Rob Gronkowski left Sunday’s AFC championship game just before halftime after being hit in the helmet, and he was later determined to have suffered a concussion. Though Gronk missed the rest of the New England Patriots’ comeback win over the Jacksonville, he is expected to return for the Super Bowl.
The Boston Herald’s Karen Guregian reported the news on Gronk Sunday evening:
Rob Gronkowski is in the concussion protocol. There’s optimism Gronk will be cleared by the Super Bowl, according to a source
— Karen Guregian (@kguregian) January 22, 2018
The teams have a week off before the Super Bowl on Feb. 4, so Gronk will have plenty of time to recover from his concussion.
Barry Church, the Jaguars safety who hit Gronk and delivered the concussion, was apologetic about it after the game.
Jags S Barry Church was apologetic regarding hit on Gronkowski. Hopes he can play in Super Bowl. Added it's hard to hit Gronk given his size.
— Ryan Hannable (@RyanHannable) January 21, 2018
More and more people have taken Church’s side, recognizing he had very few options for tackling the tight end and that had he gone low, he’d be viewed as dirty. Even Seattle’s Richard Sherman defended him for it.
This will mark the third in four Super Bowls the Patriots have played during Gronk’s career that he will have an issue for. He was battling an ankle sprain during the Super Bowl loss to the Giants; he played against Seattle; he missed the game against Atlanta due to back surgery; and now he’ll enter the Super Bowl coming back from a concussion.
