LeGarrette Blount ‘Excited’ To Be Back With Patriots, Gronkowski Fined For Block On Sergio Brown
By Cyrus Geller
Hello, and welcome to another edition of ‘The Patriot Way’, your number one source to New England Patriots news and analysis from around the web.
Rob Gronkowski fined for throwing Sergio Brown ‘out of the club’
From Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston
"New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was fined $8,268 on Friday for shoving the Indianapolis Colts’ Sergio Brown out of bounds and to the ground Sunday night, an action he later described as tossing the safety “out of the club.”Gronk was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct and taunting on the play, which came as he was blocking Brown on a fourth-quarter Jonas Gray touchdown run. Gronkowski lined up on the left side of the line and plowed into Brown, driving him out of bounds into the area where camera operators stand."
Bill Belichick explains why blocking field goals is so much more difficult in today’s game
From Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald
"“I would say it’s evolved a lot, yeah,” Belichick said. “The roster size, again, it’s all relative. You’re playing some of your starters on special teams. You have six linebackers on the roster, four running backs, four receivers. Well, that’s what they had, too. Now, you have a lot more specialization. You have a lot of teams that have a core group of players in the kicking game -– five, six guys that are pretty much on every team. Then you have your specialists and then you have maybe a couple other guys that may play on one or two teams depending on what the needs of that team are. Obviously you can play more smaller guys on punt return and kickoff coverage than on the punt team because you only have two guys split out there right."
LeGarrette Blount: Flusterd, excited
From Mike Reiss of ESPN Boston
"Running back LeGarrette Blount met with reporters Friday for the first time since signing a two-year contract with the New England Patriots, and said, “As you all can kind of see, I’m kind of flustered and at a loss for words.”At the same time, he added, “I’m excited to be back now. It’s going to be fun.” “I’m in good shape. Whenever they call me to carry the ball, I’m going to go out there and do whatever I can do to make them comfortable with their decision to bring me back.”"