“Tom Brady Knows This is the Bread-and-Butter Route”: Rob Gronkowski Recalls Facing the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field in 2011

The New England Patriots and Philadelphia Eagles meet every four years in the regular season. They play one another at their respective home stadiums just once every eight seasons. As a result, Rob Gronkowski only battled the Eagles at Lincoln Financial Field one time in the NFL.

He reflected on the 2011 contest on Up & Adams ahead of this weekend’s NFC Championship game. Gronkowski told host Kay Adams how he’d felt getting the ball on his scoring grab prior to the snap.

“I remember that play… I just ran right by the linebacker… then I gotta split the safeties because they’re playing two-high… Tom [Brady] knows this is the bread-and-butter route. He knows I love to run this route… he just fed me right up the middle, and kaboom! Touchdown. Gronk Spike.”

The matchup went well for New England, who dominated Philadelphia 38-20. Gronkowski had his usual impact that afternoon, making four receptions for 59 yards and a touchdown.

Gronkowski’s proficiency in the drag route has earned it high praise, with Pro Football Focus rating his drag route as one of the best in the league, achieving a grade of 95.2 since 2005.

While Brady and Gronk loved running the bread-and-butter route as it got them TDs, Brady didn’t love how it put Gronk in harm’s way.

“The concussion,” Brady recounted to Patriots insider Phil Perry in 2018. “The Cleveland game and the ACL. The Denver game, too. Remember in the snow? Yeah, he missed the Eagles game. Four times,” he recounted the number of times Rob got injured running up the seam.

Gronkowski scored 92 touchdowns in his career. There was nothing out of the ordinary with him finding the end zone. The Patriots did have something unique transpire, though, on the other side of the ball.

Rob Gronkowski details Julian Edelman playing… defense?

Before he established himself as a reliable chain mover for Tom Brady, Julian Edelman was a jack of all trades for New England. The 2009 seventh-round pick recorded only four catches in the 2011 season, but made 18 tackles on defense and special teams. The Patriots were decimated at cornerback, so he regularly made appearances – and stops – from the slot.

Gronkowski praised Edelman’s blitz and subsequent hit on Vince Young during Up & Adams.

“He’s such a trickster… look at that hit! That’s perfect form. That’s teach tape… for all you defensive players, that’s Julian Edelman putting up teach tape out on the football field… that’s good stuff.”

Edelman eventually found his footing as a receiver, posting 6,822 yards and 36 touchdowns in his career. He didn’t frequent the defensive side after that 2011 campaign, but the memories he created will live on in New England’s lore for years to come.