Sports Final: Is Gronk The Best Tight End Ever?
BOSTON (CBS) -- Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski made some team history on Sunday, hauling in the 69th touchdown of his career in New England's 41-25 win over the Buffalo Bills.
That passed Stanley Morgan's previous record to put Gronk alone atop the Patriots leaderboard for most career touchdowns, as well as most career receiving touchdowns with 68. He finished the afternoon with five catches for a team-high 109 yards in New England's seventh win of the season.
The scary part of it all is that Gronkowski is just 27 years old, and he's done all his damage in just 86 career games. He has a long ways to go before reaching tight ends Tony Gonzalez (111 career touchdowns in 270 games) and Antonio Gates (107 career touchdowns in 196 games) on the all-time touchdown list, but he's created an unbelievable resume in just seven NFL seasons. With Sunday's accomplishments, it's leading many to wonder if Gronk is the best tight end to ever play in the NFL.
ESPN Boston's Mike Reiss joined Levan Reid on WBZ-TV's Sports Final on Sunday to discuss Gronkowski's place in history, and said he's giving some of the NFL's greats of the position a run for the title of the best ever.
"Is this the best tight end in the history of the game? Look what he's done in the last four games, with 21 catches for 473 yards and three touchdowns. It was almost deja vu in this game; the Bills closed a little bit just like the Steelers a week before, then boom, right up the seam [to Gronk] for a touchdown. The Patriots offense had been struggling with back-to-back three-and-outs. He can beat you as a pass-catcher and can beat you as a blocker. He might be the best tight end that has ever played the game," said Reiss.
"Think about this -- Rob Gronkowski is in his seventh NFL season and has missed time along the way. It's not like he's played every game. So this is just an immense accomplishment for him when you consider the time and the way he plays," noted Reiss. "I have to keep mentioning the blocking, because some tight ends, when you think of the greats in the game -- Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez -- those guys were as much receivers as anything. Gronkowski is a powerful blocker and they run behind him at times. That is part of the story as well."
Gronkowski is now up to 6,039 career receiving yards, just the 14th tight end to hit the 6,000-yard mark. Sunday was his 23rd career 100-yard game, moving him into sole possession for the third-most 100-yard games by a tight end, now trailing just Kellen Winslow (24) and Gonzalez (31) on that elite list.
