Even by their own ridiculous standards, the New England Patriots were rolling toward something special in 2015. 10-0 record, playing clean football, winning close ones, looking every bit like a team capable of running the table. Then came Denver and a 30-24 overtime loss in Week 12 that still gnaws at a few people inside that old locker room. Rob Gronkowski, for one, hasn’t let it go.

And he believes it was the questionable refereeing that put an end to their streak.

“We were 10-0, then we lost to the Broncos, which was kind of a BS loss,” Gronk said on the Up & Adams Show with Kay Adams. “I mean, there were a couple of penalties that went against us. That kind of ruined the streak. We were kind of iffy from there on out after that.”

Back then, the game devolved into a debate about the officiating. For instance, a defensive holding call on Patrick Chung erased what would’ve been a huge sack in the fourth quarter. Instead of third-and-goal from the 15, the Broncos got a new set of downs and punched in the go-ahead touchdown.

But it wasn’t the call that ‘Gronk’ still gets angry about. His moment came on the third-and-5 in the fourth quarter, when he picked up a 10-yard gain… only to see it wiped out by an offensive pass interference flag. New England punted a snap later. It was the fifth time he had been hit with OPI that season. It was the most in the league that year, and even then, he was publicly wondering why the calls kept finding him.

Gronkowski believed that he was being targeted with all those pass interference calls, and he even tweeted “Agree” on an article making that exact point.

Patriots fans haven’t forgotten that game either. They watched a perfect season flicker away in a fourth quarter filled with whistles. You’ll still hear arguments about which call was worse: Chung’s hold or the OPI on Gronk. The answer would depend on whom you ask, really.

And yes, all those penalties were just part of a larger, messy night in Denver.

Why was the loss to the Broncos so difficult for the Patriots?

The Patriots’ first loss of the 2015 season was more than a mark in the standings. It felt like a night when everything that could tilt against New England did. Denver offered the full menu: a loud road crowd, weather that shifted by the minute, shaky officiating, and another key player going down for the Patriots at the worst time.

Snow games tend to invite weird outcomes, and this one fit the bill. The forecast called for a light coating, an inch or two at most, but nothing showed until kickoff. Once it started, it didn’t let up. The field was already painted white during the second quarter. By the time the teams came out for the third, footing was an adventure, and visibility wasn’t any better.

And then came the moment that mattered more than the calls that frustrated everyone. Late in regulation, Rob Gronkowski took a low shot to the knee and stayed down. He was carted off, ruled out immediately.

The Patriots had already lost Dion Lewis for the season. Julian Edelman was out as well. Danny Amendola was sidelined. New England had been thinning out on offense for weeks, and Gronkowski going down pushed them to the edge. The loss had consequences beyond that night.

The Patriots and Broncos finished the season tied at 12–4, but Denver owned the head-to-head tiebreaker because of this game. That was the difference between the No. 1 seed and the No. 2.

And when the Patriots dropped their regular-season finale in Miami, that margin became definitive. The Broncos rode it all the way to a Lombardi.

And you can’t help but ask the familiar question in New England: if that snowy evening in Denver had panned out even a little differently, would the rest of the 2015 season look the same?