Tag: Shawn Smith

NFL assigns Shawn Smith to referee Week 2’s Saints-Cowboys game

The NFL assigned Shawn Smith to referee Week 2’s Saints-Cowboys game. New Orleans hasn’t seen Smith since 2021, but they’re 3-0 with him on the field:

The NFL assigned Shawn Smith to referee Week 2’s New Orleans Saints vs. Dallas Cowboys game, per Football Zebras. While they haven’t seen him since 2021, the Saints are 3-0 in games with Smith on the field as a referee. They also won a game in 2017 when Smith was working as an umpire. If you’re curious, the Cowboys’ record with Smith as a referee is 2-1. They went 1-1 in two games with him as an umpire.

Smith began his NFL officiating career as an umpire from 2015 to 2017 before getting bumped up to referee in 2018. In Week 1, his crew ranked sixth in flags thrown (17), but just 15 penalties stood — 7 on the home team (for 55 yards) and 8 on the visitors (for 50 yards). However, their 105 penalty yards assessed ranked eighth.

New Orleans and Dallas were two of the most-penalized teams last week so both squads must play with greater discipline in Week 2. Especially along the offensive line. Smith’s crew called more fouls for false starts (4) and offensive holding (4) than anything else, but they were also vigilant for illegal blocks above the waist (2). Those are the kinds of self-inflicted wounds the Saints can’t afford against a team with playoff ambitions like the Cowboys.

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Worst of the Week: Clete Blakeman, Jamal Adams, Ron Rivera, Broncos in the red zone

Jamal Adams, Ron Rivera, Broncos in the red zone, Joe Flacco’s last two plays, and more bad officiating! It’s the NFL’s Worst of the Week!

Football is a wonderful, thrilling, inspiring game that can lift us to new heights in our lives.

But football is also a weird, inexplicable, at times downright stupid game that may force you to perform Keith Moon-level furniture destruction in your own living room.

So, as much as we at Touchdown Wire endeavor to write about what makes the game great, there are also times when it’s important to point out the dumb plays, boneheaded decisions, and officiating errors that make football all too human.

Folks, it’s time for the Worst of the Week for Week 13 of the 2023 NFL season.

The Zebras Report for Titans’ Week 4 game vs. Bengals

A look at the officiating crew for the Titans’ Week 4 matchup against the Bengals.

The Tennessee Titans (1-2) have a massive battle with the Cincinnati Bengals (1-2) looming, as both teams try to improve their record to .500 on the year.

Even though things look bleak for the Titans at the moment, recent history says they could possibly have at least one small advantage on their side, at least when it comes to the zebras.

Shawn Smith, who you may remember as the “hey, hey, hey” referee from the Titans-Miami Dolphins 2021 matchup, is set to be the head official on Sunday, and his crew has heavily favored the home team as of late.

According to the NFLPenalties.com, since the start of 2022, Smith’s crew has called 122 penalties on the away team as opposed to the 95 it has called on the home team.

This year alone, approximately 41.9 percent (18-of-43) of the penalties called have favored the visiting squad, while a whopping 58.1 percent (25-of-43) have helped the hosting team.

The majority of those penalties were called on the first two downs. Offensive holding (seven), defensive pass interference (six) and unnecessary roughness (four) were the three most frequent infractions flagged by Smith’s crew.

Offensive holding (2.33), defensive pass interference (2.00), unnecessary roughness (1.33), defensive holding (1.00), neutral zone infraction (1.00) and false start (1.00) are all being called at least once per game on average.

Let’s hope this trend continues on Sunday for the host Titans because Tennessee needs all the help it can get at the moment.

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Referee Shawn Smith’s crew assigned to work Chiefs-Colts game

The #Chiefs will get referee Shawn Smith for the first time this season in the Week 3 game vs. the #Colts.

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Fifth-year NFL referee Shawn Smith and his crew have been assigned as the officials for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Week 3 game against the Indianapolis Colts on Sunday according to Football Zebras.

The last time Smith was assigned to a Chiefs game was the wild-card game against the Pittsburgh Steelers last year. Only nine total penalties were called during that game and his crew called the fourth-fewest total penalties that season. Including that playoff game, Smith officiated five games played by K.C. since he became a referee in 2018. Kansas City has a 5-0 all-time record with Smith as the lead official.

During the first two weeks of the 2022 NFL season, Smith’s crew called 25 total penalties, which is right around the middle of the pack for the season. 13 have been called on the home team, while 12 have been called on the away team. He called the Bills-Titans game on Monday night, which had a whopping 17 penalties called.

His crew has called false start the most frequently (7), while face mask penalties (3) come in second place. Offensive holding, defensive pass interference, encroachment and defensive holding have each been called twice by this crew so far this season. Outside of false starts, this crew only seems to call the most egregious and blatant of penalties.

The Colts have 12 penalties on the year so far, while the Chiefs have committed just nine.

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NFL ref says ‘hey, hey, hey’ before announcing penalty, Titans fans answer back

NFL ref Shawn Smith created one of the funnier moments of Week 17 of the 2021 season.

NFL official Shawn Smith created one of the more funny and memorable moments of Week 17 of the 2021 season during the contest between the Tennessee Titans and Miami Dolphins at Nissan Stadium.

During the second quarter, Smith was about to announce a penalty, but threw in a little (and awesome) curve ball before doing so. He randomly said, “hey, hey, hey” before explaining the flag.

Making the moment even better, Titans fans shouted back “hey!” at Smith. It isn’t clear if the veteran referee meant to do this or if he didn’t realize his mic was hot, but we certainly don’t mind that it happened.

The Titans went on to win the game against the Dolphins, 34-3, and in the process clinched the AFC South and moved back into the No. 1 seed with Kansas City losing to Cincinnati.

Tennessee can secure the first-round bye with a win over the Houston Texans in Week 18.

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NFL assigns referee Shawn Smith to work Week 4 Saints-Lions game

The NFL assigned referee Shawn Smith to Week 4’s game between the Detroit Lions and New Orleans Saints, who lead the league in penalties.

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Third-year NFL referee Shawn Smith and his crew have been assigned to Week 4’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions at Ford Field, per Football Zebras. Smith has worked two Saints games in this capacity, both wins, after spending his first three seasons as an umpire.

In 2017, Smith refereed a 20-0 Saints win at Wembley Stadium over the Miami Dolphins; New Orleans was fouled 8 times for 71 yards, while Miami drew 11 flags for 90 yards. He also officiated 2019’s Thanksgiving Day win over the Atlanta Falcons, which the Saints won 26-18 despite being flagged 9 times for 121 penalty yards (Atlanta was fouled just 4 times for 18 yards). Three of those Saints penalties were on cornerback Eli Apple, who gave up 62 yards on defensive pass interference fouls.

Unfortunately, DPI penalties have plagued the Saints secondary no matter who’s back there. Through three games, no team has drawn more flags for it than New Orleans (9) or for more yards (183). That’s more DPI yards surrendered than the next two teams combined.

In terms of all penalties across the league, the Saints are tied for the second-most fouls (24) but by far the most penalty yards (331). Most of that is on the defense, which has drawn more penalty yards by itself (261) than, again, the next two teams put together (the New York Jets and Jacksonville Jaguars). The Saints offense, comparatively, is tied for 13th in penalty yards yielded.

This must be a point of emphasis in practice for the Saints coaching staff. Not addressing it would be a season-threatening failure. Whether defensive backs aren’t turning their head when competing for a catch or hooking opponents’ arms in scoring position, they must make more of an effort to play within the rules, because the NFL’s officials haven’t held them to the same standards as their opponents for quite some time.

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