Life Without Gronk

It's every Patriots fan's worst nightmare, seeing the big, lovable goon that is Rob Gronkowski walking off the field with a limp left forearm.

As many of you know, Gronkowski broke his left forearm blocking the Patriots final Point After Attempt. To add salt to the wound, former Patriot Sergio Brown delivered the blow. Now we could play the hindsight game and discuss why Gronkowski is out blocking in a 30 point game, but then we'd have to play that game for every football injury ever known to man.

Instead, Patriots fans will have to eventually learn how to cope without Gronk roaming the middle of the field, acting as Tom Brady's best receiver. With a short week, as the Patriots play the Jets on Thanksgiving, things will change fairly quickly.

What's Being Left Behind

However, you cannot move forward without first assessing what you've left behind. In New England's case, the Patriots will be leaving behind a core concept of their offense. With both Gronkowski and Hernandez out, the Patriots lose the ability to confuse linebackers and safeties by playing a Hi-Lo game.

In common speak, the Patriots send Gronk on a deeper route over the middle, and send Hernandez on a shorter route. You can't cover both, so teams are often forced to choose. In the off chance a defense does manage to blanket both Hernandez and Gronkowski with a two linebackers or safeties, it opens up Wes Welker underneath in one on one coverage, or Brandon Lloyd on the sidelines. This is a staple of the Patriots offense not only because it schematically works, but it forces defenses to choose one player, creating impressive mismatches.

Take a look at next weeks opponents, the Jets. This offseason, they openly proclaimed that the signings of Laron Landry and Yeremiah Bell, two physical safeties, were to offset the Patriots' usage of the two tight ends. They believed that a bigger safety could match up on Gronkowski or Hernandez. Of course, we didn't see much improvement in their first meeting this season.

Without Gronk, the Patriots lose their best all around player, as well as their best blocking tight end. No one will replace Gronk, they will have to work around his absence.

Moving Forward

The Patriots will leave a huge chunk of their offense in Gillette, with Rob Gronkowski. I jokingly tweeted last night that now Josh McDaniels would have to time warp back to 2007, picking up Wes Welker and using Brandon Lloyd as his Randy Moss.

While the Patriots obviously can't change their offense in four days, the theory at least has some merit. Without Gronkowski, and I'm assuming we will not see Hernandez this week, the Patriots now have one kinda-sorta receiving tight end on the roster, Visanthe Shiancoe. Behind him? Daniel Fells and the Hoo-Man, neither of which strike fear into the hearts of opponents.

The Patriots are now just another good offense. They still have Wes Welker, they still have Brandon Lloyd, and Julian Edelman will come to the forefront as another playmaker. McDaniels will have to revert back to many of his three-WR plays, a staple of the offense in 2007. Luckily, the same players are in place, so they will have other ways to gameplan effectively.

What New England did not have in 2007 that McDaniels now has at his disposal is a run game. As the weather gets colder and the calendars turn towards playoff football, it's imperative the Patriots increase their use of the run game if they want to remain successful. Whether that be Stevan Ridley, Shane Vereen, or Danny Woodhead remains to be seen. But the Patriots will need to utilize their running backs in both the traditional run game and the screen game.

Upcoming Schedule

In terms of this week, I think the Patriots will have their hands full with the New York Jets. At home, on Thanksgiving, with their backs against the wall, the Jets normally play these games very tight. No Gronk, no Hernandez, and potentially no Logan Mankins means this game will fall squarely on the shoulders of Tom Brady.

Moving forward, I think the Patriots will survive without Gronkowski. They won't replace him, but as we've seen with this team, when one man falls, someone else steps up in a big way. Team doctors anticipate Gronkowski to return by the playoffs.

So buckle in, Patriots fans. We may not be seeing any thunderous spikes any time soon, but the Patriots offense will not spontaneously combust before our eyes without 87 lining up at tight end. They'll just have to reinvent themselves yet again.