Shawn Smith will serve as head referee for Sunday night’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and New York Jets. While Smith is a long-time and highly respected official, his track record doesn’t speak well for the home team Steelers.
Per Pro Football Reference, which tracks all of Smith’s games, he’s called more penalties on the home than away team the last two seasons. Per the site’s metrics, the home team has had a lower percentage chance of winning in the games Smith has called the past two years and three of the last four.
In 2024, the home team has only won two of the five games Smith has officiated, the Chicago Bears beating the Tennessee Titans in Week 1, and the Buffalo Bills beating the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 3.
This will be the first Steelers’ game Smith has called in 2024. In fact, Smith hasn’t worked a Pittsburgh game since 2022 when the a battered Steelers’ defense held Tampa Bay Buccaneers QB Tom Brady in check in a rare win against him. In 2021, he worked a pair of games, the team’s overtime win against the Seattle Seahawks and their Wild Card loss to the Kansas City Chiefs.
Over his career, the Steelers are 5-4-1 in the nine games Smith has worked. The tie came in the 2018 opener, a 21-21 finish against the Cleveland Browns.
Smith began working NFL games in 2015, first as an umpire before being promoted to referee in 2018. Per Football Zebras, Smith officiated in college from 2009-2014, first working in the MAC before being promoted to Big Ten play. He originally got his start working flag football games at Eastern Michigan.
The Steelers and Jets kickoff Sunday night at 8:20 PM/EST on NBC. Pittsburgh will look to move towards 5-2 while New York will aim to get back into the win column after a tough Monday night loss to the Buffalo Bills.
