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          New England Patriots

          Patriots' Rob Gronkowski 'satisfied' with how injured hamstring is healing

          • Mike Reiss, ESPN Staff WriterSep 21, 2016, 12:00 AM
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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. -- New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski stopped short Tuesday of making any declarative statements about the health of his injured hamstring or his availability for Thursday night's home game against the Houston Texans, saying only that he felt "decent."

          "We'll see," he said. "It will definitely be a coach's decision, a trainer's decision. We'll all come together.

          "I'm just doing everything I can right now to be as healthy as I can be. I'm improving every single day. Basically, day by day right now. … Obviously, you just don't wake up and you're 100 percent, but I'm satisfied with the improvements."

          Gronkowski was a limited participant in Tuesday's practice, showing up in full pads for the walkthrough session. He explained that he wore the full pads to get a feel for them, and that it's also part of his recovery and training regimen.

          "You just want to get a feel for your shoulder pads when you haven't been in them," he said.

          Gronkowski said that he's doing everything he can to return, calling it "super hard" to not be able to join his teammates for games. He first injured his hamstring Aug. 15.