Ron Torbert isn't a common name to NFL fans, but they'll likely spend all Super Bowl Sunday discussing him and his crew.
Torbert is the referee for Super Bowl LIX between the Kansas City Chiefs and Philadelphia Eagles. That's not an easy job, considering that no matter how Torbert and his crew calls the game, there will be more officiating controversies. It seems inevitable.
It's not like this is the first Super Bowl in which officiating is a key storyline heading into it. It has become a pastime of fans to complain about penalties. But with so much of the NFL discourse focusing on the Chiefs and fans' perception that officials favor them, every call will be dissected.
It's worth looking at how Torbert's crew called games this season, even though Super Bowls are officiated by all-star crews. Usually an officiating crew stays together through the season, but Super Bowl assignments are awarded based on the highest grades at each position.
Ron Torbert's stats for this season
First, Torbert's crew did not work a Chiefs game all season, though he has history working a significant game in Kansas City that included a controversial call. More on that in a bit.
We might see a few more flags than normal. According to NFLPenalties.com, Torbert's crew tied for third-most accepted penalties called in the NFL this season at 235, which was the third-most yards at 1,958. Last season Torbert's crew was second in the NFL in penalties called.
Torbert's crew called more penalties on the home team, 121-114, though that shouldn't matter because the Super Bowl is a neutral-site game.
The top three calls made by Torbert's crew this season were offensive holding (49), false start (41) and defensive pass interference (20), which were the three most common fouls league-wide according to NFLPenalties.com.
One penalty that everyone will be watching is roughing the passer, and Torbert's crew is a little high compared to the average on that one. Torbert's crew called eight roughing the passer penalties in 17 games, or 0.47 per game. The league average was 0.35 per game. Given the outcry over any call made on a hit on Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes, it will be a big story if any roughing the passer calls are made against the Eagles.
Keep an eye on delay of game too. Kansas City was called for the fewest delays in the NFL, the only penalty category in which the Chiefs had the fewest calls on them across the NFL or were the biggest beneficiaries of calls, which will surprise Kansas City's critics. But Torbert's crew called 0.76 delay of game penalties per game, well above the average of 0.61.
Torbert's other Super Bowl had memorable penalty
Torbert's name might be familiar to Chiefs fans.
In the AFC championship game two years ago, Cincinnati Bengals defensive end Joseph Ossai was called for pushing Mahomes after he'd stepped out of bounds in the final seconds of a close game, setting up the game-winning field goal to send the Chiefs to the Super Bowl. Although that call seemed to be the right one, considering Mahomes was out of bounds when he got shoved from behind, it was a big turning point in the game and became a controversy.
Torbert has been the referee for one other Super Bowl, and that had a controversial call too. With the Cincinnati Bengals leading the Los Angeles Rams late in Super Bowl LVI, Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson was called for holding Cooper Kupp on a third-and-goal incompletion. The Rams got a first down and won the game on Kupp's touchdown shortly after.
"Cooper came up to me and tried to push off me and I thought I made a good play on the ball," Wilson said after the game. "The refs saw otherwise. Just a tough call."
Torbert should hope that this Super Bowl doesn't come down to a call, one way or another. The entire sporting world will be watching for it.
