When officials get to the Super Bowl, the last thing they want (with a few notable historical exceptions) is to be the primary story angle when the game is done. So, there has been a “let them play” philosophy for the most part, and as that certainly started for the Bengals and Chiefs in the AFC Championship game, you could expect to see it from referee Ron Torbert’s crew in Super Bowl LVI.
That manifested itself pretty quickly, as Rams cornerback Jalen Ramsey got away with a blatantly obvious pass interference penalty when covering Bengals receiver Tee Higgins in the red zone.
The play happened with 31 seconds left in the first quarter. Joe Burrow had completed a 46-yard fade to Ja’Marr Chase three plays before, but Burrow then threw two incompletions, which set up third-and-10 from the Rams’ 11-yard line.
NBC analyst and former Bengals receiver Cris Collinsworth, calling the game with Al Michaels, first said that the replay looked pretty clean… and then, the angle clearly showing Ramsey holding Higgins’ undershirt for about five yards, clearly holding him up.
Kicker Evan McPherson booted a 29-yard field goal on the next play to put the score at 7-3 Rams, but the Bengals should have had first-and-goal with a new set of tries to get a touchdown. Torbert, who called 18 defensive pass interference penalties in the regular season, and his all-star crew simply missed it.