One of the game’s best tight ends, Gronkowski reinjured the left forearm he broke Nov. 18, and will need additional surgery, according to a league source. He was injured on the Patriots’ second offensive series of Sunday’s 41-28 win over Houston, when he caught a deep ball thrown by Tom Brady. Gronkowski was out of bounds and the pass was ruled incomplete, but Gronkowski braced his fall with his left arm, which was heavily bandaged.

The team announced during the game that his return was questionable. Before the game was over, word had surfaced that Gronkowski’s season was over.

“It’s hard to replace a player like him, because he’s a freak of nature,” said tight end Aaron Hernandez, who caught six passes for 85 yards. “But everyone has to step up and everyone still has to keep making plays so we can keep going.”

Gronkowski missed five games after initially breaking his forearm while blocking on an extra-point attempt against the Colts. He returned for the season finale against Miami and was used in a limited role, catching two passes, including one for a touchdown. But it was obvious that Gronkowski was still favoring the arm, and had a similar heavy white bandage from wrist to elbow for Sunday’s game.

“I said a really long prayer for that dude,” cornerback Aqib Talib said. “He worked hard to get back. It’s tough, man, it’s tough. It’s big losing Rob, but they played without him before.”

Two other starters also left the game with injuries; unlike Gronkowski, their availability for Sunday’s AFC Championship game against Baltimore is unknown. Danny Woodhead injured his left thumb on the team’s first offensive play, when he took a handoff from Brady and was quickly wrapped up for no gain. He immediately left the game, was taken to the locker room, but returned to the sideline and was catching passes from Ryan Mallett. Woodhead, though, did not return.

Nor did defensive end Chandler Jones, who left with an ankle injury. He was part of the goal-line pileup on Arian Foster’s 1-yard touchdown run late in the first half. Jones missed two games earlier this season with an ankle injury.

Far from special

One area of concern coming from the game, aside from the injuries, was the Patriots’ special teams performance when they kicked off to the Texans, beginning with the opening boot by Stephen Gostkowski.

Danieal Manning had three long returns, including a 94-yarder on the opening kickoff that set up the Texans at the Patriots’ 12. Houston failed to punch it in for a touchdown, but the long return was followed by two more.

Manning had a 35-yard return late in the second quarter, and 15 more yards were tacked on when Gostkowski was penalized for a horse-collar tackle. Houston took advantage of the short field and scored its first touchdown, cutting the Patriots’ lead to 17-10.

A third long kickoff return, this one for 69 yards by Manning, led to the Texans’ second touchdown drive. By then, though, it cut the Patriots’ lead to 38-20.

For the game, Manning had four returns for 216 yards.

“I guess we’ve got to go look at it on tape and see what was happening, but it’s disappointing,” said special teams captain Matthew Slater. “The defense bailed us out, the offense bailed us out, but if we keep playing like that, we’re not going to be playing a lot more football. We can’t give the opposing team field position like that, so we’ve got to just go look at the tape, see what was happening, see what our breakdowns were, and try to get it fixed.”

Not impressed

Like the Patriots during wild-card weekend, the Ravens were glued to Sunday’s game, to see who their opponent would be in the AFC Championship game, and which city they’d be visiting.

Ravens linebacker Brendon Ayanbadejo, if his Twitter messages from Sunday are any indication, isn’t impressed with the Patriots.

A sampling:

“New England does some suspect stuff on offense. Can’t really respect it. Comparable to a cheap shot b4 a fight.”

“Are you watching the game Pats vs. Texans? If so you see the hurry snap offense catch em b4 they set up. It’s a gimmick.”

“You know the same organization that did spygate and cut a guy the day b4 the Super Bowl.”

Have a seat