Listen to Robert Kraft's interview with Mike Lupica

Listen to Bob Kraft's interview on the Mike Lupica show in New York.

On Jets rivalry:
“You love the rivalry, you love the enmity that goes both ways,” he said. “They are always great games. The Jets always play us tough, they have a great coach down there. I understand how the fans relate to him. He sort of personifies the paradigm of the team. … There’s something about the Patriots-Jets game that puts it on the map as something special.”

On Belichick leaving Gronkowski in:
“He does make a good point,” Kraft said of Belichick in a Tuesday interview with Mike Lupica on ESPN New York Radio (listen to it here, around the 9-minute mark). “I’ve had this discussion (with Belichick) previous years, taking (Tom) Brady out or whatever, and he says, and I think it’s a valid point, when you start taking players out -- and you’re saying this guy stays in, he’s not as important as the other guy -- remember going back to that ’01 Super Bowl, we’ve always put team first and trying to treat everybody -- no matter where they stand on the pecking order -- the same, you can’t do it differently. I now accept that even though it hurts to see what happened to Gronk.”

Transcript via ESPNBoston