ESPN reported that MRI scans confirmed the tears in his knee and that Gronkowski will miss the rest of the season, a serious blow to the Patriots’ Super Bowl ambitions.

Gronkowski rewrote the record books in the 2011 season, receiving 17 touchdowns, the most ever by a tight end and the first tight end to lead the league in reception TDs (plus one running). But he broke his arm in 2012 and missed much of the season. Now he is out for the rest of the 2013 season.

Patriots coach Bill Belichick said earlier that he didn’t expect to receive positive news: “Rob’s going to have some more tests today, but that situation doesn’t look too good. We’ll wait until we have a final evaluation to confirm or do anything.”

The loss of Gronkowski will force the Patriots to change strategy, as the team have already lost their other main tight end, Aaron Hernandez, after he was indicted for murder.

The Patriots have two other tight ends on the roster, veterans Matthew Mulligan and Michael Hoomanawanui, plus fullback James Develin who occasionally fills in the role.

Ward said: “It was a decision I made just to make a tackle on a big man and unfortunately he got hurt, but if I would’ve hit up high, there’s a chance I would get fined and all that other stuff. I’m just being safe.”

“My intention is never to hurt anyone. That’s not what this game is about. That’s not how I play, I hate to see guys go down with any type of injury and I just wanted him to know, whether he accepted it or not, it wasn’t an intentional hit to injure him. But we have to play this game, we have to play it the way that they force us to, and unfortunately, we incurred an injury for him.”

On a difficult day for football, the Minnesota Vikings’ star running back Adrian Peterson left the snowy field after the Baltimore Ravens with an ankle injury and the Arizona Cardinals lost rookie safety Tyrann Mathieu with a left knee injury.