Veteran NFL official Adrian Hill will be the referee for Saturday’s matchup between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Indianapolis Colts, per NFL Communications.
Hill has worked as an NFL official since the 2010 season and has held the role of referee since 2019. He began his career as a line judge and side judge. Hill has not worked a game involving the Steelers or the Colts this season, and he most recently worked the Tennessee Titans-Miami Dolphins Monday Night Football game at Hard Rock Stadium, which Tennessee won 28-27.
Hill’s crew this season has been harsher on the road team than the home team. The road team has been called for 85 penalties while home teams have been called for just 63, and with the Steelers traveling to Indianapolis, that’s not a great stat to see. Home teams have also won 55 percent of the matchups that Hill’s crew has called this season.
His crew is right in line with the league average for penalties called per game, averaging 12.33 penalties, which is just slightly higher than the league average of 12.08. It’s a crew that’s particularly been heavy on false start penalties, with 31 called this season. That also helps explain the discrepancy of penalties between home and away teams, as away teams are called for an average of 1.75 false starts per game with Hill as the referee, while home teams are at just 0.83. Twenty-one total false starts have been called on the road team compared to 10 on the home team.
Hill’s crew has also called 23 offensive holding penalties, with more called on the home team than the away team. OLB Nick Herbig drew a hold in Pittsburgh’s Week 14 loss against the New England Patriots, but OLB T.J. Watt has drawn just one hold as a pass rusher this season. We’ll see if that can change on Saturday, as 12 holding penalties have been called on the home team by Hill and his crew.
One notable difference between home and road team penalties comes with defensive pass interference, as road teams have been called for it 11 times compared to just three for the home team. That’s something to watch, especially with Pittsburgh Steelers CB Joey Porter Jr. a struggling with being too grabby at times this season.
With the Steelers struggling to line up properly the last two weeks (something that should be written about a middle school team, not an NFL team), it’s also worth mentioning that of the eight illegal formation penalties called by Hill’s crew, six have been on the away team.
It’s a must-win game for the Steelers on Saturday, and if they lose their playoff hopes will be barely hanging by a thread. They have to find a way to regroup after brutal losses to the Cardinals and Patriots in back-to-back games. Hopefully, the mini bye from Thursday to the following Saturday will help this team focus in and beat the Colts, who hold an identical 7-6 record.
