Earl Thomas with the BOOM on Gronk. pic.twitter.com/ySkzHW9aeM
— uSTADIUM (@uSTADIUM) November 14, 2016
Rob Gronkowski is 6-foot-6, 265 pounds. He is a very large man. Even in the world of football, he is a behemoth who will very rarely absorb the worst part of a big hit. On Sunday night, however, the 5-foot-10, 202-pound Earl Thomas hit Gronkowski harder than he’s ever been hit.
From Pro Football Talk:
“Yeah, that was a big hit for sure; probably one of the hardest I’ve got hit in my career for sure,” Gronkowski said to reporters after the game. “[It was] by a good player; a good fast player who’s like a missile. It was a good, clean hit; nothing against it. I just took it and it just knocked the wind out of me a little bit, that’s all. If you’ve ever gotten the wind knocked out of you, you know what that feels like. Just down for about a minute or two, it’s a little tough to breath, but once it comes back, you’re good.”
Thomas does hit Gronkowski square in the mid-section, so it makes sense that he couldn’t breathe for a few seconds. Getting wind knocked out of you will make you think you’re dying, so I wonder if Gronk started to see his life flash before his eyes. Did he feel regret about 69 jokes he didn’t make? Yes, that’s all he thought about. His last words will be, “Nice.”