The Pittsburgh Steelers will be hosting the Arizona Cardinals at Acrisure Stadium on Sunday for Week Thirteen’s game. Land Clark and his crew will be the officials for the game, per footballzebras.com.
Clark began his career as a field judge and side judge in 2018 and 2019 before becoming a referee in 2020. He has not been the referee for a Steelers game this season. The last time he was over a game involving the Steelers was Week 17 of the 2022 season in a Steelers-Ravens matchup that saw Pittsburgh come out on top. He officiated an Arizona Cardinals game in Week Two of this season as the Cardinals lost to the New York Giants. That game had 17 penalties for a total of 132 yards.
Clark’s crew has called 132 penalties, with 79 against away teams and 53 against home teams. The two most frequently called penalties by his crew are offensive holding (33) and false start (21), per nflpenalties.com. Offensive tackles have been trying to get every extra edge they can this season against the dynamic duo of T.J. Watt and Alex Highsmith, so Clark frequently penalizing things like holding and false starts can only help their cause.
One thing that really stuck out in Clark’s most frequently-called penalties list is the staggering number of unnecessary roughness calls. So far he is calling over one per game with 14 unnecessary roughness calls across ten games. For comparison, the Steelers’ referee last week had just four unnecessary roughness calls this season. His crew also appears to let offensive pass interference slide more often than not with just three of those penalties called this season.
Another curious stat is that Clark’s crew has called 11 penalties for defensive holding, but just one of those has been against the home team. Obviously, they can only call what they are seeing on the field, but when a number is that lopsided it is worth paying attention to. In general, home teams have not fared well under this crew, as home teams have won just 20 percent of their games with Clark as the referee this season. A similar story last year, with 31 percent of home teams winning while Clark’s crew works the game.
