Jalen Ramsey continues to build anticipation for Gronk matchup
By Chris Wurtz
Jalen Ramsey has proven time and time again that he won’t back down from anybody. He dug his heels even deeper in the ground Thursday afternoon.
As his Jaguars prepare to host Rob Gronkowski and the New England Patriots on Sunday, cornerback Jalen Ramsey keeps on talking. The All-Pro corner is just a walking sound-byte at this point.
“I don’t fear no man, period,” Ramsey told reporters Thursday, according to an ESPN report. “So he’s going to have to come out there and line up on me.”
Ramsey went on to say that he doesn’t believe in having friends on the field, ESPN’s Michael DiRocco wrote. Ramsey said that that’s how he respects the game of football.
As if the football world wasn’t already looking forward to this AFC Championship game rematch enough, Ramsey keeps on adding fuel to the fire. Just a few weeks ago, Ramsey told ESPN’s Mina Kimes that he didn’t think Gronk was as good as people think he is.
All eyes will be on the matchup, as we can expect Ramsey to be lined up against Gronk quite a bit. New England doesn’t have a bona fide No. 1 receiver on its roster, as the position group is currently led by the trusty Chris Hogan and underwhelming Phillip Dorsett.
So Ramsey will be able to key in on Gronk a bit more than he did in last year’s AFC Championship game, when the Patriots still had deep threat Brandin Cooks on the outside. In that game, Gronkowski reeled in just one catch for 21 yards before exiting the game with a concussion late in the first half.
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Ramsey’s comments come on the heels of a middling performance in a highly-anticipated showdown with the Giants’ Odell Beckham Jr. Beckham racked up 11 catches for 111 yards in the game, including six catches for 87 yards against Ramsey. The numbers indicate that Ramsey took one on the chin and had to eat his words, but the verdict becomes a bit fuzzier when you look deeper. A number of Beckham’s grabs came either against zone coverage or on rub routes.
When Gronkowski comes to town, all eyes are going to be on he and Ramsey. The trash-talking corner has backed it up before, and doesn’t plan on stopping any time soon.