The New England Patriots will venture into their Week 14 matchup against the Miami Dolphins without their All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski after the NFL levied a one-game suspension without pay, per a press release from the league.

The 28-year-old received the punishment for making a hit on defenseless Buffalo Bills cornerback Tre-Davious White in Sunday's 23-3 win. NFL Vice President of Football Operations, Jon Runyan, issued the suspension for what was deemed as being multiple violations of NFL rules that centered on “unnecessary roughness.”

Runyan also issued a personal statement directed to Gronkowski, where he made it clear that the competition committee believes his actions were intentional.

“Your actions were not incidental, could have been avoided and placed the opposing player at risk of serious injury,” Runyan said in the press release. “The Competition Committee has clearly expressed its goal of ‘eliminating flagrant hits that have no place in our game.’  Those hits include the play you were involved in yesterday.”

The nature of Gronkowski's actions were quite clear as a cheap shot that came well after the play had concluded with White rolling out of bounds. What makes matters worse is that White is now in the league's concussion protocol.

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Gronkowski had three days to decide whether he would issue an appeal of the one-game suspension that will be heard by either Derrick Brooks or James Thrash, who are the officers that were appointed jointly by the NFL and NFLPA to decide appeals of on-field player discipline. He didn't wait too long:

If Gronkowski chooses to serve the suspension, the Patriots will turn to Dwyane Allen as the starting tight end. They will also depend more greatly on Brandin Cooks and Danny Amendola in the passing game.