Tom Brady made sure Rob Gronkowski got his money. In the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ final game of the regular season on Sunday, Gronkowski had a chance to make an extra $1 million in incentive bonuses if he caught seven passes and 85 yards. Hitting both of those marks would give the star tight end $500,000 each, and while Gronkowski got the yards early in the second half against the Carolina Panthers, he still needed one more reception with seven minutes to go in the fourth quarter. The Bucs were winning big at the time and already clinched a spot in the playoffs. But Brady told the coaches he wasn’t coming out of the game until he made sure Gronkowski got his one catch, which was shown on the CBS broadcast.
Brady got Gronkowski his one catch and exited the game shortly after. Gronkowski finished the game with seven catches for 137 yards in the 41-17 victory. After the game, Gronkowski was asked about getting two big bonuses to end the regular season.
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“It was really nice to get it,” Gronkowski said, per Pro Football Talk. “Hitting incentives is cool. The Buccaneers are a great organization, putting me in a position where I can hit those incentives, which is awesome. I love playing here. I love playing for this organization. It’s cool to hit those. I’m going to have to bring out all the tight ends to dinner. A couple of the quarterbacks — I don’t bring Tom out, I’ll bring the backups out to dinner.”
For Brady, he was happy with the way the Bucs took control of the game, especially at the end of the first half. “It’s good when you get a double-score like that,” Brady said, per the Bucs’ official website. “Fourteen points and they don’t touch the ball is pretty good. Guys made a bunch of big plays. Gronk obviously played great. Mike played huge. … Today got off to a little bit of a rough start but we found a way to get some rhythm, and when we do that it’s pretty good. We did a good job of taking care of the football today, we did a good job with penalties, good job in the red area, good job on third downs. We’re going to have to keep it going.”
The Bucs finished the season with a 13-4 record, which ties them with the Green Bay Packers for the best record in the NFL. Gronkowski finished the season with 55 catches for 802 yards and six touchdowns. Brady finished the year with 5,316 yards, 43 touchdowns and 12 interceptions.
