Surgery for Gronk

Pollard is notorious for injuring Patriot
players, doing the same to Gronkowski.

Rob Gronkowski's ankle may have it's own Twitter account (@GronksAnkle) with 349 followers, but it had much more important things to worry about on Friday.

The New England Patriot tight end underwent successful arthroscopic surgery on his injured left ankle and is expected to make a full recovery within 10 weeks. Despite Gronkowski saying he was "100 percent" following this team's Super Bowl XLVI lost to the New York Giants, it was clear that was not the case.

Gronkowski only caught two passes from quarterback Tom Brady for 26 yards. But it was the play that the second-year tight end couldn't make that really swung the momentum on Super Sunday.

Clinging to a 17-14 lead in the fourth quarter, New England was in the middle of a four-play, 23-yard drive before, on the fifth play of the drive, Brady pulled a Houdini-like escape from the vaunted New York pass rush and heaved the ball down the field to Gronkowski.

The pass was under thrown and intercepted by linebacker Chase Blackburn. Gronkowski did is best to make a play on the ball -- a play he normally makes if healthy. It was the only turnover of the game.

Gronkowski, along with teammate Matt Light, were under heavy scrutiny earlier in the week after a video was released of the two partying and dancing after the loss. And while Gronkowski looked limited on the gridiron just hours earlier, it didn't seem that way on the dance floor.

All in all, it was a great season for the Patriots and Gronkowski.

The 22-year-old emerged as the most dominate tight end the NFL this season, setting records in the process. Gronkowski finished the regular season with 17 receiving touchdowns and 1,327 yards -- both single-season records for a tight end.

'Gronk', as his teammates call him, added three more touchdowns to his total in the postseason before suffering his high-ankle sprain in the AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens, beginning the talk of the most famous ankle in sports history.

Oddly enough Gronkowski injured his ankle on a tackle by safety Bernard Pollard. It's not the first time Pollard has injured a significant member of the New England franchise. In Week 1 of the 2008-09 season, Pollard, then a member of the Kansas City Chiefs, was responsible for the low hit on Brady's left leg that torn his ACL and had him miss the entire season.

The following year, in Week 17 against the Houston Texans, with a healthy Brady and the Patriots primed for another deep playoff, wideout Wes Welker caught a first quarter pass and ran for 13 yards before trying to make a move on Pollard, to avoid a tackle. In the process, Welker also torn his ACL and was lost for the rest of the season.

Not any one player can win a team a Super Bowl, but Brady, Welker and Gronkowski were all key components to making their respective teams go, leaving the Patriots to wonder, what could have been.

Pollard is a free agent after the 2012-13 season -- a free agent the Patriots should look into, living by the old cliche, if you can't beat 'em, join 'em.