Terry Bradshaw told fellow FOX NFL analyst Rob Gronkowski he should be ashamed of himself during a heated pregame segment about the Carolina Panthers on Sunday
12:26 ET, 24 Nov 2025Updated 12:26 ET, 24 Nov 2025
Terry Bradshaw and Rob Gronkowski get in a heated back and forth about the Carolina Panthers on FOX NFL KIckoff pregame show
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Terry Bradshaw and Rob Gronkowski appeared on FOX NFL Kickoff, the show which precedes FOX NFL Sunday(Image: FOX NFL Kickoff)
Terry Bradshaw and Rob Gronkowski exchanged jabs over a claim about whether the Carolina Panthers are for real this NFL season.
During a pregame segment on FOX NFL Kickoff, studio host Charissa Thompson asked Gronkowski if he is a “believer or not a believer” in the Panthers, who are off to an uncharacteristically strong start to the year at 6-5 ahead of their Monday Night Football tilt against the San Francisco 49ers.
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“Not a believer, they’re so inconsistent,” Gronkowski replied, before being accosted by Bradshaw. “You ought to be ashamed of yourself. That’s just not right. What’s wrong with you?” Bradshaw told Gronkowski, seemingly coming to the defense of the Panthers.
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Bradshaw, who was appearing on FOX NFL Kickoff after missing last week’s FOX NFL Sunday show due to an illness, caught both Thompson and Gronkowski off guard given the longtime analyst’s usual friendliness both on and off the air.
Bradshaw continued, “There was a time when your team wasn’t that good and you got on a run, and here on television I went and told America that New England is…,” before being cut off by Gronkowski.
“What team was that?” said Gronkowski, who only played for highly successful New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers teams in his career. “What about you Terry? It sounded like you had a losing record, you were 6-8 at one time.”
“You can’t be talking over me,” Bradshaw clapped back. “It’s irritating to the viewer.”
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It isn’t exactly clear what Bradshaw was referring to when Gronkowski cut him off, given the Patriots never had a record close to Carolina’s at this point of the season during Gronkowski’s nine-year stint with the franchise.
In fact, during Gronk’s tenure, New England’s worst record through 12 weeks was 8-3.
It is possible that Bradshaw, who also stood across from Julian Edelman, another former Patriot, during the “heated” back and forth, was picking on Gronkowski for the sake of making entertaining television.
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After all, the Panthers aren’t considered a legitimate contender despite their record, and Bradshaw may have felt the need to stand up for them.
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Bradshaw and Gronkowski each won four Super Bowls during their highly successful playing careers, so both men know what a good team looks like having played on so many themselves.
After starting the season 0-2, the Panthers have won six of their last nine games, including an upset win over the Green Bay Packers in Week 9. With a difficult remaining schedule that includes the 49ers, Rams, Buccaneers (twice), and Seahawks, it will soon become evident whether or not Carolina is for real.