Clay Martin will serve as the head referee for Sunday’s marquee game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. That means to expect two things: a tight game, which is always the case no matter who the ref is, and plenty of holding calls.
According to NFLpenalties.com, Martin and his crew have thrown 33 flags for holding this season. That’s easily the most in the NFL, despite Martin only working eight games this season, which tied for the fewest of any officials. On average, that works out to 4.1 total holding calls per game. In fairness, the split is even between the home and away teams, but it’s still a higher number in aggregate and average than any other crew.
This could result in the Steelers having an advantage. According to Football Database, the Ravens lead the NFL with 19 offensive holding calls this season. The Steelers are guilty a fair amount, too, but they’ve only been flagged 12 times, tied with several teams for seventh most this year.
Pittsburgh RT Broderick Jones has been flagged three times for holding this season. Two came in his disastrous showing against the Denver Broncos in Week 2. On the other end, Baltimore RT Daniel Faalele has been called for holding four times, while LT Ronnie Stanley has been flagged for it on three occasions.
Overall, Martin’s total number of penalties isn’t out of line with the rest of the league. His crew averages 12.9 per game, slightly above average but not in the Top 5 of officials league-wide this season.
Other penalties he frequently calls are false starts, exactly two per game, and slightly more by the away team than the home team. That fact isn’t surprising, given that crowd noise plays more of a factor for the opposing offense than the home venue squad.
On the season, Baltimore leads the league with 80 penalties against. Pittsburgh is far more disciplined with just 57, tied for 11th-fewest in football. The Steelers could hold the edge in what should be a close game throughout.
Martin has yet to officiate a Steelers game this season. The last one he worked was in 2023 when the New England Patriots upset the Steelers at home. The Patriots were flagged seven times that day, while the Steelers were called for just one infraction.
Martin began working NFL games in 2015 and was promoted three years later. A star high school and college basketball player, he was also named Athletic Director at Jenks High School in Oklahoma this summer after previously serving as the school’s basketball coach. The sport was on his mind earlier this year when he gaffed and said a runner “fumbled the basketball” in a game between the Houston Texans and Buffalo Bills.
