The New England Patriots are heading into Saturday’s AFC divisional round play-off game against the Kansas City Chiefs with several key players nursing injuries, including star player tight end Rob Gronkowski, and other off-the field distractions such as defensive end Chandler Jones trip to the hospital, and the mysterious black-eye suffered by Coach Bill Belichick.
NFL sports reported Ben Volin of the Boston Globe spoke with WGBH Morning Edition host Bob Seay about the recently reported knee and back injuries of New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski.
Volin tells Seay, “I think he’ll (Gronk) probably will play, but just the fact that they’ll “wait and see” how his back responds (to treatment) is not a great sign, and on-top of that you don’t know what you’ll get out of (wide receiver) Julian Edelman, who’s coming back from a broken foot, and (wide receiver) Danny Amendola, who’s had a knee injury he’s playing through, and the offensive lines have had injuries to sort through.”
Volin says the bizarre incident involving Chandler Jones, in which he reportedly had a bad reaction to synthetic marijuana, "shouldn’t effect him on Saturday, unless Coach Belichick decides to have him sit out a quarter."
Jones reportedly walked to the Foxborough police station on Sunday, January 10th, which is several feet from his home, and was listed as a medical emergency. Paramedics called police who secured Jones home. Volin says Jones was at practice all week. The defensive end spoke to reporters and apologized for his actions saying, “I made a pretty stupid mistake this weekend, right now my main focus is becoming the best player I can be."
Volin says the Chiefs are the first team in NFL history to have a five game losing streak and a ten game winning streak in the same season.
“It’s been a roller-coaster for them, the hottest team in the NFL with an 11-5 record,” according to Volin.
The Patriots host the Chiefs at Gillette stadium Saturday afternoon with Kick-off at 4:35 p.m.
To listen to the entire interview with the Boston Globe’s Ben Volin click on the audio file above.
