Gronk suffered from several cracked ribs, a punctured lung

You knew Rob Gronkowski’s injury had to be serious considering he hadn’t made the trip to New England to face his former team in Week 4.

But it turned out to be more serious than originally thought.

Gronkowski was left out of Sunday night’s game at Foxborough and will likely miss several weeks. Fox’s Jay Glazer reported that in addition to the cracked ribs we were previously familiar with, Gronk also suffered from a broken rib and a punctured lung.

Scary stuff – and worse when you consider that he returned to the game briefly after the injury. Gronk also previously suffered a punctured lung in 2016 against the Seahawks as a member of the Patriots.

The Tampa Bay Buccaneers tight end suffered an injury in last week’s loss to the Los Angeles Rams, taking a vicious blow in the third quarter from Rams linebacker Terrell Lewis. The cracked ribs were not detected initially by x-rays, but were later confirmed following an MRI.

Tom Brady and the Bucs remain the big favorites in this game for Brady’s return to New England, the only NFL team he hasn’t beaten in his career. But Brady must now try to beat Bill Belichick and the Patriots without his touchdown leader, with Gronk catching four of Brady’s 10 assists this season.

Of all time, Brady and Gronk have recorded 102 touchdowns, including the regular season and playoffs combined. The record for the most touchdowns of all time by a QB-receiver pair is 114, by Peyton Manning and Marvin Harrison.

Given that Gronkowski won’t play on Sunday, has retired once before and will likely miss the next few weeks while he recovers, that record could be too hard for the pair to match or surpass.