By Tom E. Curran
CSNNE.com Patriots InsiderFollow @tomecurran
FOXBORO - Gronk ready. An apparently tweaked ankle kept Patriots' second-year tight end Rob Gronkowski out of the preseason opener last week against Jacksonville. But it appears the big man is good to go Thursday night against Tampa Bay. And we will see if what has been a dominant string of practices will carry over to game conditions. Gronkowski's been a beast wherever he's been -- pass catching in the open field and blocking included. But he's really been unguardable in the red zone. And, for a Patriots' team that went 6-for-6 on red zone trips last week against the Jags, Gronkowski makes the offense that much more daunting. "You don't want to get in the red zone and be kicking field goals every time," Gronkowski lectured. "You know when you're in the red zone you want to be scoring touchdowns so we're out there every day focusing on the red zone, making sure everyone has their routes nice and crisp, the quarterback's on point and the tight ends are doing their job."Ten of Gronkowski's 42 catches in 2010 went for touchdowns.Based on how he's looked in camp, there's no reason to think that number will fall.Especially as the offense becomes a little easier for him to process. "The coaches and quarterbacks are telling me to listen to them more and I'm learning the ways they want me to run the routes in the red zone and not just me going out there and running them how I want to run them," Gronkowski explained when detailing the differences in his game since last year. "Just build and understand how everything is working together."Tom E. Curran can be reached at tcurran@comcastsportsnet.com. Follow Tom on Twitter at http:twitter.comtomecurran