Rob Gronkowski makes it clear who’s fueling the Patriots’ offensive success

When you’re an 8-2 football team, even Boston’s sports radio hosts have to dig deep for negative angles to stir up the fanbase.

One of the odder — but surprisingly accurate — talking points this season has centered on head coach Mike Vrabel and his apparent reluctance to credit offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels publicly for the Patriots’ offensive resurgence.

It’s not like McDaniels hasn’t earned it. The Patriots’ offense is on an all-time heater, with quarterback Drake Maye masterfully executing the scheme and routinely finding open receivers. McDaniels has protected his young left side of the offensive line with his play calling, and explosive plays are up across the board compared to recent seasons.

For some reason, even when directly asked about McDaniels, Vrabel has refrained from publicly praising his OC. He routinely sprinkles the credit to assistants like quarterbacks coach Ashton Grant, wide receivers coach Todd Downing, and passing game coordinator Thomas Brown (and the local talking heads have taken notice).

This could be completely by design. McDaniels, a twice-fired head coach now in his third stint with the Patriots, might prefer to stay out of the spotlight and let Maye, Stefon Diggs and Hunter Henry get their share of the attention.

McDaniels has gotten plenty of love from players, though. Maye and others have repeatedly credited his scheme and play-calling abilities — and one of his most famous former players just joined the party.

Rob Gronkowski just said what Mike Vrabel won’t about Josh McDaniels and the Patriots’ offense

Future Hall of Fame tight end Rob Gronkowski returned to Foxboro on Wednesday to sign a one-day contract with the Patriots, allowing him to officially retire as a member of the organization. 

According to a report by ESPN’s Mike Reiss, the gesture was in honor of local philanthropist Susan Hurley, who Gronkowski developed a close friendship with through his charity work in the Boston and greater New England areas. Hurley, 62, died after a long battle with ovarian cancer on Nov. 1.

Gronkowski met with the local media at the team facility like old times on Wednesday morning, and his comments were refreshingly direct. He shared his thoughts on the Patriots’ current seven-game winning streak, and boasted a bit about one of the few on-air takes he’s gotten right as an analyst. 

“What I really like about these Patriots is that they’re not losing focus this year. Every single week they’re getting better as a team, and they’re correcting their mistakes from the prior week as well. They’re finding ways to have more explosiveness on the offense as well, and I would say that’s due to Josh McDaniels. That’s why, being the analyst I was last year on FOX, I said, ‘Hey, Josh McDaniels would be a great fit here.’ And they ended up hiring him. Just to see him take his guys to the next level… I would say that contributes to how good of a coach that he is, and how he can put the players, and know his talent, in the right position as well.”

Again, it wouldn’t be hard for Vrabel to state the obvious and give McDaniels an "atta boy" in the media. He’s been a tremendous value-add for the Patriots and Maye, in particular. The team’s new goalline package with nose tackle Khyiris Tonga lining up at fullback is just the latest example of a coach who’s pulling all the right strings right now.

Gronkowski's comments are also not all that surprising. He never got the opportunity to play with Vrabel, as he was drafted the year after Vrabel retired. There’s also an obvious allegiance to McDaniels, who coached Gronkowski for seven years in Foxboro and won three Super Bowls together.

The Vrabel-McDaniels rivalry is probably nothing more than sports radio conjecture. Gronkowski definitely stoked that fire a little bit, though, by saying exactly what Patriots fans have been waiting to hear from their head coach (but oddly haven't).