New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski summed up his status for Sunday's Week 1 game against the Miami Dolphins in seven simple words: "I'm good to go. I'll be playing," he said.
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Gronkowski has been sidelined since having surgery for a torn right ACL on Jan. 9 and his long road to recovery leads him to a Week 1 matchup against the Dolphins at Sun Life Stadium in Miami on Sunday.
Gronkowski appeared in full-team drills for the first time on Aug. 18, but he didn't appear at all for the team in the preseason as it went 2-2 on the exhibition slate. The tight end is excited for his return to in-game action.
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"Super excited, super pumped. I feel mentally and physically ready, for sure. No doubt about it," Gronkowski said Monday via ESPN. "My mentality now is I'm ready to go, I'm ready to be out there, I'm ready to hit, I'm ready to start going."
Gronkowski returned from a forearm injury last year and didn't appear in every down, so he knows he may not be fully active on Sunday.
"Definitely not [playing] every single snap, but just get out there, get my feet wet, whatever coaches have, whatever we game-plan this week will be good," he said.
Gronkowski said that he will most likely wear a brace on Sunday to prevent having to go through another injury and he's happy his hard work will be rewarded.
"It feels good to be out here now this week, preparing for the Dolphins, knowing that I put myself in the best situation the last few weeks and few months to get back out here," he said. "That was my plan the whole time -- to work as hard as I could so I'd be ready for this week."
Gronkowski, 25, is hoping to play in all 16 games for New England this season for the first time since 2011. After being limited to just 11 contests in 2012, Gronkowski appeared in seven games last season, amassing just 39 catches for 592 yards with four touchdowns.
New England finished with a 12-4 mark last year, winning the AFC East for the fifth straight season before falling to the Denver Broncos in the AFC Championship Game.
Gronkowski's health will give the Patriots -- who enter the season as the favorite to win the division crown for a sixth straight year -- a better shot at getting deeper in the postseason this year and the steps toward achieving that ultimate goal start with a meeting with the Dolphins on Sunday.
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