Referee for Packers vs. Cowboys NFC Wild Card Playoff Game Announced

The Dallas Cowboys are preparing for Sunday's highly-anticipated NFC Wild Card matchup against the Green Bay Packers. The NFC East champions will take on the youngest team in the playoffs in a game where they are heavily favored.

The Cowboys fans have the utmost faith in their team to prevail and set up a matchup against the winner of the LA Rams-Detroit Lions game. In order to do that, they will need an officiating crew that allows the players to decide their fate.

The officiating crews for each playoff game were announced on Monday.

Packers vs. Cowboys officiating crew for NFC Wild Card playoff game

Ron Torbert will be the lead official in the Cowboys-Packers game. Crews led by Torbert have been the toughest on home teams, calling 107 penalties for 858 yards, according to Rick Gosselin on X. This could signal trouble for the Cowboys, who were the second-most penalized team in the NFL this season, only after the New York Jets.

If Micah Parsons continues to get no holding calls, while the Packers receive the benefit of the doubt as away teams, the contest could get uglier than the Cowboys prefer.

Torbert has not officiated a Packers or Cowboys game this season, but Dallas is very familiar with him as a referee. Since Torbert became a lead referee in 2014, he has officiated eight Cowboys games. In these games, Dallas has a 3-5 record. Most recently, he officiated the first game of the 2022 season in which the Cowboys lost to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at home 19-3.

Despite Torbert's penalty record against home teams and the Cowboys' record with him in charge, there is a reason for hope for the Cowboys fans. In 16 games that Torbert officiated this year, home teams are 12-4, according to Pro Football Reference. Let's hope that trend continues into the postseason.

More Cowboys news and analysis: