It ended up being a match made in heaven.
Bill Belichick and Rob Gronkowski.
The stoic no nonsense head coach and the goofy tight end who loved to party.
Who would have thought?
The pair ended up winning three Super Bowl rings together during their time in New England, but it wasn’t all Lombardi Trophies and roses at first.
Belichick knew Gronkowski had the talent to be one of the all-time greats, but he also knew that Gronk needed to keep a good head on his shoulders and cut out a lot of the distractions and antics he put on himself.
On Gronk’s podcast with former teammate Julian Edelman, Dudes on Dudes, the two discussed the time when Belichick first put the tight end on blast.
In front of the whole team.
It was a moment that really humbled the once young eccentric player out of Arizona.
Gronk had once famously said that it takes ten guys on the field to bring him down.
He was talking a big game going into his second season in the league, a year after scoring ten touchdowns as a rookie.
Belichick knew he had to check Gronk’s growing ego.
“Coach Belichick loved not giving any info to the media,” Gronkowski recalled.
“Or hype yourself up and make expectations that aren’t reachable…”
Belichick put together clips of Gronkowski saying it takes ten guys to bring him down, all while missing a handful of blocks to show to the entire team the next day.
“He puts that little clip up on the screen the next day, and he makes an example out of me,” Gronk said.
“He goes, ‘You’re telling everyone it takes ten guys to tackle you, how about you just shut the f up’?
“It was funny, he had the whole entire team laughing.”
Edelman knew that was Belichick’s way of getting through to him.
“That was his way of getting at you,” Edelman said.
“If you hyped yourself up, he would read it to the team, and then he would just show you the seven worst plays that you did in the game…
“He would humble you through your play, through facts.”
“If you did talk a big game and you backed it up, he leaves you alone,” Gronkowski added.
What did Gronk do later that year?
Set the record for most touchdown receptions in a single season among tight ends, with 17.
Safe to say it all worked out for Belichick, Gronkowski and the Patriots.
