Rob Gronkowski entered Week 3 on a 3-game hot streak going back to Super Bowl LV. Over those games, Gronkowski tallied 18 receptions for 196 yards and six touchdowns. However, the All-Pro didn’t fare as well on Sunday, during the Rams 34-24 victory over the Bucs.

The loss wasn’t on Gronkowski. In fact, while Bucs fans (rightfully) expect their team to score more than 24 points every game, this was, in my opinion, an overwhelmingly positive game for the offense (more on that later this week). This made Gronkowski’s struggles stick out even more.

With the score tied at zero, the Buccaneers faced a pivotal moment in the first quarter on third-and-5. The Rams showed man coverage pre-snap with a single-high safety. Tom Brady knew Gronkowski’s corner route would be his best option against this defense and that there’d be open space away from the safety. While under pressure in the pocket, Brady anticipated the pass perfectly and began his throwing motion before Gronkowski even made his cut. Gronkowski dropped the accurately placed ball.

With less than a minute to go in the second quarter, and the Rams up 14-7, Brady connected with Chris Godwin for a big gain off of Bruce Arians’ Tier concept. The play was negated by an offensive pass interference penalty from Gronkowski. In fairness to Gronkowski, this was an extremely questionable call.

Later in the possession, Gronkowski drew an impossible matchup. The Bucs left him one-on-one against Aaron Donald in pass protection off the edge. It’s unclear why the pass protection was set in a way that would leave Donald against a single blocker, especially when that blocker is a tight end. Donald easily rushed by Gronkowski and caused a sack-fumble for a loss of six yards. The drive ended with Ryan Succop missing wide right on a 55-yard field goal attempt.

Down 31-17 with a goal-to-go late in the third quarter, the Bucs had an opportunity to get back in the game. Brady recognized the Rams’ Cover 1 Hole defense. Against the strong coverage, Brady put the ball perfectly on the outside where only Gronkowski could make a play. However, as Jon Ledyard pointed out during the Pewter Report Gameday livestream, Gronkowski mistimed his jump and failed to pull in the would-be touchdown. The drive ended with a short field goal.

The Buccaneers came out with a 1×3 formation (1×3, as opposed to 3×1, denotes that a tight end is the isolated player) on first-and-ten midway through the fourth quarter. Brady recognized that Gronkowski was one-on-one and threw to the fade route against press coverage. Again though, Gronkowski’s timing was off, and he slowed down while the ball was in the air. The 32-year old tight end was grabbed by the defensive back, but should finish stronger through contact.

This was a rare game with several miscues from the future Hall of Famer. The encouraging part is, despite the mistakes, Gronkowski looked good physically and athletically. In fact, he created separation against faster, smaller cornerbacks multiple times. The vast majority of the time, Gronkowski will finish most of these plays. But on Sunday, the fact that he didn’t was a major contributor to the Bucs’ loss.

Gronkowski will look to bounce back when he returns to New England to face the Patriots next Sunday night.