Gronk Tweets 'Agree' On Idea That NFL Is Targeting Him For Pass Interference Flags
By Matt Dolloff (@mattdolloff)
BOSTON (CBS) -- The NFL would be a better place if the players got to speak their minds more often. People get all mad when guys like Richard Sherman say outrageous stuff, but that should be what we want. It's way better than the endless assembly line of clichés.
That's why it's awesome to see Rob Gronkowski say in one word what everyone in Patriots Nation already noticed: the NFL is singling Gronk out for offensive pass interference penalties more than anyone else by a wide margin. It's led to outstandingly bad phantom flags in recent weeks, most notably in the fourth quarter of Patriots - Broncos Sunday night.
When 98.5 The Sports Hub tweeted a link to Jeff Howe's interview Tuesday morning on Toucher & Rich, in which he said the league is "absolutely" targeting Gronk, No. 87 retweeted the link with a simple, yet powerful, message to the league: "Agree".
Here's a screenshot, in lieu of the potential deleting of the tweet:
The tweet got over 5,600 retweets of its own within 30 minutes of going out. That he didn't immediately delete the tweet almost indicates that this was OK'd by Bill Belichick and the Patriots PR staff.
It's not exactly earth-shattering that Gronk agrees in the first place - of course he knows he's being singled out with horrendous flags. The numbers, and your eyeballs, don't lie. The news here is that he's making it public that he agrees.
In many cases, especially with an organization as tight-lipped as the Patriots, if a player is asked about bad officiating he may respond with something like "That's beyond my control" or "You'll have to ask the league about that." Gronk here, with one absolutely loaded word, let the world know how he feels about the league, and it's refreshing to see.
Gronk is clearly fed up with the phantom interference calls on him. Opponents have complained about him pushing off enough for him to get called when he does absolutely nothing, and even when the defender is the one who initiates contact. It reached a tipping point against the Broncos, so it will be interesting to see if the officials' treatment of Gronk changes in any way.
It will also be interesting to see whether the league disciplines Gronk for the tweet, because technically he publicly criticized the officials. It would be yet another ridiculous penalty for a player being unfairly singled out - apparently because he and Tom Brady are so good that they themselves are unfair - but the league has proven willing and able to punish players for pretty much anything these days, so it would not come as a surprise if they levied a fine against Gronk for this.
What's your prediction for the fine they slap on Gronk? I say $25,000, or $5,000 per letter.
Matt Dolloff is a writer for CBSBostonSports.com. His opinions do not necessarily reflect that of CBS or 98.5 The Sports Hub. Read more from Matt here. Follow him on Twitter @mattdolloff and email him at mdolloff@985thesportshub.com.
