This column -- a collaboration with NFL officiating guru Joe Gibbs -- is off to a 6-3 start (plus 2.7 units) after finishing 37-23 (plus 11.7 units) last season using referee tendencies in our handicapping. Last week we hit the Ravens -1 and Dolphins-Seahawks Under 41.5, but missed on Panthers-Raiders Under 40.

Gibbs (not the Hall of Fame coach, the NFL referee expert who tweets @NFLrefstats1) is working with SportsLine again to deliver three weekly bets. Before you make any Week 4 NFL picks or NFL parlays, you need to see what Gibbs and SportsLine senior analyst Larry Hartstein have to say about the officiating crews' tendencies.

A former lead writer for Covers and The Linemakers, Hartstein combines a vast network of Vegas sources with an analytical approach he honed working for Pro Football Focus. Hartstein tied for 52nd place (out of 1,598 entries) in the 2022 Westgate Las Vegas SuperContest, going 53-34-3 ATS. His weekly contest selections form the basis of his NFL best bets column, which is 83-52-3 (61.5%, +25.50 units) since its inception in 2022.

We can tell you Hartstein and Gibbs are betting the Chiefs -7.5 over the host Chargers, in part because Shawn Smith will officiate. Home teams are 41-55-3 ATS in Smith's career, including a horrific 9-24 ATS mark (30 %) for divisional home teams. Those divisional home teams went 0-4 SU and ATS with Smith last season. 

Divisional home dogs are 3-8 ATS all-time with Smith, who will officiate his first division game of 2024. 

Since the start of the 2021 season, Smith's crew has called an above-average 52.5% of third-down penalties on home teams. This season, that number is up to 80%.

The Chiefs have been plagued by offensive holding, but the Chargers' defense ranks in the bottom third of the league in drawing that flag. Smith officiated last year's AFC title game, when the Chiefs won in Baltimore. "Smith's lack of emphasis on offensive holding was a huge break for K.C. in the AFC Championship Game," Gibbs noted. "It masked what was a weak point for the Chiefs' offense."

Hartstein and Gibbs also are sharing key officiating angles in Saints-Falcons and Steelers-Colts. You need to see this key referee data before locking in your picks!

So what's the play for Saints-Falcons? And what other officiating edges can be found on the Week 4 slate? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Larry Hartstein's Week 4 NFL officiating trends, all from the column that went 37-23 last season!