At 12:34 of the fourth quarter, Martellus Bennett hauled in a 5-yard pass, but was hit low by Burfict. Soon after that, Gronkowski started to speak up as pushing and shoving was seen on the field.

“That’s who we are. We always have each other’s backs,” Bennett said. “Things happen in the game. It was one of those things, it usually doesn’t happen that way, but Gronk’s like, ‘bro, I got you.’”

“I mean, he hit me in the back of my knee. That’s low,” Bennett added.

Later in the drive, Gronkowski was called for a taunting penalty after hauling in a 29-yard pass. On the next drive, the pushing and shoving became more apparent. After a 1-yard touchdown run, Blount was called for unnecessary roughness after fighting after the whistle blew. The back also got into it with Burfict multiple times.

“You play football, there’s a lot of guys – testosterone, egos, you know, you’re losing a game, you’re winning a game, you’re celebrating, everybody sees that you’re having fun,” Blount said. “When you have guys that are losing games, it’s not easy to take. That goes for everybody. We just got to keep our composure.”

During those drives, it also became apparent that Gronkowski was a target for Bengals players. Once someone gets a taunting penalty, they’ll get ejected if they get another. The tight end was asked if he felt the Bengals were trying to bait him.

“They do that every game,’ Gronkowski said. “If you watch film, they’re always baiting everyone to do that. They’re a tough, physical team. They’re physical football players. They’re big, and they hit hard. I feel like that’s the style that they play, so I kind of gave into it when I got my penalty.”

“We were just playing football, man. It gets like that sometimes,” Bennett added. “We’ve got guys who don’t back down from anyone and play hard throughout the whole game. That’s just the way it is. We don’t back down. We’re not looking for trouble, but we don’t walk away from trouble either.”