Rob Gronkowski is doing himself no favors in his hometown.
Gronkowski, currently a member of the Buccaneers and longtime Patriots player, made some controversial comments this week regarding his Pats past.
While with the Patriots, Gronkowski gave Bills fans many reasons to dislike him. Most were performance based. The worst was Tre’Davious White related.
In 2017, Gronkowski hit the defensive back while he was on the ground during a game in Orchard Park. It was a play many easily described as dirty.
This week, the tight end explained why he was “happy” about eventually being suspended for it.
During the ESPN Tom Brady documentary “Man in the Arena” which is about the quarterback’s career, the hit was brought up while reflecting upon the 2017 season. Gronk did not sound upset about it… because he wasn’t.
Gronkowski said he missed out on some pay, but due to physical and mental stress, he was happy he got to take a weekend off.
“I was happy,” Gronkowski said of learning about his suspension per Patriots Wire. “I was finally happy. I was like, ‘Yes, I’m away from football for a week. I get to recover my body.’ I mean, when you’re running full speed into people, it definitely was taking a toll on me.
” … I lost a paycheck — it was about $300,000, that game check — and I didn’t even care one bit. I was just glad I had a week off from football, because I needed it.”
At the time of the suspension, you’d be hard-pressed to find a single person in Orchard Park fine with what happened. It put a really bad stain on Gronkowski’s relationship with football fans in Buffalo, where he grew up.
Among those mad was White himself.
“Man, that’s a joke,” White said in 2017 about the suspension. “I don’t know what to say on that. I’m laying there . . . My back turned. I could have broken my neck. I mean, I’ve got a son to raise. All that. People aren’t thinking about that when they react.”
On the play, White had just intercepted Brady and he makes extremely worthwhile points about why was upset about it. In the moment, Gronkowski was not ejected from the game.
Fans were upset about safety reasons, of course.
But White is a beloved player and Gronk’s latest comments will only fuel distain for him in western New York.
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