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          Rob Gronkowski: 'I can't wait until I'm going crazy out there again'

          Rob Gronkowski said there were no health setbacks after his return last week against the Texans. Maddie Meyer/Getty Images
          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterSep 28, 2016, 04:30 PM ET
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              Mike Reiss is an NFL reporter at ESPN and covers the New England Patriots. Reiss has covered the Patriots since 1997 and joined ESPN in 2009. In 2019, he was named Massachusetts Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. You can follow Reiss on Twitter at @MikeReiss.
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          FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- Limited to just 14 snaps in his return to action last Thursday, New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski was eased carefully into the mix. This was the equivalent of dipping his toe into the water instead of taking a cannonball-type plunge.

          Gronkowski, for his part, wants the cannonball as soon as possible.

          "I can't wait until I'm going crazy out there again," he said Wednesday.

          But being smart trumps that type of approach, and Gronkowski noted that hamstring injuries aren't the type of thing to be pushed too hard.

          "You've got to be careful with any injury, but I mean, if you research hamstrings, if you know anything about hamstrings, you've definitely got to be careful," he said at the interview podium, where he was filling in for quarterback Jimmy Garoppolo. "You've got to progress. You can't just hop back in and be full-go 100 percent. I wish it was like that."

          Gronkowski reported that there were "no setbacks" after his return last Thursday. He was limited to three snaps in the second half but probably would have played more if the Patriots weren't so far ahead in the game.

          Overall, Gronkowski was sent on just two pass routes, and rookie Jacoby Brissett fired the ball over his head in the end zone on one of them. Gronkowski was mostly used as a blocker, and he didn't hold anything back.

          "Whenever I'm out on the field, I love to go full-go," he said, "but they put me in the plays where they felt more comfortable and when I was in those plays, I felt like I was ready to roll."