Referee Report: Bengals To End Longest White Hat Drought Sunday Vs. Ravens

The Cincinnati Bengals’ longest referee drought will come to an end Sunday in Baltimore.

For the first time in more than three years, Shawn Smith will work a Bengals game. The last time the league assigned him to work a Cincinnati game was Week 4, 2023, which was a 27-3 loss in Nashville.

The Bengals are just 1-4 with Smith as the referee, with the lone win coming in his third career game as a white hat, the memorable 37-36 win in Atlanta on A.J. Green’s late touchdown catch from Andy Dalton.

Smith also worked a pair of Bengals losses in 2020 – the 35-30 setback against the Cleveland Browns in Joe Burrow’s first career primetime game in Week 2, and the 20-9 defeat at Washinton a couple of months later when Burrow tore his ACL.

And Smith was the referee for the canceled game against Buffalo in wake of Damar Hamlin's medical emergency.

The longest Bengals referee drought after this weekend will be Shawn Hochuli, who hasn't worked one of the team's games since Week 13, 2024.

Bengals vs Ravens Referee Has High Rate of Visitor Penalties

The Ravens are 7-4 with Smith as the referee.

Smith and his crew are averaging 13.33 penalties per game, which ranks 13th among the 17 referees.

However, his 43 flags against road teams rank fourth.

That falls in line with his 2025 numbers, when he ranked 13th in accepted penalties (11.56) and tied for fourth in flags against road teams (119).

Smith and his crew are averaging 4.33 offensive holding penalties per game this season, which is third most. Fifteen of those were against the home team, with 11 against the visitors.

The crew is tied for third in defensive holding penalties with 1.17 per game.

Smith is in his 12th season as an NFL official and ninth as a head referee.

He’s earned six consecutive postseason assignments, including his first Super Bowl last year when the Seattle Seahawks beat New England Patriots.

Smith had an NFC Divisional Round assignment in 2024, and he worked the 2023 AFC Championship Game in which the Kansas City Chiefs won at Baltimore.

In 2022, Smith did the memorable Wild-Card comeback by the Jacksonville Jaguars against the Los Angeles Chargers. And in 2020 and 2021, he worked AFC Wild-Card games.

Week 4, 2018: Bengals 37, Falcons 36

Bengals six penalties for 55 yards; Falcons 10-95

Week 11, 2019: Raiders 17, Bengals 10

Bengals 4-40; Raiders 7-42

Week 2, 2020: Browns 35, Bengals 30

Bengals 4-45; Browns 8-76

Week 11, 2020: Washington 20, Bengals 9

Bengals 3-31; Washington 6-49

Week 4, 2023: Titans 27, Bengals 3

Bengals 5-40; Titans 5-27

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