http://www.csnne.com/new-england-pa...ion-between-rob-and-team?p=ya5nbcs&ocid=yahoo
Kraft: 'Never been any friction between Rob and the team'
FOXBORO -- Patriots president Jonathan Kraft shed a bit more light on why the team released a statement earlier this week, describing Rob Gronkowski's injury and explaining that he would be back when ready.
"Before the game was over, people were saying he was gone for the year," Kraft said. "And within 24 hours people were saying he's gonna be back for this game."
The purpose of the release was to end the speculation that had been circulating following the Patriots loss to the Broncos, when Gronkowski was injured in the fourth quarter, and early into this early part of this week.
"There's a couple players where the magnitude of the interest rises to a whole other level," Kraft said. "Putting out a statement . . . just ended mindless speculation on either side."
The statement, released in conjunction with the Gronkowski family, explained that Gronkowski's knee had a bone bruise/sprain.
"We thought our fans should know that," Kraft said, "and hopefully [it helped] the media members that didn't want to chase rumor innuendo for weeks."
Bill Belichick, who seemed a bit agitated to have to talk about the statement after it was published, said on Wednesday that the Patriots were only hoping to be "cooperative" with reporters by publishing a release.
Kraft said Belichick, as well as everyone else in the organization, thought it was a good idea to make the statement.
"Everybody in the organization was completely on board with doing it," Kraft said. "I don't know if Bill likes talking about it when it's done, which is a separate issue."
Asked if there has ever been any friction between Gronkowski and the Patriots, Kraft responded firmly
"There's never been any friction between Rob and the team," Kraft said, calling him the "quintessential" Patriot.
"He works as hard as anybody does in this building," Kraft went on. "The only thing I don't know about Rob is when he sleeps because he works incredibly hard at football, [and] he does as much in the comm as anybody on this team."
Kraft added: "From the day he donned that [Patriots] helmet [at the 2010 draft], it's been awesome having him here."