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."

Patriots TE Rob Gronkowski, at the podium in place of QBs, says, "No setbacks." https://t.co/2KWhBYTBSm pic.twitter.com/AprwdswOme — Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) September 28, 2016

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."