Rob Gronkowski Says NFL Is Targeting Him with Pass Interference Calls

New England Patriots tight end Rob Gronkowski stated Tuesday he feels the NFL is unfairly targeting him when it comes to calling offensive pass interference.  

Gronkowski got slapped with a questionable pass interference call during the fourth quarter of Sunday's loss to the Denver Broncos. He caught a third-down throw from quarterback Tom Brady to seemingly move the chains with the Patriots up four with five minutes left, but the flag brought it back.

The Pats ended up punting after failing to covert a long third down and lost the game in overtime. Jeff Howe of the Boston Herald noted during an appearance on Toucher & Rich of CBS Boston he thinks that call makes a clear statement:

"

There is no question about that. There is not even a debate, especially after that fourth quarter OPI called on Sunday. That closed the book on that debate; they are going after Rob Gronowski. He didn't even initiate the contact and was penalized on that play. That was the worst penalty, up there with the Malcolm Butler PI [against the Giants]. Those are the two worst penalties I've seen called this season against the Patriots.

"

Gronkowski responded to those comments with one word: "Agree."

The Patriots are no strangers to offensive pass interference calls. Kevin Seifert of ESPN.com highlighted the rise in flags for that particular offense in late October and noted New England led the league at the time.

Some of those are due to the team's love of well-designed pick plays, though. The ones against Gronkowski have been a little tougher to explain.

That's mostly because his combination of size, power and speed makes him an almost impossible cover for any defender. When there's contact during the route, regardless of who initiates it, the end result is usually the defender falling to the ground.

So, it's probably less an issue of the NFL specifically targeting Gronkowski and more a problem of his style of play making it tough on the officials. Either way, don't expect the league's top tight end to change his approach once he returns from a knee injury.