Ron Torbert gives confusing explanation for whistle that took away a Buccaneers' TD

While the Tampa Bay Buccaneers came away with a huge win on Sunday in New Orleans, it was yet another game where controversy ruled the day.

Twice Antoine Winfield Jr. scored what seemed to be defensive touchdowns, but neither counted. One was an interception which he was correctly ruled down by contact, but the other one still has everyone wondering what the heck happened.

Winfield picked up a fumble that Jamel Dean forced and ran it back for a touchdown. It seemed as though the Bucs had just taken a commanding 14-0 lead, but officials gathered and Ron Torbert ruled that the play had been whistled dead after Winfield picked the ball up.

The turnover counted, but the touchdown didn't, and nobody on the Buccaneers sideline was happy about it.

After the game, a visibly frustrated Todd Bowles said that he "didn't have an answer" for why what appeared to be a clean scoop-and-score was blown dead, and noted that the Bucs would be calling league officials about it this week.

Bowles also said that Torbert admitted to him that the whistle was "erroneous" which makes the official explanation for it land with an even harder thud.

Ron Torbert explains what happened on controversial play that wiped away an Antoine Winfield Jr. TD

Torbert spoke with the pool reporter after the game and tried to explain the phantom whistle. Apparently it came from the far side of the field -- which was away from the play.

"We ruled that there was a fumble. It was recovered by the defense, but there was a whistle blown from the other side of the field. The official thought that the runner was down. We were able to award the defense the ball after the fumble but because the whistle had been blown, we could not award the advance afterwards," Torbert said.

Last week, the Bucs were subjected to a double review that wiped a first down away when officials reviewed a play for one thing but overturned another. Torbert said that wasn't the case here, despite it being a situation that might have called for it.

"There are certain situations, such as if there's a fumble and an immediate recovery in the aftermath after the whistle is blown, in certain cases we can award the ball to the defense. Or award an interception. So generally, yes, the ball is dead when the whistle's blown. But in this case we were able to award the fumble but not the advance," Torbert explained, also noting that the ruling was determined after a "discussion on the field" and not a review.

That's really just word salad for someone blew a whistle and made a mistake.

But what is stuck in the craw of everyone here is that nobody heard a whistle. The broadcast mics didn't pick one up, players certainly didn't seem to react as though they heard on, and officials were still running after the play as though it was live.

That's what makes this whole mess so confusing and frustrating.

Tampa Bay won the game so it didn't end up mattering in the long run, but this is now another week of questionable officiating impacting a game and at some point it has to stop.