Alex Kemp stares daggers at Jaxon Smith-Njigba after profanity interrupted his penalty announcement

The Week 4 Thursday Night Football game contained an interesting event and drew a “dad stare” from referee Alex Kemp as Seattle Seahawks wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba gave his opinion about a penalty the officials called.

Headphones on:

While some may be amused at the glare and pause by Kemp, he may have done this for a valid reason. In the past few years, television broadcasts have garbled (“dumped” in broadcast parlance), player profanities that the TV mics or the referee microphone picks up. Kemp may have paused a moment, to let the censors dump the profanity and then resume the announcement. But since the game was on Prime and not on network TV, it was an uncensored moment.

Why no unsportsmanlike conduct flag?

If you’ve never been on a football field, there is a lot of profanity. Officials are taught to ignore profanity not directly aimed at them or opponents. Kemp most likely determined that Smith-Njigba’s commentary was more general in nature and not personally directed to him or one of his crew mates.

While it wasn’t shown on TV, Kemp likely used this as a “talk-to” opportunity that officials will often employ. If an official exercises discretion and leans towards not flagging an action, they will address this fact with the player and the coach during a stoppage.

Profane and personal comments will be flagged

In 2011, Jerome Boger flagged Harvey Dahl for swearing at him for arguing a holding call, while Boger was announcing the foul.

Once again, headphones on:

Football is an emotional game and profanity is expected. Officials will ignore profanity unless it is directed personally and disrespectfully at them or directed at opponents.

What made this moment interesting was Kemp’s “don’t make me turn this car around” look at Smith-Njigba that got social media’s attention last night.

Ultimately, Kemp handled the situation well and America got a chuckle.

(Cover photo from Prime)