With the increasing number of offensive pass interference penalties being called, Rob Gronkowski leads the league in receiving those calls against him. The one penalty that caught everyone’s attention occurred in the 2nd quarter against the Denver Broncos this past Sunday. Of course Gronkowski doesn’t agree with the penalties called against him and football fans took to social media voicing their opinions about the terrible officiating. Tom Brady seems to have a more understanding point of view about the referee’s decisions.
“Sometimes we’re getting the calls and sometimes we don’t, we didn’t get any last night. I don’t know why or why not. You think they’re looking at it, and they probably are. Sometimes officials miss it, too. I totally understand that. They’re not — I don’t know. I have no clue.”- Tom Brady
Although NFL viewers didn’t agree with the officiating during New England’s game against the Broncos, many speculate the bad officiating is a dose of karma due to the result of the deflate-gate investigation. For the integrity of the NFL, we should hope this is not the case. NFL officials have the responsibility to officiate each game with an unbiased point of view. If NFL officials are petty enough to decide a game based off of opinions then the NFL has reached a new low.
Bottom line, the referees made a horrible call this previous Sunday. With that being said, Rob Gronkowski should recognize he’s not a small receiver. Smaller receivers get away with push offs and other illegal contact because it’s subtle enough where the referees don’t see it. Gronkowski is a 6’6 265 lbs tight end, nothing he does on the football field is subtle. Officials see Gronkowski’s every move thus making it easy to penalize him for illegal contact. If Rob Gronkowski doesn’t alter his play style he will continue to be penalized.
