Rob Gronkowski cleared for Super Bowl 52 after suffering concussion

One year after missing the entire 2017 postseason, Rob Gronkowski’s AFC Championship game was cut short due to a concussion. That injury won’t keep him from playing in the biggest game of the year, though.

Gronkowski has been cleared to play in Super Bowl 52, where his New England Patriots will vie for their third NFL championship in the past four years. He practiced in full all week and passed the concussion protocol on Thursday.

Standing in their way will be a hungry Philadelphia Eagles team that’s rallied behind backup quarterback Nick Foles en route to its first title game appearance since 2005.

There was never any real doubt that Gronkowski would play in the Super Bowl, especially when he confirmed it himself earlier in the week.

Gronkowski left the second quarter of the AFC Championship after absorbing a brutal helmet-to-helmet hit from Jaguars safety Barry Church. He had just one reception for 21 yards before leaving the field — though that was enough to give him more postseason receiving yards than any other tight end in NFL history.

That forced Tom Brady to stage a memorable fourth-quarter comeback without his biggest target. The veteran quarterback turned to Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola to turn a 20-10 deficit into a 24-20 path to the Super Bowl.

What this means for the Patriots: Gronkowski makes the New England offense nearly impossible to plan for. New England is 25-4 in games where he has at least 100 receiving yards, including a 3-0 mark this fall. Even if he isn’t 100 percent, Brady has proven he can win without his security blanket tight end; the Patriots are 4-2 in the postseason in games Gronkowski has missed due to injury.

What this means for the Eagles: Philadelphia has only faced off against Gronkowski once in the All-Pro tight end’s career — and that was back in 2011. Defensive coordinator Jim Schwartz will have to earn his paycheck by shutting down the matchup nightmare Belichick will deploy at tight end. As the Jaguars game showed, there’s no easy way to contain the rest of the Patriots receivers, either — despite having few other options, Brady completed 15 of his 21 passes to his top three wideouts (Cooks, Amendola, Chris Hogan) for 204 yards and two touchdowns. That makes even an obvious Patriot attack tough to plan against.