The start of real NFL football is almost here, and with it comes the inevitable hand-wringing over the highly influential decisions of a select few deemed worthy of such glorious power: the referees. While the notion that a referee crew will directly impact the outcome of a game is ludicrous, it’s hard to deny that certain crews have their tendencies, and those tendencies can often play a role in shaping the way the game is played.
That’s why we have the weekly referee report, which looks at the crew calling the Cowboys’ game that week and tracks their tendencies at large and specifically as it relates to the two teams they’ll be calling penalties against that week. And the man on the call for Thursday night’s NFL kickoff game between the Cowboys and the Eagles is Shawn Smith.
Smith will be entering his eighth season as a head referee, and his 11th overall as an NFL official. Over that time, Smith has earned a reputation as a fairly reasonable official, rarely getting crazy with his administering of penalties but also not letting teams get away with murder.
Only once in his career as a head referee has Smith finished in the top five in total penalties called, and that was his second year on the job. He’s also never finished in the bottom three in penalties, usually finishing pretty close to the league average in terms of how often he calls a penalty.
Early on, Smith was growing a tendency for favoring the visiting team, often seen as an attempt to mitigate homefield advantage. He usually finished the year calling considerably more penalties on the home team. However, that’s changed lately: two of the last three seasons have seen him throw the flag on the road team at least 20 more times.
Last year, Smith ranked dead in the middle of the league in penalties, with 21 more flags thrown against the visitor. In 10 of his games, the road team was more penalized, while three others saw the same amount of penalties across both teams. Coincidentally, the home team was 10-7 when Smith was on the call.
It hasn’t always been that way, though. For his career, Smith has seen the home team post a dismal 52-61 record when he’s on the call. Even in the past three years, when Smith has shifted away from calling so many penalties on the home team, the host is still just 23-27.
As far as types of penalties, Smith has been fairly agnostic. False starts and holds are always the most commonly called penalties, but Smith doesn’t have any strong tendencies beyond that. He was third among crews last year in calling unnecessary roughness and finished near the top in flags for ineligible man downfield. The former reflects Smith’s distaste for extracurriculars, while the latter is more situational, but still something that bears mentioning given how often the Eagles use RPO’s.
Since becoming a head referee, Smith has called just four Cowboys games. Dallas is 2-2 in those games, and 1-1 as the road team. Their two road trips with Smith on the call were in 2022 against the Jaguars – which featured a walk-off pick six in overtime to lose – and at the end of the 2023 season against Washington, a blowout win for the Cowboys.
Smith is much more familiar with the Eagles, having called seven of their games. The Eagles are just 4-3 in those games, with a 2-2 record as the home team. They were winless at home with Smith until the 2022 season, when they beat the Packers on Sunday Night Football; Smith also called the Eagles’ divisional round victory over the Rams in last year’s playoffs.
All in all, Smith is not an official who often gets accused of playing favorites. He won’t coat the field in yellow, but he won’t tolerate unfair play either. He’ll call penalties when they’re there, and is unafraid to get harsh on undisciplined teams. That’s often been an issue for the Cowboys, so it’s a mild concern heading into Thursday night’s game.
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