Umpire Larry Smith had to be carted off the field during the first quarter of Sunday’s game between the Houston Texans and Jacksonville Jaguars in London.
Smith was walking near the 50-yard line when he lost his balance and slipped on the wet turf at Wembley Stadium. When he attempted to get up, he quickly realized that he could not walk, and wound up falling back to the turf.
Umpire Larry Smith went down and was carted off. Smith is in his second year as an NFL official while serving as principal of a middle school in Kansas. https://t.co/fRkw9BcX9n
— Mike Garafolo (@MikeGarafolo) October 18, 2026
Smith had to be carted off the field, and the officiating crew had to operate as a group of six instead of seven for the remainder of the game. There was no word on the severity of his injury, but the non-contact nature of it obviously made it concerning.
Referee injuries happen from time to time, sometimes under weird circumstances. However, it is probably not a great look for the league that one of their officials suffered a potentially serious injury as a result of slipping on wet grass.
Smith is in his second year as an NFL official, having previously officiated collegiately for the Big Ten.
