up his big numbers in the divisional and wild card games. His best games, save for 2, have all come in the divisional or wild card rounds. While important games, that is not when they need him most. It's great that he had 10 catches for 145 yards and 3 TD's in the divisional game against the Broncos in 2012, but do you know how he performed in the next two games?  Against Baltimore in the AFC championship he had 5 catches for 87 yards and 0 TD's in a win, and against the Giants in the Super Bowl that year, 2 catches for 26 yards and 0 TD's in a loss. That was the year the Patriots finished 18-1. The very next season he only played in one playoff game, against the Texans and he had 0 catches for 0 yards and 0 TD's. In 2015 he had a better postseason, but not best tight end in football type numbers. In the divisional round he put up 7 catches for 108 yards and a TD, good numbers. In the AFC title game he went for 3 catches 28 yards and a TD. And in the Super Bowl, the one the Seahawks blew by not handing the ball off to Marshawn Lynch on the one yard line he had 6 catches for 68 yards and a TD. Those are solid numbers, and he won a ring, but that Super Bowl was more about Malcom Butler's interception and Julian Edelmann catching everything that came his way all the while being concussed. I don't think anyone looks back at that game and says, " thank goodness the Patriots had Gronk". His best game since then came in the 2016 AFC title game against the Broncos. He had 8 catches, 144 yards and a TD. But, the Patriots lost that game, so who cares about his numbers. Last year he didn't play at all, and the Patriots came back from down 25 to beat the Falcons. Martellus Bennett did just fine in his stead, even though whoever covered the Super Bowl last year kept cutting to Gronk in the owners box. This postseason has been very ho hum for Gronk. In the divisional game against the Titans he 6 catches for 81 yards and a garbage TD, and yesterday, before he got leveled, he had 1 catch for 21 yards.

I guess I just do not think he is as important as others want us to believe. I watch a ton of football, both college and pros. The only reason I think people want us to think Gronk is so great is because he is a big lovable doofus. He does stupid shit like throw parties on yachts and chug beers, and everyone is supposed to like him. To me, he is an asshole frat boy, and I could care less about the dumb shit he does off the field. If he played for any other team, with any other QB, no one, and I mean absolutely NO ONE would praise him like they do now. He is part of a system that works and he is reaping the benefits. But, put a guy like Antonio Gates or Travis Kelce on the Patriots, and they are the same as they are with Gronk, if not better. Hell, last year they proved they could win with Martellus Bennett.

I'm over the Patriots hype machine, and I am definitely over everyone in major sports media telling how important Rob Gronkowski is to the Patriots. He is no more important than Wes Welker, Deion Branch, Corey Dillon or Randy Moss was to that team. He is just another cog in their machine. And no, I do not think he will be missed if he doesn't play in Super Bowl 52. I think the Patriots will be just fine with our without him. 

Ty

Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing and the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast. He was thinking about talking about how overrated Case Keenum is to the Vikings. Thankfully the real Keenum showed up on Sunday to stop any rating going overboard. God damn Vikings.

Follow Ty on instagram and twitter.

SeedSing is funded by a group of awesome people. Join them by donating to SeedSing.