Doug Saffir

In 2011, the Patriots fell victim to yet another Bernard Pollard-induced injury.

Rob Gronkowski severely sprained his ankle and was barely healthy when it came time to play the New York Giants in the Super Bowl. He played nonetheless, and only managed to contribute 26 yards on two catches.

This year, the Patriots will once again be without Gronkowski should they make it to the ‘ship. Only this year, they’ll have had some practice doing it.

Gronkowski’s broken arm has impacted the team already this season, keeping the star tight end on the sidelines for a five game stretch in the middle of the season.

Unsurprisingly, the team survived without him during one of the toughest stretches of their schedule.

In those five games, Tom Brady averaged 313.4 yards passing and the team averaged 416.8 yards of total offense.

And in the other 11 games, when New England had Gronkowski on the field?

Brady averaged 296.36 yards passing and the team averaged 432.9 yards of total offense.

Now, it’s important not to take these numbers to mean the team is better off without Gronkowski. He’s obviously one of the most dangerous offensive weapons in the NFL, and a stellar blocker on top of that.

But it does show that the team is capable of succeeding without him.

Not only did Brady put up better numbers in those five games, and not only did the offense produce comparably to when Gronkowski was a part of it, but they did those things against defenses ranked 8th (2nd against the pass), 21st (27th against the pass), 7th (16th against the pass), 3rd (4th against the pass), and 30th (22nd against the pass).

While there were a few “cupcakes” in that stretch, New England succeeded even against the most stalwart challengers.

The Patriots put up 42 on a then-respected Houston Texans defense, and just one week later Brady and company recovered from a 31-10 deficit to put up 34 against the always-respected San Francisco 49ers defense.

There’s no question the road to the Super Bowl is going to be a tough one made tougher by Gronkowski’s absence. The Ravens are a force to be reckoned with (especially when it comes to New England) and the 49ers (who I presume will dominate the Falcons this weekend) handed New England one of just four losses this year.

But there’s no doubt that New England can win without their star tight end, and the numbers prove it.

(Photo Courtesy SportsTalkFlorida)