Tag: Ron Torbert

Twitter reacts as Ron Torbert named referee for Cowboys-Packers wild-card game

NFL fans react to Ron Torbert being named referee for Cowboys-Packers, along with some historic rants on his prior games. | From @ArmyChiefW3

The Dallas Cowboys are quite familiar with the ways of the flag. The team finished the regular season as the second-most penalized team in the league, tying the Cleveland Browns with 115 assessed. Only the Jets, with 124 penalties, had more. But the volume of laundry thrown their way isn’t the only gripe.

Superstar pass rusher Micah Parsons has inexplicably gone 11 full games without a holding penalty even though it appears he gets held the majority of the contest. Parsons has even gone as far as apologizing to the refs on his podcast in hopes of forcing opposing teams to play him fairly. So when it comes to referee assignments for their playoff run, a keen eye is on alert.

Ron Torbert has been assigned to this week’s Cowboys game against the Packers which elicited a few strong reactions. Torbert and his crew have penalized home teams more often than the visitors, and like most referees in the NFL these days, he’s had his fair share of tumultuous contests. Fans from both teams had interesting things to say about the assignment.

Here are some of the best reactions so far, along with some tweets from disgruntled fans of prior contests.

Worst of the Week: Clete Blakeman, Jamal Adams, Ron Rivera, Broncos in the red zone

Jamal Adams, Ron Rivera, Broncos in the red zone, Joe Flacco’s last two plays, and more bad officiating! It’s the NFL’s Worst of the Week!

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season.

4-Down Territory: Best/worst coaches, Ohio teams without QBs, Worst of the Week

Next coach fired? Coach of the Year so far? Browns and Bengals without QBs? Worst of the Week? Doug Farrar and Kyle Madson get into it in “4-Down Territory.”

With 11 weeks of actual football in the books for the 2023 NFL season, it’s time for Doug Farrar of Touchdown Wire, and Kyle Madson of Niners Wire, to come to the table with their own unique brand of analysis in “4-Down Territory.”

This week, the guys have some serious questions to answer:

  1. Will there be another head coach fired in-season this year?
  2. Who’s the Coach of the Year so far?
  3. Can the Browns or Bengals make it to the postseason without their franchise quarterbacks?
  4. And, what was our Worst of the Week?

You can watch this week’s “4-Down Territory” right here:

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You can listen and subscribe to the “4-Down Territory” podcast on Spotify…

…and on Apple Podcasts.

Ron Torbert’s officiating crew misses clear helmet hit from Broncos’ Kareem Jackson

Broncos safety Kareem Jackson is a repeat offender when it comes to leading with his helmet. But Ron Torbert’s crew missed a clear example.

If there’s one guy in the NFL whose tendency to launch himself at opposing  players should be easily caught by referees, it’s Demver Broncos safety Kareem Jackson. This season, Jackson had been ejected from two different games, fined four different times, and suspended for two games due to his unnecessary roughness penalties.

Jackson was back for Sunday night’s game against the Minnesota Vikings, and per our friends at Broncos Wire, he vowed to change his style of play.

“I probably have to adjust it a little bit,” Jackson said in a recent interview with KMGH-TV’s Troy Renck. “As far as the tackling — lowering the target — I’ll try my best to do that.

“Definitely don’t want to be in this situation again. As far as going forward, I’m sure I’ll be in situations — these bang-bang plays — so for me, it’s all about staying on the field and not having to go through this again.”

Well, on the Vikings’ third play from scrimmage, tight end T.J. Hockenson took a direct snap and handed the ball to quarterback Josh Dobbs in what became a Dobbs fumble. How did that happen? Well, Jackson launched himself, leading with his helmet.

Not only was this targeting, but Jackson appeared to go right for Dobbs’ throwing shoulder. Dobbs was okay, but this could have been a lot worse.

NBC rules expert and former NFL referee Terry McAulay seemed to see it pretty clearly.

Why Ron Torbert’s officiating crew didn’t call a penalty here is beyond us, except that it’s Reason No. 349.108 that officiating in the NFL has become inexcusably bad this season.

The Broncos were allowed to keep the ball, and kicked a field goal on their subsequent drive.

Veteran referee Ron Torbert assigned to Week 9 Saints-Bears game

Veteran referee Ron Torbert assigned to Week 9 Saints-Bears game

We’re moving on to Week 9, where referee Ron Torbert and his crew have been assigned to work Sunday’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Chicago Bears. Torbert is one of the most experienced referees in the league, having been promoted to that role back in 2014. The Saints are 7-3 in games with him on the field as referee, while the Bears are 2-6.

But the Saints played too much sloppy football this year to take past performance for granted. The Saints are tied for the third-most penalties in the league (54) and they’ve given up 513 penalty yards, more than anyone else, primarily on defensive pass interference fouls (12 infractions for 219 yards, which leads the NFL) on starting cornerbacks Paulson Adebo (4 DPI’s) and Marshon Lattimore (3).

That could be a problem on Sunday. Torbert’s crew has thrown eight flags for DPI, which is in line with league average, but six of them have gone against home teams, which is the second-most. Adebo and Lattimore must watch their hands and take care to not give up free yards.

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Referee for Bengals vs 49ers will be Ron Torbert

Ron Torbert will be in charge of yet another Bengals game.

For the Cincinnati Bengals‘ Week 7 game against the San Francisco 49ers, Ron Torbert will be the referee.

He has been in charge for many notable Bengals games recently, including the 2022 AFC Championship game Cincinnati won. He was then the referee at Super Bowl 56 when the pass interference against the Bengals was called that helped the Los Angeles Rams score the winning touchdown.

Torbert was the referee for the 2022 Week 18 win over the Ravens, their 2021 Week 17 win over Kansas City, Zac Taylor’s first win, Andy Dalton’s game-winning touchdown to Tyler Boyd in 2017, and AJ McCarron’s win in his first career start in 2015.

Torbert and his crew have been active in all seven weeks this season, averaging 15.1 flags per game.

The Bengals are third in the NFL with five flags per game and the 49ers are 29th with 7.1 per game.

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NFL assigns veteran referee Ron Torbert to Week 1 Saints-Titans game

The NFL has assigned veteran referee Ron Torbert and his crew to Week 1’s Saints-Titans game. New Orleans is 6-3 with him on the field, but Tennessee is 4-3

The NFL has assigned veteran referee Ron Torbert and his crew to Week 1’s New Orleans Saints home opener with the Tennessee Titans, per Football Zebras. The Saints are 6-3 in games Torbert has worked since being promoted to referee back in 2014, but their last game with Torbert on the field was a too-close win over the Los Angeles Rams, 27-20. Tennessee is 4-3 with Torbert in the game during the same stretch and won their last game with him on hand 19-10 against the division-rival Indianapolis Colts.

New Orleans was only fouled twice (for 15 yards) in that matchup whereas the Rams drew six penalty flags (for 55 yards), but the final score was a little too tight for having played one of the league’s worst teams.

Which penalties should the Saints watch out for? Per NFLPenalties.com, Torbert’s crew averaged 2.24 false start fouls and 2.18 offensive holding infractions per game, totaling 10.9 penalty flags each week (with 5.5 of them going against the home team and 5.4 on the visitors, on average). With that said, Torbert and his team averaged the fourth-fewest penalties per game among the 17 officiating crews last season though their 91.1 penalty yards per game ranked seventh-lowest.

It’s something to keep in mind when the Saints kick off against the Titans on Sunday. New Orleans was fouled 5.8 times per game (12th-most among the 32 teams) while benefiting from 5.4 opposing penalties each week (21st). No team benefited from more penalties per game on their opponents than the Titans (6.7) but Tennessee also ranked fifth-most in fouls going against them (6.5).

Titans head coach Mike Vrabel has a reputation for running a tight ship and his quarterback is skilled at tricking the defense into offsides penalties, but the Titans lost more yards than they gained to penalties last season. Hopefully everyone plays a clean game and Torbert’s presence in this game remains nothing more a footnote.

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Richard Sherman disappointed by officiating during Championship weekend

Seahawks great Richard Sherman was one of many people who were disappointed in the officials in both games.

Championship weekend was a bit of a let-down. The NFC title game turned out to be a blowout thanks in part to the 49ers having to play their fifth-string QB and the AFC Championship was tainted by some missed calls.

Seahawks great Richard Sherman was one of many people who were disappointed in the officials in both games.

Worst of all, Ron Torbert’s crew missed an egregious hold on the deciding play of the game between the Bengals and the Chiefs.

For some inspiration, they could look to the NBA, where the official referees’ account provided a good example of admitting when they made a mistake in the Lakers Celtics game.

They don’t have to flagellate themselves to this extent, but just admitting when a mistake is made would help silence the lunatics who believe the NFL is rigged and Damar Hamlin died and has been replaced by a clone.

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Referee Ron Torbert’s crew assigned to work Chiefs-Bengals game

The #Chiefs will get referee Ron Torbert for the first time this season in their AFC Championship Game matchup with the #Bengals.

Ninth-year NFL referee Ron Torbert and his crew have been assigned as the officials for the AFC Championship Game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Cincinnati Bengals.

Torbert hasn’t officiated a Chiefs game this season, but fans will remember him from 2021, and not in a good way. He was an unscheduled white-hat substitution for John Hussey against the Bengals during their Week 17 regular-season loss. During that game, Torbert’s crew called 10 penalties for 83 yards against Kansas City. It was the second-most penalties the Chiefs had called against them in a single game that season.

If we’re only considering the 2022 NFL season as evidence, Torbert and his crew have been among the best in the league in terms of penalty volume. In 16 games officiated, their 172 penalties called are good for the fourth-fewest in the NFL. That said, once a penalty is called by Torbert’s crew, expect it to stand. Their 20 dismissed penalties are the second-fewest in the NFL this season. They’ve officiated fairly even on the home (89) and away (83) fronts so far this season.

As far as how this crew officiates, they’re definitely not a “let them play” crew and they almost always side with the offense. Torbert’s 17 defensive pass interference penalties tie for the second-most in the league this season. For comparison’s sake, they’ve only called four offensive pass interference penalties all year. The Chiefs lead the NFL in defensive pass interference penalties this season (14) while the Bengals are right around the league average (6). Basically, expect Ja’Marr Chase to continue to get away with pushing off and Chiefs defenders to be penalized for any contact downfield.

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The worst officiating moments from a NFL Week 15 that was full of them

Week 15 in the NFL has been full of awful officiating decisions. Here are the three games that were most affected by those mistakes.

Perhaps the NFL’s officials were confused by the fact that there were games on Saturday and Sunday in Week 15. Perhaps the NFL’s officials were thinking about the last-minute things on their holiday shopping lists. Or maybe it was just late-season exhaustion. Whatever it was, there were a lot of really bad calls in the NFL’s Week 15, and that’s in a season where there have been a lot to date.

Bad officiating is especially notable in the 2022 season, and Week 15 really stood out. Here’s why it’s a problem. Through Sunday’s games, there have been an NFL-record 101 games decided by a touchdown or less.

Per NFL Research, 14 of 15 games that have been completed in Week 15 have been within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter and there have been 171 games within one score (eight points) in the fourth quarter this season, the most such games through the first 15 weeks in NFL history.

More than ever, the NFL’s idea of competitive balance has come true, but also more than ever, the NFL’s purported idea of officiating competence has been exposed as perhaps an unreachable goal.

Clearly, changes need to be made in the offseason, but before we get into that, let’s review the three games in which the most bad calls happened, and how those calls affected the final result.