Matt Patrica may have taken a playful moment too far. And Rob Gronkowski wasn’t going to let him get away with it.
During the owners’ meetings this week, Patricia was asked to reflect on any of his favorite moments from working with Gronk, who announced his retirement on Sunday. Patricia immediately knew the story he wanted to tell: a moment from a Friday practice during a goal line seven-on-seven drill.
“I would usually stand over the cans – we put the trash cans out there as the O-line. And they’d be running crossing routes,” Patricia said. “A lot of times when you’re doing seven-on-seven passing plays, the advantage goes to the offense. So being a defensive coach, I was trying to make it as difficult as possible.
“Rob is running a crossing route behind me, and I knew he was. So I took the garbage can and I just slung it backwards, and I caught him right in between the legs. He goes down hard. He’s laying on the ground, he’s not getting up.”
“This is Friday before a game,” Patricia said. “I’m like, ‘This is it, I’m done. Gronk’s not getting up, this is about it.’”
When Patricia walked over to Gronkowski, he quickly realized the tight end was milking it. And that Gronk was trying to mess with Patricia.
“But I was like, ‘Get up, right now, before I get fired,’” Patricia said.
Indeed, with Gronk’s injury history — knee, back, elbow — the sight of him hitting the ground, especially because a coach made it happen, would be unwelcome to the Patriots organization. Gronk was fully aware of that, and made Patricia sweat.
