NFL report

— Patriots lose key weapon

The New England Patriots lost tight end Rob Gronkowski with an arm injury late in Sunday’s 59-24 victory over the Indianapolis Colts, a game in which he caught two touchdown passes.

According to a report on Comcast SportsNet New England, Gronkowski has a broken forearm.

“He left the game with an arm injury,” Patriots spokesman Stacey James said about 2 1/2 hours after the game. “There was no update to that.”

Gronkowski, 23, had 7 catches for 137 yards on Sunday, including touchdowns of 4 and 24 yards in the game. He was reportedly injured while blocking for an extra point on New England’s eighth touchdown.

Gronkowski had 10 touchdown catches as a rookie and then set an NFL record for tight ends with 17 touchdowns last year, when he caught 90 passes for 1,327 yards. But he sprained his left ankle in the AFC Championship Game and was a nonfactor in the Super Bowl, which New England lost 21-17 to the New York Giants.

The Patriots had been without Aaron Hernandez, their other first-string tight end, for the last three games - and a total of six this season - after he sprained his right ankle in Week 2.

He has just 17 catches for 143 yards and 2 touchdowns in four games.

Hernandez went from being listed as “out” in the injury report to “questionable” after the Nov.

4 bye week and remained that way for each of the last three games. He had limited participation in practice in each of the last three weeks;

the team has not given a timetable for his return.

The Patriots play on Thanksgiving night against the New York Jets.

The Patriots made no announcement about Gronkowski’s injury when he headed for the locker room with about 4:00 left in Sunday’s game. Several hours after the game, James said he had no information; inquiries to the NFL media relations department were referred back to the Patriots, who then said Gronkowski had an arm injury.

Fading Chargers

Even the San Diego Chargers are saying it: The Denver Broncos are playing solitaire in the AFC West now.

“We can’t hang our hat on Denver doing anything from a collapsing standpoint,” quarterback Philip Rivers said after the Chargers’ 30-23 loss Sunday dropped them three games behind the Broncos, who essentially own a four-game cushion by virtue of their season sweep of San Diego.

“They’re not losing four out of six, I can guarantee you that.”

The Broncos (7-3) have long made a habit of blowing big division leads in November and December, but none of those teams had the duo of linebacker Von Miller and quarterback Peyton Manning.

Miller sacked Rivers 3 times Sunday, forcing 2 fumbles and taking over the NFL sacks lead with 13, and Manning set a franchise single-season record with his sixth game with three touchdowns.

Denver’s fifth consecutive game with at least 30 points - 20 of which came off turnovers - also set a franchise mark. So, nobody in the Chargers locker room is counting on a repeat of 2008, when they caught the Broncos, who blew a three game lead with three games to go.

Injuries, injuries

Philadelphia Eagles running back LeSean McCoy left Philadelphia’s 31-6 loss to Washington in the fourth quarter with a concussion. McCoy was taken off the field on a cart after staying down following a 7-yard run with less than 2 minutes left. He ran for 45 yards on 15 carries and gained another 67 yards on 6 catches.

Kansas City wide receiver Dwayne Bowe left against Cincinnati with a neck injury and left tackle Branden Albert left with a back injury. Bowe was being covered on a deep pass down the sideline when he leaped up, bobbled the ball and then landed hard on the turf at Arrowhead Stadium. He was checked by several trainers on the bench, retreated to the locker room and then re-emerged without his helmet.

Sports, Pages 16 on 11/19/2012

Upcoming Events