Who are the announcers and referees for Cowboys vs. Saints in Week 2?

The Dallas Cowboys were arguably the most impressive of all 32 NFL teams on opening weekend. Handed a tough road test in Cleveland, Micah Parsons and Co. had Browns fans booing before halftime en route to a 33-17 victory.

The Cowboys return home in Week 2, where they've been utterly dominant in the regular season under Mike McCarthy. However, they face a Saints team that had a convincing win of their own to open the campaign in the form of a 47-10 drubbing of the Panthers.

While the Saints aren't viewed as a threat in the NFC, they are very underrated and could easily pull off an upset if Dallas doesn't take them serious. We have seen McCarthy teams get complacent against an "inferior" opponent, but the beatdown of the Browns suggested this group has turned over a new leaf.

Announcers for Cowboys vs. Saints

• Network: FOX
• Play-by-play: Kevin Burkhardt
• Color commentary: Tom Brady
• Sideline reporter: Erin Andrews and Tom Rinaldi

Is anybody surprised? The Cowboys aren't even in FOX's late afternoon slate (kickoff is scheduled for 12 p.m. CT) and yet FOX is still sending its A-team to AT&T Stadium. That means Cowboys fans will have the pleasure of hearing Kevin Burkhardt and Tom Brady call the game.

While Burkhardt's status as an elite play-by-play man goes without saying, Brady received mixed reviews in his broadcasting debut. While Brady settled in and delivered strong analysis throughout the game, his nerves were audible. Maybe the 47-year-old needed a game to get his feet wet, but he has a long way to get on the level of his predecessor Greg Olsen.  

Cowboys fans might not like the NFL forcing Brady down their throat, but it's not like the seven-time Super Bowl champion has an anti-Dallas agenda. Quite the contrary, actually. He had the Cowboys No. 4 in his Week 2 power rankings and praised Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons, Mike Zimmer and KaVontae Turpin.

Referees for Cowboys vs. Saints

The head referee for Cowboys vs. Saints in Week 2 will be Shawn Smith, who's in his seventh season as a referee after starting out as an umpire.

Smith called both of the Cowboys-Commanders games in 2022 as well as the 2022 overtime loss vs. the Jaguars and the Week 18 game in Washington last year. That's a 2-2 record. Meanwhile, the Saints are 3-0 with Smith as a referee, though it's worth noting they haven't had him since the 2021 season.

Tasked with Titans-Bears last Sunday, Smith's screw threw 17 flags in Week 1, which was the sixth-most. They were evenly distributed among the home and away team: 7 on Chicago, and eight on Tennessee.

Here is the rest of the crew that will be calling the game with Smith:

• Umpire: Alex Moore
• Down Judge: Jay Bilbo
• Line Judge: Jeff Seeman
• Side Judge: Boris Cheek
• Field Judge: Dyrol Prioleau
• Back Judge: Dino Paganelli

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