PHOENIX -- If you've come to Rob Gronkowski for nuanced discussion on deflated footballs at Media Day, your common sense has failed you in a disturbing manner.
The Patriots' tight end said he doesn't know anything about what does or does not happen to the footballs before kickoff for home games at Gillette Stadium. The way he says it, it's hard not to believe him.
"Deflategate has nothing to do with me except maybe my spikes," Gronk told a throng of media types at a sardine-packed US Airways Center. "We want to prove our doubters wrong."
Deflategate aside, this is a particularly special time in the career of the NFL's best tight end. In his only other Super Bowl trip, Gronk played through a painful high ankle sprain that clearly limited him in a narrow loss to the Giants. Last year, he missed the playoffs entirely after suffering a serious knee injury during the regular season.
It was the type of knee injury that some players don't make it back from. I asked Gronkowski when he knew that he did.
"Totally back to my old self? Going through training camp and everything was an experience, but after the fourth game of the season going into the Cincy game it felt like everything clicked," he said. "... I felt good out there again."
A look at Gronkowski's game log backs his self-assessment. In other Gronk news, he confirmed his party bus is currently on the road from Foxborough to Arizona for the game. A former University of Arizona star, I asked if the town would go up in flames if Gronk won a Super Bowl here.
"You'll see. Hopefully it ends that way and we'll see what happens."
I feel like it's my social responsibility to make the Glendale Fire Department aware of this development.
Follow Dan Hanzus on Twitter @DanHanzus.
The latest Around The NFL Podcast reacts to the Patriots' deflated footballs controversy and tells you whom to trust in Super Bowl XLIX. Find more Around The NFL content on NFL NOW.
