Not only did the New England Patriots lose their Sunday Night Football battle with the Seattle Seahawks in dramatic, tough-to-swallow fashion, but they may have also lost one of their best players, at least for a brief time. 

According to to NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport, Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski suffered what is considered a punctured lung during the team's 31-24 loss.

With a guy like Gronkowski, there have been few and extremely rare times throughout his career where he appeared to be the nail rather than the hammer in a collision with another player. The hit Sunday was one of those times.

There is a chance that Gronk will miss one game and with his injury history it would be safe to consider that chance to be more of a fact. Luckily for New England, they shouldn't really need him as they take on the San Francisco 49ers.

Regardless of whether he plays Sunday, you've got to respect the fact that he finished the game off against Seattle.

 

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