New England Patriots Rundown: Rob Gronkowski and Haloti Ngata

1. The reactions about New England Patriots star tight end Rob Gronkowski‘s night in Las Vegas in which he landed on his broken arm have mostly been critical from the Boston media. Bill Reynolds of the Providence Journal may have presented the strictest view on Gronkowski yet with his column, and most fans disagree with the media’s critical view of Gronk. From an overall writing perspective, Reynolds’s piece is excellent and deserves a read if you agree with his side of it or just want to see what he has to say.

Mark L. Baer-USA TODAY Sports

My view on Gronk is in line with most of the Pats fans, and that’s the fact that Gronk should be cut some slack. You can read it here .

2. Speaking of Gronkowski, he made headlines again for an off-the-field reason when Sex.com offered to match his $3.75 million base salary to do a shoot with Bibi Jones, who got back into the adult film industry after briefly retiring. As usual, Masshole Sports offers up a great take on the incident, and I completely agree with what is said in the piece that you can read by following this link.

3. Baltimore Ravens star defensive tackle Haloti Ngata suffered a left knee injury during the third quarter of the Super Bowl and did not return after being listed doubtful to re-enter the game. According to top Baltimore Sun beat writer and NFL Insider Aaron Wilson, Ravens head coach John Harbaugh said that Ngata “will be ready for training camp”, and it sounds like nobody thinks Ngata’s injury is serious. That was the common feeling during the day after the injury, as Ngata stated that he was feeling better and Harbaugh reflected the thought that Ngata is fine. We’ll see what his MRI results hold, but there’s almost certainly nothing serious about the knee injury. That’s great news for the Ravens and for Ngata, as well as for most football fans in general.

4. I always love to take a look at the scouting reports published by NE Patriots Draft, because they are some of the best on the web. Heck, they are the best. Today’s scouting report was on Florida Gators disruptive defensive tackle Sharrif Floyd, who is an explosive presence on the interior of the defensive line and is on the Patriots 2013 NFL Draft radar. The site is very high on Floyd, and it’s easy to see why given their detailed look at his game and the high praise they have lauded onto him. Do you see Floyd being a legitimate option for the Patriots in the draft? There is a need for an interior pass rusher, but I still think Tavon Austin and Matt Elam are the top two guys for the Pats to take in this year’s draft.

5. Mike Reiss was able to get an interview done with New England Patriots safety Steve Gregory while Gregory was in Worcester  at the UMass Memorial Children’s Medical Center. It’s a heart-warming story, and makes me feel bad about criticizing Gregory’s coverage skills. He’s a solid third safety with special teams ability, but his main assets to the team are leadership and character as we can tell from his actions and the quotes in Reiss’s piece on ESPN Boston. Gregory’s role as a backup safety will be even more important this year with Patrick Chung most likely out via free agency, and the fact that we could be seeing a rookie safety (like Elam) starting in Foxborough next season.

You can follow Joe Soriano on Twitter @SorianoJoe.