NFL Referee Ron Torbert Tries To Explain Controversial Call In AFC Championship Game

Many reasons made the 2023 AFC Championship match memorable. The thrilling 23-20 win by the Kansas City Chiefs against the Cincinnati Bengals was only one. They are also heading to Super Bowl LVII, where they will face the NFC Champion Philadelphia Eagles.

But perhaps the over-arching storyline of Sunday’s game will forever be the officiating in the fourth quarter. The challenge flag was raised by NFL observers after some close calls, confusions, and sometimes even sketchy calls.

Particularly in Cincy where fans and players voiced their dismay at being denied a Super Bowl berth, However, the vitriol wasn’t limited to just The Queen City.

RELATED: Damar Hamlin Thank God, Friends, Family and Doctors for Their First Public Appearance since Collapsing

Fans around the globe were cheering for the end of the game. Some even suggested that the game had been rigged against Kansas City.

The game was over by Sunday night, but social media was buzzing throughout Monday. To put it mildly, it wasn’t exactly being kind to the guys in pinstripes.

Bob Menery tweeted “Dear NFL Whoever these referees are. Please make sure they never officiate an AFC Championship game ever again. As a matter of fact…they should be gone for good.”

“Unbiased opinion here…The bengals got shafted tonight,” He concluded. “Really poor performance all around. Sucks to watch.”

Menery added, “In a follow up tweet Menery wrote: “The poor poor Bengals. They got absolutely f***ed tonight by the refs. That was so hard to watch.”

“Guys battle all year long only to have these incompetent referees ruin their chsnces at a super bowl appearance. Shameful,” He concluded.

RELATED: Chris Baker, a former Washington Redskins lineman, narrowly survives near death from a stroke: “God Not Done With Me Yet”

A third-down play, which was later turned into a rage, caused much of the fury. ‘do-over’. Referee Ron Torbert’s crew wiped out a failed attempt by the Chiefs, who would go on to convert.

Kansas City would eventually capture the franchise’s third AFC Championship behind a 45-yard field goal from Harrison Butker

Torbert said that a field Judge tried to waive the first third-down call because the game clock operator had made a mistake. According to Yahoo SportsHe explained that crew members had to adjust as fast as possible.

“On the previous play, there was an incomplete pass,” Torbert stated. “We spotted the ball, but the line judge came in and re-spotted the ball because the spot was off. We reset the play clock and the game clock started running. It should not have started running because there was an incomplete pass on the previous play.”

He continued, “The field judge noticed that the game clock was running. He was coming in to shut the play down so that we could get the clock fixed but nobody heard him, and the play was run. After the play was over, he came in and we discussed that he was trying to shut the play down before the ball had been snapped. So we reset the game clock back to where it was before that snap and replayed third down.”

Frustration grew when Patrick Mahomes was penalized for late hitting the ball. As the game progressed it became clearer that the odds were stacked in favor of a selected Super Bowl participant. The media was having a ball with it all.

Roger Goodell and NFL will be forced to examine the dustup.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fX3LgdnkmZU”>protocols How they deal with these situations.

Despite all the speculation, The Big Game between the Eagles and Chiefs will take place in Glendale on February 12, Arizona.

NEXT: WATCH: Pat McAfee addresses online chatter that The NFL Is ‘Rigged’

*As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases