Trying to stop Rob Gronkowski from scoring is a bit of a nightmare, so it was surprising to no one that the New England Patriots lobbed it up for the 6’6, 265-pound tight end on their final play. It especially didn’t surprise the Seattle Seahawks, who practiced that exact scenario two days before the game.
Kam Chancellor practiced defending the exact Gronk play that sealed the game for the Seahawks
The Seahawks knew that stopping a jump ball to Rob Gronkowski would be tough so they made sure to prepare for the scenario.
Photo by Jim Rogash/Getty Images
“In practice, we actually ended the same exact way,” Seahawks safety Kam Chancellor told ESPN’s Sheil Kapadia. “Same side of the field. It was against [practice squad TE] Marcus Lucas. He did the same exact route, and we both fell and hit the ground, just like that.
“But I actually got my hand on the ball on that one. He didn’t push me, so it was just a little different. But Gronk’s a great competitor, and with us two on the field, why not end it like that?”
Lucas is a 6’4, 235-pound tight end who has been on four different rosters in three seasons, so Gronkowski was much more for Chancellor to try to handle. But the four-time Pro Bowl safety held his own and didn’t draw a pass interference call that would’ve reset the downs for New England.
It was a return to the lineup for Chancellor who suffered a groin injury in Week 4. After the game, Richard Sherman said “there’s no quantifying the impact” of Chancellor, and Carroll was happy to see work on the practice field translate to a game.
“It was a big moment in practice because Kam was battling,” Carroll said. “He wanted to prove that he could do it.”
The 24 points scored by the Patriots is the team’s fewest since Tom Brady’s return to the lineup and the Seahawks became the first team to intercept a New England quarterback in 2016.
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