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This time last year, the New England Patriots found themselves in the middle of a controversy.
The team had fired Jerod Mayo, virtually hand-picked by Bill Belichick to replace him, after just one season, albeit a 4-13 campaign.
Former Patriots criticized the team for not giving Mayo a chance, but after replacing Mayo with Mike Vrabel, all is forgiven.
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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 returned to the Super Bowl, which they have appeared in 10 times under Belichick’s leadership.
“Winning cures everything. That’s a known fact since I’ve been in the NFL, and it’s something I’ve learned a tremendous amount from,” Rob Gronkowski, who called Mayo’s firing an “ugly situation,” said in an interview with PK Press Club Digital. “It cures 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 cures everything, and that’s why that’s the whole goal.”
There’s no doubt that Gronkowski, who won three Super Bowls with the Patriots, is thrilled that the mess in New England has been cleaned up. While teaming up with Bounty, who kept him away from the Buffalo Wings during the final weeks of the Super Bowl, he gave credit to Bounty for also cleaning up the 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/Dill Butch)
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“During the offseason, Bounty came in and cleaned up the mess. They cleaned up the roster, they cleaned out the guys that shouldn’t be on the team, they cleaned up, signed 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 it concerns me all over,” he added. “I’m a wingman. 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 an analyst for FOX, so football has been with me. And then the Bounty paper towels clean up my messes while I watch the game, getting all crazy all over the place. I was a maniac off the field and always cleaned up my messes. That’s why I always stayed away from the trouble.”
Gronkowski also ripped the Tennessee Titans for letting Vrabel go.
“They’ve had a debacle since Mike Vrabel left. It was one of the worst decisions they’ve ever made in the history of the program. I don’t see why they let him go. The guy did a great job there, he didn’t have a ton of guys to go out there and play, and they still won football games, just like they win football games in New England. It was one of the biggest mistakes of Tennessee history,” he said.
New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel watches the first half of the AFC NFL Championship football game against the Denver Broncos, Sunday, Jan. 25, 2026, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)
Vrabel coached the Titans from 2018-2023, even losing to Gronkowski and the Pats in an AFC title game.
