While the regular season sees each NFL ref have a consistent crew from week to week, that changes in the playoffs. The league grades an official’s performance each game they work during the regular season. The grading is part of how officials are assigned to postseason crews.
Shawn Smith and Clete Blakeman have been selected as referees for the Conference Championship Round, but both will have drastically different crews from the regular season.
NFL Referee Assignments for Conference Championships
All penalty stat information is courtesy of NFLPenalties.com.
Smith will have one on-field official from his crew, and Blakeman will have two on-field officials from his crew, according to FootballZebras.com.
Kansas City Chiefs at Baltimore Ravens | Shawn Smith
Smith is in his sixth season as a referee and his ninth overall as an NFL official. This is his fifth career postseason game as a referee. His previous playoff games have been in the Wild Card Round.
Kansas City is only a fraction behind the 49ers for the highest negative penalty yard difference of the four remaining teams. The Chiefs average 47.6 penalty yards per game, while their opponents average 36.5 penalty yards per game.
Chiefs offensive lineman Jawaan Taylor has been called for 19 penalties, along with three that were declined. He has been called for nine false starts and seven holdings. The next highest in the league is 12 by Jets offensive lineman Mekhi Becton and Ravens offensive lineman Ronnie Stanley.
Baltimore is 7-3 at home this season and has been called for 57 penalties at home, including a season-high 13 in Week 1. The Ravens were called for 48 penalties in eight road games this season.
Detroit Lions at San Francisco 49ers | Clete Blakeman
Blakeman is in his 16th season as an NFL official and his 14th as a referee. This is his 13th postseason game as a referee, including Super Bowl 50. Blakeman has been the referee for three other Conference Championship Games since the 2017 season.
Blakeman was a quarterback for Tom Osborne at Nebraska from 1984 to 1987. He had seven touchdown passes and seven rush touchdowns during his career.
The 49ers have been penalized 107 times this season, while their opponents have had 95 penalties called against them. San Francisco is averaging 56.4 penalty yards per game, which is almost 14 more yards per game than their opponents. It’s the highest negative difference of any of the four remaining teams.
MORE: NFL Playoff Bracket
The 49ers and Lions are in the top six for defensive pass interference this season. San Francisco has been called 13 times, while Detroit has been called 12 times for defensive pass interference.
The Lions average 5.5 penalties per game through 19 games this season. Detroit is 4-3 when they are called for six or more penalties and 10-2 when flagged five times or fewer.
Want to predict the results of the 2023 NFL postseason with our FREE NFL Playoff Predictor? How about looking into in-depth breakdowns of team depth charts or the NFL playoff schedule? Pro Football Network has you covered with all that and more!