Rob Gronkowski has been on a bigger stage since the NFL Playoffs started. FOX has put him on the FOX NFL Sunday set alongside its Hall of Fame crew of analysts. Scott Zolak of 98.5 The Sports Hub says it isn’t going well.
Zolak and Rob “Hardy” Poole broke down the former Patriot’s performance from halftime of Sunday’s NFC Championship game. Both immediately noticed how much trouble Gronk had pronouncing names and words as he tried to preview what he thought could be the keys to the day’s later game in Kansas City.
In trying to explain the prowess of the Cincinnati defense, Gronkowski pronounced Buffalo as “buffle” and “rattle Mahomes” as “rabble Me Homes”. That last one, Hardy says, made Gronk sound like a leprechaun.
“You’ve morphed into Lou Holtz!” Scott Zolak said listening back to the audio.
The entire Zolak and Bertrand crew remarked on how unnatural and uncomfortable Rob Gronkowski’s delivery is. That led Zolak to wonder why he is in the role in the first place.
“Who at FOX thinks this is good?”
While the show had plenty of laughs at Rob Gronkowski’s expense, Scott Zolak did stick up for him a little bit. He said he actually felt bad for Gronkowski because what some people online were using as evidence of his stupidity isn’t even what was actually happening.
“The sad part is people are ripping him saying he can’t read off a prompter,” Zolak said. “That’s not a prompter.”
He theorized that producers had worked with Rob Gronkowski to understand the window of time available. To Zolak, the mealy-mouthed delivery sounded like someone rushing through talking points they put together in their head.
