Gronk's teammates defend his character, say he isn't dirty

Tom Szczerbowski | Getty Images

Sometimes our frustrations get the best of us, especially in sports.

New England Patriots’ tight end Rob Gronkowski enacted in a rough late hit on Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre’Davious White in the game this past Sunday, and the situation has been a hot topic amongst sports media as of late.

Rather than speaking about the situation directly, Gronk’s teammates, tight end Dwayne Allen and safety Duron Harmon, defended his character – saying that he’ll take the circumstances, learn from it and grow as a player.

“Rob is a guy who is a tremendous player, a high-character guy who comes to work, loves his teammates, loves playing the game of football and goes about playing the game the right way,” Allen said. “I’ve only had one year with Rob, but everything Rob has shown me this year has been a guy who loves the game football, and goes about playing it the right way, and would not want to harm anyone. Rob is one of the greatest teammates I’ve been around.”

“It’s tough to comment on that because all in itself, it’s just bad, but I’ve known Gronk for five years now,” Harmon said. “Gronk is not only a tremendous football player, but a tremendous teammate. Would do anything for you. Always has a smile on his face. Always doing the right thing. At that moment, it didn’t happen, but I wouldn’t call Gronk a dirty player. Just a bad situation.”

The late hit was very out of character for the 28-year old, and he’ll take his punishment when he serves his one-game suspension for his team’s next game – a Monday Night Football matchup against the Miami Dolphins.

But Harmon put it as simple as this: “Learn from it, move forward and when he gets his opportunity again, play well.”

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