Life without Gronk means new chapter in Patriots-Steelers rivalry

FOXBORO – You can imagine Mike Tomlin’s reaction when Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement on March 25. The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach probably took a deep breath, exhaled and smiled from ear-to-ear.

Tomlin’s long-lived, national nightmare was over.

For nine seasons, the man we know as Gronk ran circles around the Steelers. It was rarely competitive. In seven games, Gronkowski hauled in 41 receptions for 685 yards and eight touchdowns. The tight [...]

FOXBORO – You can imagine Mike Tomlin’s reaction when Rob Gronkowski announced his retirement on March 25. The Pittsburgh Steelers head coach probably took a deep breath, exhaled and smiled from ear-to-ear.

Tomlin’s long-lived, national nightmare was over.

For nine seasons, the man we know as Gronk ran circles around the Steelers. It was rarely competitive. In seven games, Gronkowski hauled in 41 receptions for 685 yards and eight touchdowns. The tight end caught 75.9% of the passes thrown his way. In other words, the Steelers defense stopped Gronkowski on 24.1% of the times he was targeted. 

In a way, it’s only fitting the Patriots open up the 2019 season against Tomlin’s Steelers team. The Patriots will attempt to move on from Gronk against a team the All-Pro destroyed routinely over the better part of the last decade. It remains to be seen how the Patriots retool their offense, but Tomlin wasn’t ready to gloat on Wednesday.

If anyone knows how to replace a Pro Bowl offensive weapon, it’s the Steelers coach whose offense is moving on without All-Pro receiver Antonio Brown.

“I have the perspective that I've been in this job for a long time, as those guys up there have, so they have the perspective that dynamic playmakers are going to come and go and others are going to rise and assume the roles,” Tomlin said. “We felt similarly when Hines Ward retired, or when we lost Mike Wallace in free agency and so forth just at the wide receiver position for example, when Santonio Holmes went to the Jets.”

The Steelers have done an excellent job replacing top-flight receivers internally over Tomlin’s career.

In 2010, Pittsburgh lost Holmes, their leading receiver, to the Jets. That’s when Wallace, a third-round pick, stepped up and became a Pro Bowler. When he left, for Miami, in 2013, the team already developed Brown, who was a sixth-round pick.

This year, Pittsburgh has more answers when it comes to who’s replacing Brown compared to the Patriots when it comes to who’s replacing Gronk. Last season, receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, a second-round pick, established himself as a Pro Bowler so around and around the Steelers go.

“Those things occur over time and thankfully I've been here long enough and we've had the type of continuity that we can have that perspective and know that guys are going to rise and assume roles and plays are going to be made,” Tomlin said. “I'm sure organizationally New England feels the same way.”

That remains to be seen, but it’s likely the Pats don’t make up for Gronkowski’s production with one player alone. It almost certainly won’t be a tight end.

In an attempt to replace Gronkowski, the Patriots collected a series of random veterans this offseason. For the most part, their luck ran dry with Ben Watson (four games) and Lance Kendricks (one game) both starting the season with suspensions. The team also had Austin Seferian-Jenkins abruptly leave the team in order to focus on his personal life.

When it came to cut-down day, the Pats kept just two true tight ends in Matt LaCosse (272 career receiving yards) and Ryan Izzo. (zero career NFL games played).

The Patriots do have size when it comes to their receivers with Demaryius Thomas (6-foot-3), Josh Gordon (6-foot-3) and Jakobi Meyers (6-foot-2). Of course, Julian Edelman will slide into the role as Tom Brady’s security blanket. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the Pats lean on their running back depth to move the ball, either.

Of course, Brady hasn’t had a lot of practices this summer with Edelman, Thomas and Gordon due to injuries and a suspension. As the quarterback mentioned on Wednesday, this offense is a work in progress. We’ll see if that makes Tomlin’s life easier or the Patriots find a new player to torment the Steelers defense.

“Part of football, it’s a challenging game,” Brady said. “That’s why it’s not always as fluid as you hope it would be because you prepare eight months for this game and then you’re getting used to guys you haven’t really played with or we signed three or four new players at the end of cuts… I don’t think this team ever feels like we’re a finish product… It’s a long year and we’ve got to make improvements.”