Dr Flynn's Mailbag: Evaluating Gronk after concussion, will flu bug impact Eagles?

Happy Super Bowl weekend, BSJ friends! I hope that you have been enjoying the week and the incredible content that Chris and Greg have been bringing you from the great Mall of America as much as I have. The week got away from me and my Friday mailbag turned into a Special Edition Super Bowl Saturday mailbag!

I’ve really had a blast answering your great football questions all season and look forward to focusing more on the other Boston teams after Sunday. As always, if you didn’t get a question to me in time, no worries. Hit me up on Twitter @jessdeede or check out the contact information at the bottom of this mailbag. I’m always glad to hear from you!

 Enjoy Super Bowl 52, everyone! Now, for your questions…

Doc, we all know Gronk has been cleared to play Sunday, having said that how much more susceptible is he to another concussion playing just two weeks removed from his last ? (Murph, @TMurph207)


Gronk was cleared from concussion protocol on Thursday, after sustaining a helmet-to-helmet hit in the AFC Championship game 2 weeks ago. He travelled with the team to Minneapolis and participated in practice in a limited capacity prior to Thursday. While he was unable to formally meet with the media while still officially in the protocol, he made remarks to media that he did expect to play on Sunday. Clearance means that Rob Gronkowski is not experiencing any symptoms of concussion (i.e. headaches, difficulty concentrating or sleeping, irritability, etc) either at rest or with full football activity. It also means that his baseline neurocognitive testing is similar to his baseline. Once an NFL athlete in Gronk’s situation clears concussion protocol, I do not expect him to be limited in terms of quality of play.

Any athlete who suffers a concussion is at increased risk of a second concussion for a period of time. It may take less force to cause a second concussion and a second injury can take longer to heal. While I do not expect Gronk’s recent head injury to impact him on game day, if he sustains another big hit, his brain will be more susceptible to a second concussive injury.

Did Belichick plant a minor flu strain in the Eagles locker room before they departed for Minnesota? Sounded like quite a few defensive players were affected - do you think this will impact game day stamina? (Josh Pilling, @joshpilling)

Hahahaha….do you think that they asked the Eagles if Malcolm Butler could hop a later flight with them to Minnesota?

This time of year is tough for upper respiratory viruses and NFL athletes are no exception. In fact, they’re at significant risk. Think about it - they are physically taxed by this point in the season, many of them are at an age where they have young children/petri dishes, they spend a lot of time with each other, some of that time together is quite…umm…intimate (tackling, hand-offs, team drills). Oh yes, and SOME of them are flying commercial.

The Patriots tend to keep sick athletes away from the facility and teammates to prevent the spread of germs. A great example was this week when Malcolm Butler flew separate from the rest of the team. However, sometimes a virus is spread before symptoms even arise. The Eagles have been dealing with a virus for over a week. Even the coaching staff has been affected. While this can be a bit of distraction during game preparation, I would not expect it to be a major factor on game-day.

Tom Brady battled a bad flu-like illness going into SB SLIX and it all turned out okay for him. This year he was one step ahead in his preparation - he made sure to wear gloves on both hands before shaking hands with ANY of the Eagles players on opening night.

Are the Patriots ever obligated to inform us what illness Tony Garcia has/had? (@Patscap)

Tony Garcia was placed on the Non-football Injury (NFI) list after participating in a portion of training camp. This designation means that an illness or injury was sustained outside of football activities. Teams are not required to disclose the reason for an athlete being on the NFI list.

Is this the healthiest the pats have been all year? Any major injuries (Edelman, HT, Cjones) linger to next yr? (#MCFC, @ClarkBar1414)

On a typical game week, the Patriots’ injury report list can put War and Peace to shame. Going into Super Bowl 52, however, New England is looking healthier than they have all season. However, that health has to come with an asterisk (*). I was watching Super Bowl 51 last night, because the Pats may not be allowed to look back but I am. And there they were: Malcolm Mitchell’s clutch second-half receptions, Julian Edelman’s impossible catch, Dont’a Hightower’s momentum-changing strip sack. The game-changers. And all were lost to injury early this season. None of them should have an issue being ready for the start of next season, but man will they be missed on Sunday.