Throughout the NFL's history, there have been countless complaints about officiating from players and coaches to fans. It is an unavoidable part of the game, and unfortunately, their mistakes lead to some questionable outcomes, and the Patriots have dealt with the consequences of that far too often over the years.
Because they're going into their first playoff game in five years, fans hoped they would get a fair head official to call the game. Although who will be wearing the white cap on Sunday night is tenured and respected, his track record doesn't necessarily favor New England, especially this season.
It was announced earlier this week that Ron Torbert will be the head official for the matchup against the Chargers, who was also on hand for the Patriots' Week 1 loss to the Raiders. His crew penalized both teams a total of 21 times for a loss of 151 yards, but that's not the worst part.
Ron Torbert, No. 62 in your officials program and having just turned 62 on Jan. 1, gets the referee assignment for Sunday’s Patriots-Chargers playoff game.
— Mike Reiss (@MikeReiss) January 5, 2026
Torbert, the Harvard Law graduate, has been officiating in the NFL since the 2010 season. https://t.co/294bUUL8ez
Instead, it's a pattern of Torbert's officiating on home teams that doesn't bode well for the Patriots' chances on Sunday, especially if he and his crew are going to be ticky-tack with flags.
The Patriots need to avoid racking up penalties with a crew that loves to throw flags on hand
During the 2025 season, Torbert and his crew have thrown the fifth-most flags among officiating groups, penalizing teams 255 times, with 205 ultimately being accepted.
Making matters worse is the number of penalties called on the home team of the game he's officiating, 116, compared to the away team getting hit with just 89. The Patriots are the home team this weekend, so there's a good chance this trend continues against them.
They'll need to be on their A-game with his crew making the calls, and not reverting to their problematic ways of sloppy football, resulting in avoidable penalties, particularly pre-snap flags. Torbert's most called infractions are for offensive holding and false starts, so the Patriots cannot give them any leeway to flag them for those.
Fans don't want any reason to blame the referees for a devastating loss or for several bad calls, so the players need to buckle down and avoid giving them anything easy to call.
Unfortunately, some officials are far worse than Torbert, who could be in charge of more games if the Patriots win and continue their playoff path. There have already been games this year impacted by questionable calls and even massive player mistakes, and now that they're in the postseason, that cannot happen again.