Gronkowski May Have Put Himself in Harms Way For Rematch With Bills

[FalconHeavy]

If the Bills got caught scheming to knock Gronk out of the game, then there would be punishments comparable to Bountygate. They’d be stupid to try that.

Really, its the Bills and its against NE,the league could care less if anything hurts NE

 

[Kontradiction]

It's the size that's the cause of the problem. When you have a guy who can beat triple coverage reliably, when there's no legal way to defend against what he can do to a defense, the refs are GOING to let ticky tack stuff go on that player.

And that's not right. A guy should not be punished because he's bigger, stronger, and deceptively faster than every other receiver in the league.

They do need to get better about calling clear violations of course, but what you don't want as a ref is defenders getting so frustrated about not being able to cover Gronk within the rules that they take the law into their own hands and start going for the knees. So you let them have the gray area stuff to give them some kind of outlet short of wiping out a player's season.

That's on the players, then. Just like Gronk's response is on Gronk. You can't NOT do the right thing because you're worried about some hypothetical that may or may not even happen. You do the right thing regardless.

It's a lesser of two evils thing, it's not OK, but as an NFL fan you kind of have to accept and deal with the fact that it needs to happen with certain players. Gronk is one I know it happens to, Travis Kelce is another, and neither of them like it very much but I think they'd like the alternative even less. I know Gronk's had his knees targeted more than once as it is, if defenses start thinking it's the only way he's going to get stopped... well, teams want to win games don't they?

No, you don't have to "accept it". The only thing that should be accepted is that the game is called the same way for everyone. Everyone. Short of that, what's the point?

 

[mosslost]

Those events preceded Gronk giving White the People's Elbow. Of course they're relevant.

not relevant to his attack

 

[PatsFan2]

Gronk should absolutely be ashamed of himself for that. That was a cheap shot. No two ways about it. But this also needs to be a wake up call to the league. Gronk wasn't, and hasn't been, officiated fairly all season long. From Week 1 on, defenses have been allowed to get away with doing things to him (I've seen defenders flat out hug him from beyond 5 yards away from the LoS and not get called) that they would never be able to get away with doing to anyone else. KC employed that against ASJ yesterday and was flagged accordingly. The league either needs to be rid of the Polian rules changes if they're going to officiate Gronk like that and let every team do it or they need to adhere to those rules and throw the flag accordingly when they see it. I'm glad White wasn't seriously injured and I hope this goes to serve notice to the league that they shouldn't officiate Gronk any differently than anyone else purely because of that size that you mention.

Sorry Kontra that's not going fly...based on his statue Gronk is Biiger than everybody else and that is what the league and the officials see. They are going to say based on his statue he already have an advantage. I remember when we played Carolina Rivera bated the refs before the game or brought it to their attention to watch Gronk on the push offs...they made a BS call against him in that game. I can see AFC Coaches in the Playoffs pulling that same crap against him. This little antics is really going to shed light on him. Gronk didn't do himself any favors.

 

[IllegalContact]

And that's not right. A guy should not be punished because he's bigger, stronger, and deceptively faster than every other receiver in the league.



That's on the players, then. Just like Gronk's response is on Gronk. You can't NOT do the right thing because you're worried about some hypothetical that may or may not even happen. You do the right thing regardless.



No, you don't have to "accept it". The only thing that should be accepted is that the game is called the same way for everyone. Everyone. Short of that, what's the point?

it's like hack a shaq back in the day.......it didn't matter.....even with the all the non/wrong calls that work against gronk, the guy still caught 9/11 for 147 ..... he's got no excuse

 

[PatsFan2]

Lets hope the next Buffalo Game is meaningless and Gronk sits.

 

[primetime]

It's the size that's the cause of the problem. When you have a guy who can beat triple coverage reliably, when there's no legal way to defend against what he can do to a defense, the refs are GOING to let ticky tack stuff go on that player.

They do need to get better about calling clear violations of course, but what you don't want as a ref is defenders getting so frustrated about not being able to cover Gronk within the rules that they take the law into their own hands and start going for the knees. So you let them have the gray area stuff to give them some kind of outlet short of wiping out a player's season.

It's a lesser of two evils thing, it's not OK, but as an NFL fan you kind of have to accept and deal with the fact that it needs to happen with certain players. Gronk is one I know it happens to, Travis Kelce is another, and neither of them like it very much but I think they'd like the alternative even less. I know Gronk's had his knees targeted more than once as it is, if defenses start thinking it's the only way he's going to get stopped... well, teams want to win games don't they?

This is pretty much it. Gronk gets held every play because he's unstoppable, and if you flagged every play then the game would be unwatchable. Sometimes they flag guys defending Gronk who I don't think should have been flagged, often they don't flag guys for egregious holding. I also think they were willing to let guys play yesterday; Gilmore had a couple that could have been DPI that weren't flagged, for example.

It is what it is. It doesn't justify a gross cheap shot. Most people just seem mad about Brady's ~stats~ or whatever, and who cares about that.

 

[Simpelton]

it's like hack a shaq back in the day.......it didn't matter.....even with the all the non/wrong calls that work against gronk, the guy still caught 9/11 for 147 ..... he's got no excuse

Yep. Win that argument on the field. Beat them anyway. Show your superiority. What you absolutely DO NOT do is what Gronk did, take out his frustrations on a defenseless player in a brutal MMA move.

 

[maineman209]

Jermaine Wiggins was on Twitter jut a bit ago, not defending Gronk's actions, but saying that he understood Gronk's frustration with "the refs allowing LBs and DBs to get away with all sorts of s**t" that they'd call if it was someone else.

Which made me wonder of other TE's and fairly big, physical WR's are treated the same way by the refs - perhaps because of their relative size. I haven't really watched for it, so I can't say one way or the other. I seem to remember Anquan Boldin regularly getting mugged a few years ago without the "offenders" being flagged. OTOH, it seems to me that he gave as good as he got (and then some) during the course of a play and wasn't flagged for it very often.

 

[Kontradiction]

not relevant to his attack

So we've now determined that you just have zero clue what that word means.

Sorry Kontra that's not going fly...based on his statue Gronk is Biiger than everybody else and that is what the league and the officials see. They are going to say based on his statue he already have an advantage. I remember when we played Carolina Rivera bated the refs before the game or brought it to their attention to watch Gronk on the push offs...they made a BS call against him in that game. I can see AFC Coaches in the Playoffs pulling that same crap against him. This little antics is really going to shed light on him. Gronk didn't do himself any favors.

What shouldn't fly is Gronk getting officiated differently because he's an athletic freak of nature. Look, if they want to go back to the pre-Polian days and allow every team to play defense like that, I'm absolutely game. The NFL may find their ratings begin to recover with a decision like that. Short of that, those rules are on the books and should be enforced as is.

it's like hack a shaq back in the day.......it didn't matter.....even with the all the non/wrong calls that work against gronk, the guy still caught 9/11 for 147 ..... he's got no excuse

Who is excusing him? I've said multiple times a cheap shot like that cannot be excused. Good game or not, something like that can, and has, cost the Pats games. So we'll see if you still feel the same way if something like this...



...happens in a pivotal moment in the playoffs with the game still actually in the balance.

 

[patriot1136]

^ I'm trying to remember, but did the league come back and own up to not calling that penalty in that Carolina game? Didn't they say like a "my bad" or something or no? Cant remember

 

[PatsDeb]

F that. White shouldn't say that at all. He was on the ground, on his stomach, out-of-bounds, defenseless, and someone blasted him from behind with no warning and nailed him hard in the head. That's not football. That's dirty cheapshotting. And you would have been going bananas if someone did that to, say, Butler.

You're right - I would be going bananas. However, if this was the scenario, the following would happen:

1) whomever hit Butler would only get a fine, not a suspension. No sense doing anything on the league level to help, validate or reward the Pats in any way.
2) NONE of the Pats would be saying they were going to get revenge on the player who did it. They might think it in their minds; they might vow to crush the other team in the rematch (the BB response), but they would do so privately. They would also come out and say that it was a cheap shot, but they have to play better overall. My post was a reaction to this revenge BS.

 

[Kontradiction]

^ I'm trying to remember, but did the league come back and own up to not calling that penalty in that Carolina game? Didn't they say like a "my bad" or something or no? Cant remember

I don't remember the NFL commenting on it afterward. Kuechly flat out admitted before the Pats/Panthers game this year that he got away with one. What does he care, though? It helped net the Panthers a W.

 

[Simpelton]

Jermaine Wiggins was on Twitter jut a bit ago, not defending Gronk's actions, but saying that he understood Gronk's frustration with "the refs allowing LBs and DBs to get away with all sorts of s**t" that they'd call if it was someone else.

Which made me wonder of other TE's and fairly big, physical WR's are treated the same way by the refs - perhaps because of their relative size. I haven't really watched for it, so I can't say one way or the other. I seem to remember Anquan Boldin regularly getting mugged a few years ago without the "offenders" being flagged. OTOH, it seems to me that he gave as good as he got (and then some) during the course of a play and wasn't flagged for it very often.

I know that Travis Kelce, OBJ and Antonio Brown have completed about this stuff recently. When you're one of the best offensive players on the team, especially if you're tall and reasonably physical, you'll get all kind of nonsense from defenders, and some of it will even be called.

This is why Malcolm Butler's so amazing. He can generally manage to take a player away from the opposing offense on man coverage, WITHOUT resorting to that kind of BS. Not a lot of top cornerbacks can claim that.

 

[PatsDeb]

Against Gronk, it's pure brilliance. He's faster than he looks on film, he's 6'7", and he's as strong as a Bull. The zebras won't call it every time. Hell, yesterday they weren't calling it at all. Why not interfere with him on almost every play?

Agree this is the strategy against Gronk in every game. He often gets called rather than the defender, so why not hold him until you're stopped? Otherwise he's going to run right over you anyway.

 

[PatsDeb]

it wasn't football.

Sure it was, right along with the incessant holding of Gronk and no zebra flags in sight (except on Gronk himself, of course).

 

[libra957]

Jordan Poyer already has revenge in his mind, this is something to watch out for. This situation needs to be quarantine before it gets out of hand.

 

[FrodoBagginz]

So we've now determined that you just have zero clue what that word means.



What shouldn't fly is Gronk getting officiated differently because he's an athletic freak of nature. Look, if they want to go back to the pre-Polian days and allow every team to play defense like that, I'm absolutely game. The NFL may find their ratings begin to recover with a decision like that. Short of that, those rules are on the books and should be enforced as is.



Who is excusing him? I've said multiple times a cheap shot like that cannot be excused. Good game or not, something like that can, and has, cost the Pats games. So we'll see if you still feel the same way if something like this...



...happens in a pivotal moment in the playoffs with the game still actually in the balance.

That play still makes me angry. A flag was thrown and then picked up with no penalty. Broncos ended the season at 13-3 and we ended the season at 12-4. If we had won, we had tiebreaker over the Broncos as we beat them in week 12. This non-call cost us the #1 seed and home field advantage.

 

[TB12TheGoat]

Jordan Poyer already has revenge in his mind, this is something to watch out for. This situation needs to be quarantine before it gets out of hand.

if he tries any **** to hurt Gronk, hopefully we send our lineman at his knees and shred them

 

[Kontradiction]

That play still makes me angry. A flag was thrown and then picked up with no penalty. Broncos ended the season at 13-3 and we ended the season at 12-4. If we had won, we had tiebreaker over the Broncos as we beat them in week 12. This non-call cost us the #1 seed and home field advantage.

I consider the shape that team finished the season in and take comfort in the fact that they weren't beating the Broncos in the AFCCG regardless of where it was played. If, by some miracle, they did, I also take comfort in the fact that Seattle would have totally destroyed them in the Super Bowl.