my spin on this is, I think the referees during training are shown video footage of all the various penalty infractions and unfortunately they used a LOT of Patriots film. For example, I think the "Classic Offensive Pass Interference" call shows film of Gronk "pushing #^&#^&#^&#^&.
They never actually tell the refs to hit the Pats more, but human nature is, when the ref sees Gronk do anything close to what the "training film" shows, it clicks in the refs mind OPI ! OPI ! and out goes the flag.
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