Rob Gronkowski Broke His Forearm Blocking on an Extra Point Up 59-24

Rob Gronkowski broke his forearm late Sunday in New England’s 59-24 destruction of Indianapolis. The tight end had surgery and will be out about four weeks. He’ll return for the postseason.

How late in the game did the injury occur? New England was leading 52-24 and Tom Brady was inexplicably still in the game. I say inexplicably because there were less than six minutes remaining and the Colts were down 28.

Brady actually threw a 3rd down pass late in the drive to set up the final touchdown. Uncalled for? You decide. (Two weeks ago people took the Ravens to task for scoring on a fake field goal up 41-17 in the third quarter.)

Gronkowski didn’t play a snap on the drive, but actually came in to block on the extra-point! A reader thinks this is a screen grab of when the injury took place.

Does Jimmy Graham block on extra points? What about Antonio Gates? Tony Gonzalez? I’d love to see a breakdown of skill position stars who also block on kicks.

After the arguments about whether or not Gronk should have been in the game subside, a quick look at the playoff picture will show how much the loss really hurts: if he misses four games, that will mean Jets, Miami, Houston and San Francisco.

Is 3-1 conservative? The Pats get the Texans and 49ers at home, and both are night games. Unofficially, I think New England is 89-2 at home at night in December. The Jets stink and so do the Dolphins, so 4-0 isn’t out of the realm, but we’ll give them a loss, anyway.

Getting that No. 2 seed is crucial, because it means having to go on the road to Houston, Baltimore or Denver in the second round of the playoffs. The Ravens have a tough schedule, and the Broncos don’t, so one could speculate that the Gronk injury might cost New England the No. 2 seed. Instead of bye – home game in the playoffs, the Patriots could be looking at home game (maybe vs. Pittsburgh) – trip to Denver/Baltimore.