INDIANAPOLIS — In football as in life, you first must walk before you can run. And the fact that Rob Gronkowski did so on Friday — walking without his walking boot — could indicate that he’s making strides toward being on the field for the Patriots in Super Bowl XLVI.
After making his limited return to practice a day earlier, New England’s All-Pro tight end participated in the team’s walkthrough on Friday, more evidence that he could give it a go in Sunday’s title tilt despite a high ankle sprain that has him officially listed as “questionable” on the team’s injury report.
“We’ll see where he’s at on Sunday, but hopefully (he’ll play)” coach Bill Belichick said. “I saw no setbacks. He’s still making progress.”
According to Alex Marvez, the pool reporter who watched practice, the Patriots never ran faster than a trot during a walk-through session designed to give the players one more chance to go through the execution of each play. Therefore, Gronkowski didn’t take contact, didn’t run a route, didn’t plant and cut.
But he didn’t limp. And he also didn’t appear to be wearing any extra protection on his left ankle either, which is significant considering the practice was an hour long and Gronkowski was on his feet the whole time.
Much was made of the fact he didn’t wear a boot and claimed to not be wearing a compression wrap on Tuesday, when he sat at a podium for media day — so, three days later, that the Patriots training staff signed off on him walking for that long without a brace later may say something about where he’s at.
It might also say something about his spirits that he chose to wear a T-shirt that read “Yo Soy Fiesta” across his chest – that being a much-mocked quote from an interview he recently gave ESPN Deportes.
“I think we’re ready to go,” Belichick said. “We’ve worked hard this week, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday in practice, and we had good practices back last week. We went through some mental-review things out there (Friday).”
The coach is so comfortable with his team’s preparation that they won’t practice today. “We’ll have meetings and we’ll do some reminders and things like that in our hotel, but we’re not going to actually practice,” said Belichick, adding that he treated Friday more like a typical Saturday.
Ultimately all that matters is Sunday. And — in walking, if not running — Gronkowski might’ve taken another small step toward being ready by then.
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Gronkowski is one of 11 Patriots considered questionable for the contest, a list including as many as eight starters. Logan Mankins (knee), Patrick Chung (knee), Brandon Spikes (knee), Rob Ninkovich (hip), Wes Welker (knee), Sebastian Vollmer (illness, back, foot) and Kyle Love (ankle) join the tight end, as do Dane Fletcher (thumb), Marcus Cannon (ankle) and Tracy White (abdomen).
The Giants didn’t list anybody as questionable in the week’s final injury report, with leading rusher Ahmad Bradshaw listed as probable despite missing Friday’s practice. He’s battling a foot injury that kept him out of workouts until Wednesday, but he is expected to play.
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Before he became the Giants’ offensive line coach in 2009, Jack Bicknell Jr. was an assistant at the University of New Hampshire from 1987-96, sharing a staff with current Wildcats coach Sean McDonnell and now-Oregon coach Chip Kelly for parts of his 10 seasons.
“I’m so happy for him,” McDonnell said this week. “He’s a lifetime coach. Family’s great. They’re good people. He’s a helluva coach. He got an opportunity to go back with Coughlin. He’s really good at what he does, coaching kids, making them play better. Men.
“Besides being an unbelievable guy, I’ve got a lot of respect for him. He worked here with coach (Bill) Bowes and us and was the best. Me, Chip an him were on the offensive side of the ball, and Pete Carmichael Jr. He loved it.”
McDonnell was the offensive coordinator, Bicknell the offensive line coach and Kelly the running backs coach in 1994, when UNH went 8-0 in the Yankee Conference and advanced to the playoffs. McDonnell and Bicknell still see each other every summer, getting together for golf and a visit at Lake Waukewan in Meredith.
The UNH coach also knows a thing or two about Victor Cruz, the Giants receiver who played for the University of Massachusetts — and totaled 15 catches for 163 yards in his last two games against New Hampshire.
“Helluva player,” McDonnell said. “Big, strong kid in our league. A step ahead of everyone else. Just a real athlete, good in the open field and a tough kid, too.”
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Belichick was an active participant in practice — and not only as a coach. According to Marvez’s account, he lined up as a lineman on punts, trying to draw the coverage team offside, and he joined special teams coach Scott O’Brien along the defensive line while Stephen Gostkowski was practicing kicks.
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In his annual news conference, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Friday that every team will play a Thursday night game next season as NFL Network expands its coverage of those contests to run from Week 2-15. He also said that the league will only consider the 18-game schedule he championed a year ago after it has a chance to study a “full cycle” of data related to improvements in player safety.
Allen Lessels contributed to this report from Durham, N.H. Dave D’Onofrio covers the Patriots for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.
