Referee Alex Kemp had great reaction to Jaxon Smith-Njigba’s hot mic disagreement

If you’re looking for humor, hot mics rarely disappoint. During Week 4’s Thursday Night Football game between the Arizona Cardinals and Seattle Seahawks, we got an especially funny hot mic incident thanks to Seattle’s Jaxon Smith-Njigba and head referee Alex Kemp.

Leading 17-6 early in the fourth quarter, it appeared as though the Seahawks had scored a touchdown to effectively put the game on ice. That was not the case, though, as Smith-Njigba was flagged for holding, negating the touchdown. As Kemp was announcing the penalty, Smith-Njigba walked by him, proclaiming, “That’s some bulls**t.” Thanks to Kemp’s mic being on, everyone watching the game, both in the stadium and on television, heard Smith-Njigba’s opinion.

On its own, that would be funny enough. But what took this up another level was Kemp’s reaction. In similar circumstances, most referees would usually ignore the player and continue announcing the penalty. Kemp didn’t do that. He gave Smith-Njigba the same look that a mother or father might give a teenager testing the limits of what he or she can get away with.

Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit react to Seahawks WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba voicing his displeasure to a ref (who didn’t appreciate that).

“Just a misdemeanor this time.”🏈🎙️🦓🤬 #NFL #TNF pic.twitter.com/NzO8DXtQdj

— Awful Announcing (@awfulannouncing) September 26, 2025

Both Al Michaels and Kirk Herbstreit chuckled at the reaction, with Herbstreit adding, “Be careful.”

After rules analyst Terry McAulay confirmed that he thought holding was the right call, Michaels and Herbstreit continued to discuss the exchange between Smith-Njigba and Kemp.

“Good call by Alex Kemp not to throw — you know, it’s one thing if you say something in an open mic. But if the mics not open, right, you get away with it,” Michaels said.

“He gave him the look,” Herbstreit replied.

“He did,” Michaels added. “Oh, yeah. Oh, yeah.”

“My kids make fun of me,” Herbstreit said. “I have four sons and when they were younger, I used to give them this look right here.”

“Just a misdemeanor this time,” added Michaels, who earlier in the night said that the NFL had made taunting a “felony.”