Patriots robbed of recovering Gronk

Tight end Rob Gronkowski's season is over after the New England Patriots placed the 27-year-old on injured reserve on Saturday.

The decision comes one day after Gronkowski had surgery in Los Angeles to repair a herniated disk in his back.

New England (9-2), which has the inside track on the No 1 playoff seed in the AFC, announced on Thursday that it would wait to receive the results of the procedure before making a final determination on Gronkowski's status.