Rob Gronkowski Clarifies ‘Misinformation’ About Rib, Lung Injuries

Rob Gronkowski indeed is hurt, the scope of which might not have been fully understood days ago.

The star tight end took an absolute shot during the Tampa Bay Buccaneers’ Week 3 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. That kept him out of Sunday’s game against the New England Patriots, though he wasn’t officially ruled out until the night before the game.

Gronkowski reached out to FOX Sports’ Jay Glazer to articulate the extent of the injury, which Glazer relayed Sunday and again on Monday.

“I actually talked to Gronk about it, and he said ‘There’s been a lot of misinformation out there, so, Jay, put the right information out there about me.’ It wasn’t just a couple of cracked ribs, it was four cracked ribs, one broken rib and a punctured lung.

“He said, ‘Of course I wanted to be out there against New England as much as anything. But with something like this, especially the lung, I need to think about my health first. That’s something I might not have thought about earlier, but at this point I’ve got to really make sure my health comes first.’ But he said it was driving (him) crazy that he couldn’t be in there against New England.”

Those are not easy injuries to come back from quickly, so it might be a bit longer before Gronkowski returns to game action.