The New England
Patriots defeated the St. Louis Rams 45-7 on Sunday at Wembley Stadium in
London. This marked the sixth straight season that the NFL flew two teams
across the pond to showcase its product to a growing fan base. That fan base
didn’t witness much of a contest, but they did witness one of the game’s top
receivers at his best.
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| (AP Photo/Getty Images) |
Rob Gronkowski, New
England Patriots’ tight end, caught eight passes for 146 yards and two scores.
It was his second game in a row with two touchdowns, and his seventh touchdown
of the season overall. His seven scores are tied for the league lead amongst
all receivers, and his 580 receiving yards lead all tight ends. This is coming
off a 2011 season in which “The Gronk” racked up 1,327 receiving yards and 17
touchdowns – both all time single season NFL records at the position.
Gronkowski’s production
is closer to that of a number-one wide receiver than that of a tight end. Between
the historic season and the Patriots’ run to the Super Bowl in 2011, his
talents were brought to a national audience. Sunday marked his eleventh career
multi-touchdown game in just his third season. His chemistry with Tom Brady
continues to be unbreakable. At just the age of 23, the 6’ 6”, 265-pound tight
end still has plenty of years ahead of him to continue his game-changing
production.
Gronkowski received
criticism in the offseason for a viral video taken of him dancing in the club,
on a supposed ankle injury, within 24 hours of losing Super Bowl XLVI to the
New York Giants in February. On Sunday, Gronkowski made even more headlines for
his dance moves, this time following each of his touchdowns. The fallback has
been much more light-hearted this week among fans and the media. It seems
pretty simple – if Gronkowski keeps scoring touchdowns and the Patriots keep winning
games, he has the approval to cut a rug whenever he so chooses.
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