There are a lot of people on here that know a lot more about football than me. Can those who think its not a penalty help me figure out where I am going wrong. I am genuinely trying to understand where you guys are coming from. Here is my thinking of the play (sorry the screen caps aren't bigger):
1. Gronk engages the defender, squares him up nicely and is well balanced. Text book block.
2. He starts to drive the defender, block still looks good here
3. Can't see where his hands are placed but no problems with the block yet
4. This is where things start to get a little iffy. Its tough to tell where his hands are, but his right hand looks like it could be up around the shoulder area. The defender is starting to shift his weight to his left and trying to shed the tackle to go after the ball carrier.
5. This is where it seems to become a bit more clearer. Gronk's right hand is clearly holding the defender up around the defenders shoulder pads. The defender is stretching to disengage and go after the ball carrier, but he is off balance.
6. The defender has been turned inside by Gronk's right arm, allowing Woodhead to easily break to the outside.
7. This is a clearer shot. The defender has been turned 90 degrees inside by Gronk, with his hand still clearly around the left shoulder area.
To me is seems that if Gronk doesn't grab the defender around the left shoulder pad, he is unable to stop the defender from disengaging and unable to turn him inside. Without that the defender would have a shot at making a play on Woodhead who is only 2-3 yards away from him at the time.
Is the hold itself bad? No. But is the result of the hold significant? Yes. That is what I think makes this different to all of the other holds that happen routinely throughout the game. This one directly contributed to a major play and one that would have likely been game winning. If this happens on the other side of the field away from the ball carrier there is no way it is holding. But the fact that it took away the opportunity for the only defender in the area to make a play on the ball carrier to me makes it a necessary call.
So where am I going wrong? Is there something I'm not seeing or am I seeing too much? I am interested to see some feedback of the actual play.