You're right that there's nothing Bill B (get down on knees, genuflect) could do as far as healing, but how about asking him about whether he regrets putting an all pro on SPECIAL TEAMS, where he got hurt? Oh, I thought so. Asking BB a tough question (like "how did you let 12 men on the field, which cost you a Super Bowl?") is forbidden, even by the "tough Boston media."

The fan base realizes having Gronk out makes the challenge harder. does Gasper want us to gnash our teeth and cry in our soup? Change the scheme, next man up.

Amazing thing to me is that anyone really expected Gronk to come back in the first place and be effective at all. Broken bones take a good year to heal properly. Thinking that someone with a broken bone playing tight end in the NFL after 6-7 weeks was pure fantasy and I am surprised that one of the writers did not pick up on this when the injury first happened.

Slow day at the office Chris?  As sad as this article was I would still have to give it a slight edge over Tony Mazz' sad excuse yesterday.

1) "Patriots followers seem generally unfazed and unconcerned by the loss of Gronk."

This fan understands that the Pats aren't as good without Gronk, but I didn't really expect him back from a broken arm so soon. Not having him for the post season is something I had already accepted.

2) "Let’s put to rest the notion that Gronk’s re-injury is comparable to what happened with Robert Griffin III in Washington, which was coaching malpractice by Redskins coach Mike Shanahan.  In the case of Gronkowski, there was nothing coach Bill Belichick could have done to prevent this injury. Gronkowski had an extra week off. But broken bones need more than byes."

I don't see the difference. Both players came back too soon from an injury. You even wrote, "broken bones need more than byes." Belichick could have prevented the re-injury by giving Gronk more time to heal. Maybe the extra month between the last game of the season and the Super Bowl (knock on wood) would have Gronk at full strength.

Chicken Little chris gasper says "We are doomed" What reaction exactly were you looking for Chris? Maybe the reaction the Broncos coach John Fox had when Baltimore scored the tying touchdown and he took a knee. "We had just got kicked in the mouth and we needed time to recover" " Take a knee" Bill Belichek should have just played for next year when Gronk went down? The Patriots played 8 games without Gronk. Sure its better to have him but its not doomsday. Stop being so negative !!

Here is what I don't understand.  All of the sports writers/radio personalities in this town stated last week that the best scenario was to play Baltimore at Foxboro.  Now that this is the reality it seems that the Pats don't have a shot because of the "amazing" Ray Lewis and his army.  Gronk aside, why the sudden change?  Should we as fans been cheering for the Broncos???? Is it because controversy makes the best print???  I really don't understand.

This might be one of the more silly articles I've ever read, and that's saying something for a newspaper that employs Dan Shaughnessy.

Yes, losing Gronk is huge, but football is not basketball.  Kendrick Perkins was 20% of the Celtics starting five, which is more like losing the entire Offensive Line.  And do you really think most fans think twice about Avery Bradley?  I can only hope that is just a poor choice of a throwaway line.

Yes, I'd feel a lot better with Gronk, but the guy's been out for two months and they went 6-1 without him.  This is an organization that went 11-5 with Matt Cassel (!?!?) at the helm, so I'm not ready to panic yet.

What are they supposed to say? Are they suppossed to start crying and saying "Oh my god, how can we ever play without him! We're doomed!!!"

Seriously. Gronk hasn't been a factor in almost two months since he last went down. And, yes, we'd ALL love to have him there. Pats fans love Gronk almost as much as his teammates do. But there's nothing that can be done about it except accept it and move on.

I'm mostly disappointed that we won't get to see him make some great plays in the playoffs and, possibly, the Super Bowl. I'm sad that he's not going to be in another one - he's yet to be a factor in ANY Super Bowl. And that is sad for a player of his caliber. It stinks that he's going to be on the sidelines. I feel sorry for him more than anyone else - fans or the team.

And, finally, perhaps the Globe scribes ought to do a piece on how fragile Gronk is. I mean, here's another season that he's gotten hurt and couldn't play. He seems to get injured an awful lot. If his name was Ellsbury there would be lots of talk. But neither guy got hurt because they are fragile. They got hurt because the only way they know how to play is all-out.

Injuries are a part of the game. Sometimes you get lucky, sometimes not.