Ball don’t lie: 3 worst calls from Super Bowl 56

Super Bowl 56 offered a signature moment for Matthew Stafford, and a culmination of hard work from Aaron Donald. It also gave us some truly awful officiating.

The Super Bowl 56 officiating crew lasted one half of football — that’s as long as Ron Torbert’s crew could go without getting involved in the end result of the biggest game of the Rams’ and Bengals’ players lives.

Thankfully, there were no egregious taunting calls. All of those were earned thanks to Vernon Hargreaves disastrous decision to run onto the field despite the fact he wasn’t active for the Super Bowl due to injury. That cost the Bengals 15 yards after an interception.

Super Bowl 56: Who were the referees?

The following is courtesy of NBC Sports:

Down Judge: Derrick Bowers – Officiating since 2003 – Officiated on Super Bowl XLIII crew

Line Judge: Carl Johnson  – Veteran official and former Vice President of Officiating for the NFL – Officiated on Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XXXIX crew

Back Judge: Scott Helverson – Officiated on Super Bowl XLII and Super Bowl XLV crew

Field Judge: Rick Patterson – Officiated on Super Bowl XXXVII and Super Bowl LIV crew

Umpire: Bryan Neale – Officiating since 2014. First time officiating a Super Bowl

Side Judge: Keith Washington – First time officiating a Super Bowl

Replay Official: Roddy Ames – First time officiating a Super Bowl

That’s…a lot of fresh faces. There were bound to be a few mistakes, and boy did the refs leave their imprint on Super Bowl 56 late.

Bengals: Officials miss clear hold of Tee Higgins

Bengals fans hollered after the game that the Super Bowl was rigged, but they likely forgot about this missed call altogether.

As Higgins was running an in-route, a Rams defender grabbed a hold of his jersey, thus slowing him just enough to miss out on a throw from Joe Burrow. These things have a tendency to even out, and Higgins would get the benefit of a no-call to start the third quarter. Yet, when the physical evidence is so obvious, not blowing the whistle is alarming.