Breer On Toucher & Rich: People Will Blame 'Summer Of Gronk' If Production Slips
NFL training camps are in full swing and the Patriots have their first pre season game coming up on August 9th against the New Orleans Saints.
The NFL Network's Bert Breer was at Pats camp and he spoke with 98.5 The Sports Hub's Toucher & Rich about linebacker Dont'a Hightower, the performance of the secondary and Rob Gronkowski. They also discussed how Tim Tebow has looked in Jets camp and how Peyton Manning has been coming along in Denver.
During camps in the past, it's always been clear when Bill Belichick likes a rookie. This year, that rookie is first-round draft pick Dont'a Hightower.
"I don't think there's any question; I didn't need to spend more than a couple of days down there to really see that Hightower, they have high expectations for him," said Breer.
The Patriots had some issues last year in the secondary and many are looking for them to improve. But are we still seeing the same flaws that we saw last year?
"I think really what you want to look at is for improvements in the areas where you were deficient and I think the corner position is one area where there was a deficiency last year and a least trough the first couple days of camp it just didn't look good."
Whether you hated it or loved it, this summer was the "Summer of Gronk." From "Gronking" stuff at ESPN to shenanigans on the red carpet at the ESPYs to even a dating shows, Rob Gronkowski seemed to be everywhere.
Over the weekend, it Gronk dropped a couple of easy passes at practice. Do these two drops really mean anything? Could Gronk still be hurt, or was the summer too much?
"I think he's fine, I just think he's under a higher level of scrutiny now. Let's be honest he backed himself into this corner, he had what 90 catches, 1,300 yards, 18 touchdowns last year. The problem he has created for himself is by putting himself out there as much as he has is that the bar is so high from last year that if he goes for 70 catches, 1,000 yards, 12 touchdowns which would be good tight end numbers everybody's going to attribute it to the partying."
Plus what Breer thinks of Jets fans heckling Tim Tebow for a poor performance in camp and how will Dever Broncos fans might feel if Peyton Manning doesn't finish the season better than Tebow did last season.
