Gronkowski quickly skips out on mid-week press conference

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FOXBORO — Sometimes it’s on us. 

Sometimes we, as reporters, don’t shoot rapid-fire questions in the direction of whomever happens to be standing at the podium on a given day. 

That can, for the center of attention, lead to a feeling of, “What am I doing here?” And that, in turn, can lead to several minutes of awkwardness. 

Wednesday felt like one of those days for a bit. And the awkwardness seemed to lead to short answers from Rob Gronkowski. And those short answers sparked subsequent conversations about where Gronkowski's head is at through eight weeks of the 2018 season. 

The Patriots tight end stood at the podium and waited Wednesday afternoon. Eventually the back-and-forth veered toward his level of production, which hasn’t necessarily been Gronkowski-like lately. He had three catches for 43 yards in Buffalo, and he hasn’t been in the end zone since Week 1.

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"I'm not really sure,” he said. “Yeah. Everything. All of it. Everything you said. I don't know what to say."

How much does he “miss” being in the end zone?

“I think,” Gronkowski said in what was the lightest moment of the presser, “it misses me.”

Is he frustrated? A significant amount of money, of course, is tied to the incentives in his contract for 2018  

"Nah,” he said. “I mean, we're 6-2. We just won five games in a row. We're just trying to get the ‘W’ every week."

Because Gronkowski was not his typical self at the podium, I asked how he was feeling ("Living"), and pointed out he seemed subdued ("Thank you"). 

The last question had to do with confidence. 

Why ask about confidence? There was his general demeanor Wednesday, and his answer to the why-the-lack-of-touchdowns question. There was also the moment he told me about a few weeks ago when he approached Tom Brady after the Chiefs game to thank his quarterback for throwing to him late. 

It seemed an odd thing for him to say to Brady at the time. Of course Brady would throw to him in a critical spot, right? He's Rob Gronkowski. That's what Brady tried to tell him in that moment, saying very clearly, "Forever!" -- as in, he's going to Gronkowski in those spots forever.

Understanding the gist of their conversation, and seeing Brady laud his friend publicly multiple times in the 24 hours after that chat, it seemed as though confidence wasn't exactly oozing from the All-Pro tight end.

The confidence question didn't seem to bother Gronkowski much because he smiled all the way through it, but it was the last question he took. 

"Where would you say your confidence level is at right now?"

"It's good," he answered.

"Why," I asked?

"Because we're winning," he said. "Alright guys, thank you."

He might've been frustrated with the line of questioning. He might've been frustrated with the fact that he was being asked to talk about his relative lack of production. Or he felt like he was wasting his time.

Hard to say. But it was performance that was not exactly . . . Gronkowski-like. And when that happens, we wonder why. 

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