New Angle Shows Gronk Walking Around, Looking Befuddled During Dolphins’ Game-Winning Play

The incredible hook-and-lateral play pulled off by the Miami Dolphins in their epic 34-33 win over the New England Patriots on Sunday will go down in football lore right there alongside The Play for its improbability.

And one of the more inexplicable things about the Dolphins’ unlikely touchdown was the fact that Rob Gronkowski was on the field, playing 55-yards off the ball as the team’s final safety valve.

Новости СМИ2

A move that turned out to bite the Patriots square in the ass.

— The Checkdown (@thecheckdown) December 9, 2018

What makes Gronk’s awful tackling angle even worse, especially for Patriots fans, is that it really didn’t need to be. Gronkowski had plenty of time to get in front of Kenyan Drake, but as this new angle shot directly from the end zone behind Gronk shows, he wasn’t exactly putting himself in good position to make the play.

Perhaps that has something to do with him being a 265-pound tight end and not, say, Pro Bowl safety Devin McCourty, who was on the sideline for the play. Maybe.

The only possible explanation for Gronkowski being back at the 15-yard line is if the Patriots’ braintrust believed that Ryan Tannehill was actually going to try to throw the ball 75-yards in the air. Something former Patriots star Tedy Bruschi wasn’t buying.

— Tedy Bruschi (@TedyBruschi) December 9, 2018

After the game, Gronkowski spoke to the media and said, ““The way it ended sucked. I’ve never been a part of anything like that. I feel like it’s going to test our character big-time. I have to make that tackle.”

That was never going to happen, said Kenyan Drake, after the game.

Kenyan Drake describes his mindset on final play and why this is extra rewarding given what he’s gone through this season. pic.twitter.com/hTzNZL5Zlx

— Cameron Wolfe (@CameronWolfe) December 9, 2018

Eh, if Gronk would have made the tackle we wouldn’t have these two awesome extremes in broadcasting that insane final play.