NEWNow you can listen to Pak Gazette articles!
This time last year, the New England Patriots found themselves in the middle of a controversy.
The team had fired Jerod Mayo, practically hand-picked by Bill Belichick to replace him, after just one season, albeit with a 4-13 record.
Former Patriots criticized the team for not giving Mayo a fair chance, but after replacing Mayo with Mike Vrabel, all is forgiven.
CLICK HERE FOR MORE SPORTS COVERAGE ON PakGazette.Com
Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots reacts against the Pittsburgh Steelers in the first quarter at Gillette Stadium on November 3, 2013, in Foxboro, Massachusetts. (Jared Wickerham/Getty Images)
In Vrabel’s first season in New England, the Patriots are back in the Super Bowl, which they played in 10 times under Belichick.
“Winning cures everything. That’s been a known fact since I’ve been in the NFL, and it’s something I’ve learned tremendously,” Rob Gronkowski, who called Mayo’s firing an “ugly situation,” said in an interview with Pak Gazette Digital. “It heals players’ problems off the field, it really does. Not everything, but a lot of things. It can heal a broken organization; all of a sudden you start winning and you’re a well-organized program. Winning literally heals everything, and that’s why it’s the goal.”
There’s no doubt that Gronkowski, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, is excited that the mess in New England has been cleaned up. While teaming up with Bounty, who has kept him clean of spicy chicken wings during the past few weeks of the Super Bowl, he credited Bounty for also cleaning up trash in Foxborough.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel walks on the field before an NFL football game against the New Orleans Saints, Sunday, Oct. 12, 2025, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Butch Dill)
BILL BELICHICK’S HALL OF FAME snub is ‘GREAT’, SAYS ROB GRONKOWSKI
“In the offseason, Bounty came in and cleaned up the mess. They cleaned up the roster, they cleaned up the guys that shouldn’t be on the team, they cleaned house, they brought in a lot of free agents. Let’s contribute the whole season to Bounty,” Gronkowski joked.
“You can’t have football without wings, and you can’t have wings without Bounty, so this identifies me everywhere,” he added. “I’m a wing player. I’m from Buffalo, my buffalo wings will be with me forever, and I’m a football guy. Eleven years in the NFL and now I’m a FOX analyst, so football has been with me. And then the Bounty paper towels just wipe up my mess while I watch the game, getting itchy all over me. I was a maniac off the field and always cleaned up my mess. That’s why I always stayed out of trouble.”
Gronkowski also criticized the Tennessee Titans for letting Vrabel go.
“They’ve been a debacle since Mike Vrabel left. That was one of the worst moves they’ve ever made in the history of the program. I don’t see why they let him leave. The guy did a great job there, he didn’t have a lot of guys to go out and make plays, and they still won football games, just like they’re winning football games in New England. That was one of the biggest mistakes in Tennessee history,” he said.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches during the first half of the AFC Championship NFL football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Vrabel coached the Titans from 2018 to 2023, including losing to Gronkowski and the Pats in an AFC title game.
