FOXBOROUGH, Mass. -- New England Patriots head coach Bill Belichick described tight end Rob Gronkowski's status as day-to-day in updating his potential return from a broken forearm suffered in Week 11 that has cost him the past five games.

"We'll see how he is," Belichick said. "He did more last week than the week before, and we'll see where he's at today and tomorrow when we go out there (to practice); we'll see what he can do. We'll take it day-to-day, we'll make decisions day-to-day based on where he's at. He's moving along, (he's) not ready yet. We'll take it day-to-day and see how it goes."

Asked whether he felt it was important for Gronkowski to get snaps in Sunday’s regular-season finale against the Miami Dolphins in order to prepare him for the playoffs, Belichick stated that any decision on the tight end’s playing time will be strictly medically related, not competition related.

"I think those are decisions really that are made medically," he said. "If the players are able to play, then we play them. If they're not, then we don't. It's the same for every player, we treat them all the same. There's nothing more important than the player's health and safety, so when they're cleared to play, then we make playing decisions.

"If they're not cleared to play, then there's no decision to make," he continued. "And I don't think that's a decision that a coach makes or influences, those are medical decisions if it's a medical situation. Once it's a competitive decision then that's a coaching decision. If it's a medical decision, then it's made by medical people."

The 23-year-old Gronkowski has been listed as questionable for each of the past two games and was inactive for both.