The timing couldn't have been worse. Referee Shawn Smith's crew was struggling Thursday night, hours after we learned that the NFL is now willing to fire officials during the season for poor performance.
Smith's crew initially mis-enforced a penalty on the opening kickoff of the Houston Texans' 42-24 victory over the Miami Dolphins. It missed an obvious trip on a first-quarter punt, called a questionable unnecessary roughness penalty that gave the Dolphins a first down, and took away the catch of the year by Texans receiver DeAndre Hopkins because of a mild push-off.