Rob Gronkowski recalls events before massive brawl with Seahawks during Super Bowl XLIX: "They gave us a cheap shot"

Rob Gronkowski sat down with Julian Edelman to recollect his memories from Super Bowl XLIX, when the Patriots beat the Seahawks to collect the first rings for the pair. In it, he visited how the infamous brawl came to be and put the blame firmly on the Seattle defense.

The tight end mentioned that he felt there had been cheap shots in some of the prior plays when New England was taking the knee to run out the clock. After the first couple, Rob Gronkowski said he knew there was going to be a brawl. And it is safe to say that he enjoyed it because he called it the highlight of the game and wished it had gone on a bit longer. He said,

"Remember the play before, I was like man they kind of came after us. Kind of gave us a cheap shot on the first knee. I think there was a knee before that. I was like the next one, I was like there's gonna be a brawl. So I was kind of prepared I was kind of ready and then all hell just broke loose from there. I'm glad it happened, bro... I kind of wish we battled longer actually thinking about it. This was the highlight of the game."

Super Bowl XLIX changed the narrative for Rob Gronkowski and Tom Brady

Not only did Rob Gronkowski and Julian Edelman win their first Super Bowl with the win over the Seahawks, it changed the narrative for Tom Brady as well. At that point, the GOAT quarterback already had three rings but had gone a decade without actually lifting the Lombardi Trophy.

A couple of losses to the New York Giants and Eli Manning had created murmurs about Tom Brady being a choker, which seems scarcely conceivable now. By winning that game, the GOAT could embark on his second Hall-of-Fame career as he would go on to win two more rings with the Patriots before winning another one with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

For the Seattle Seahawks, though, it remains a painful memory as they chose to throw the ball instead of running it when parked near the opposition endzone. Who knows how things might have turned out if Pete Carroll had decided to call a rushing play?

A Malcolm Butler interception on 2nd-and-goal with 21 seconds remaining changed the history of the NFL forever and gave rise to legends. Tom Brady burnished his credentials as the greatest of all time while Rob Gronkwoski announced himself as a first-time Super Bowl champion.