Land Clark and crew will referee Sunday afternoon’s game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Cleveland Browns. For the offensive linemen, beware of holding. For CB Joey Porter Jr., don’t do…anything you did last week.
Clark and his crew most often call false starts (30), offensive holding (22), and defensive pass interference (15). While he doesn’t have the league’s highest amount of DPIs, he’s right near the top of the group. That’s important for Porter, who is coming off an ugly six-flag performance Sunday against the Cincinnati Bengals. Four times he was flagged for pass interference while also being tagged for illegal hands to the face and defensive holding. His six penalties were the most by an NFL cornerback since Week 3 of the 2022 season, though only four of them were accepted.
Porter’s flags have come in bunches this year. Of the 14 thrown on him, 12 have come across just three games. He had three in Week 2 against the Denver Broncos and another trio in Week 10 against the Washington Commanders before his six-flag showing versus the Bengals.
Speaking with reporters Tuesday, Tomlin downplayed Porter’s penalties and noted the team’s commitment to playing physical against big wide receivers.
Clark’s home/away splits are interesting. On the season, the home team is winning just 41.7 percent of the time. That’s below the league average of 51.3 percent. Last year, home teams won just 25 percent under Clark compared to the average of 56.1 percent. And in 2022, home teams won just 31.3 percent of the time under Clark’s crew. That too was well below the league average of 56.3 percent.
Largely, that’s correlation and not causation but an interesting tidbit given the Steelers are the home team this weekend.
Clark previously worked one Steelers game this season in Week 4 against the Indianapolis Colts. That day, the home-team Colts won, 27-24, building an early 17-0 lead and holding off a Steelers fourth-quarter comeback ended by a botched snap on the team’s final drive. Penalties were fairly even and not terribly consequential that day. Pittsburgh was penalized six times for 53 yards while Indianapolis was flagged four times for 38 yards. Porter was called for DPI once in that game.
Pittsburgh has lost its last two regular-season games under Clark, also falling to the Arizona Cardinals in the one Steelers game he officiated last season. Porter was also flagged once that day for pass interference.
Hired by the NFL in 2018, Clark was promoted to head referee in 2020.
The Steelers and Browns kick off Sunday at 1 PM/EST.
