By Jay Skurski
Amherst native Rob Gronkowski really likes playing against the Buffalo Bills.
The Patriots’ third-year tight end had five catches for 104 yards and a touchdown on 11 targets from quarterback Tom Brady in today's 52-28 win over the Bills. Gronkowski now has 27 catches for 418 yards and eight touchdowns in five games against his hometown team.
“It’s great coming home,” he said. “Friends and family, it’s great to give them that victory, too.”
Gronkowski was listed as questionable on the injury report, but his performance left little doubt he was ready to play.
“It’s not as easy as it looks. It’s the NFL, those guys are out there, they are great players. You got to work your butt off, you got to be going full speed in order to execute, in order to make plays,” he said.
Gronkowski took advantage of a blown coverage in the Bills’ secondary on his touchdown catch, which covered 28 yards on the first play of the fourth quarter. It was a nice bounce back for Gronkowski, who in the first half lost just the second fumble of his career.
“I just need to be execute plays. I can’t be having that,” he said of the fumble and a couple first-half drops. “It hurts the team a lot. I need to be protecting the ball better, no doubt about that. It’s awesome that Tom came back to me, trusted my abilities, trusted me the whole game."
