If you just looked at the final stat line, you'd say The Great Tight End "Battle" of 2018 was pretty much a draw.
The reigning champion, Rob Gronkowski, had three catches on four targets for 97 yards in the Patriots' eventual 43-40 victory over the Chiefs on Sunday night at Gillette Stadium.
The challenger, Kansas City's Travis Kelce, had five receptions on nine targets for 61 yards.
Of course, two of Gronkowski's catches came in the final 3:50 of the game and the receptions, of 42 and 39 yards (two of New England's three longest gains in the game), help set up the Patriots' final six points, including the game-winning field goal.
Of course, if you just went by the stats, you'd miss the much larger and important point when it comes to this silly discussion: if you paid attention to the way the Patriots used Gronkowski in this game, it was basically Josh McDaniels and Bill Belichick giving the middle finger to anyone who dared to compare Kelce to Gronkowski.
Yeah, they're looking at you, Booger McFarland and turncoat Rodney Harrison. Oh, especially you, Kelce.
"Gronk is a hell of a player, but like I said, I feel like I’m the best tight end in the league,” Kelce said on The Dan Patrick Show last year.
Looking at the way the Patriots used Gronkowski in this game, you could almost hear Belichick snorting as he looked over all the quotes about Kelce and Gronkowski and then yelling down the hall to McDaniels to say, "Hey Josh, shut all these people up."
Because what you saw on Sunday night was a clinic in what it means to be a complete tight end in the NFL. See, in order to be considered an NFL tight end, one needs to block and block well — or at least well enough for his own team to actually use him as a blocker. If not, that "tight end" is actually a receiver.
There was one tight end on the field at Gillette. The other guy had a dating show.
There are plenty of young, trendy tight ends in the NFL. Jermichael Finley of the Packers and Jimmy Graham of the Saints come to mind. But not many can hold a candle to Gronkowski in blocking, which makes him one of the more complete tight ends in the game.
He’s soon to get Pro Bowl and All-Pro consideration, and a day like Sunday against the Raiders, when he caught just one ball but did so much more, is a prime example of why.