Alex Kemp will serve as the head referee for Saturday’s Wild Card game between the Pittsburgh Steelers and Baltimore Ravens. The league released its playoff assignments Monday, an important list of which referees were deemed good enough during the regular season to work January postseason games.
While nearly every referee flags holding more than any other infraction, Kemp does so at a league-high rate. Per NFL Penalties, a wonderful site that tracks officials’ flags, Kemp and his crew have thrown 59 flags for offensive holding this season. That’s tied for the most in the league.
Only Clay Martin and his crew equal that number of holdings. It makes for one subtle storyline to watch from a struggling Steelers offensive line against an aggressive and talented Ravens front. Baltimore finished the year with 54 sacks, second-most in the league only behind the Philadelphia Eagles’ 63. Pittsburgh had an off year ending up with just 40.
Second-year RT Broderick Jones leads the o-line with five holding calls this season. Two of those came during a single drive in Week 3 against the Denver Broncos, a third occurred in Week 6 versus the Las Vegas Raiders, and another pair took place in Week 11 against the Ravens.
This will be the second Steelers game Kemp has worked this season. He worked the Week 3 game between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles. The Steelers came out ahead in the penalty department, flagged only three times for 15 yards. The Chargers were more heavily penalized, seven times for 69 yards. There was only one offensive holding between them, called on Chargers rookie RT Joe Alt.
Kemp began his NFL officiating career in 2014 before being promoted to head referee in 2018. The league generally chooses its playoff referee crews based on their in-season grades. While refs aren’t fined for bad calls, repeated mistakes can prevent them from working in the playoffs and miss out on additional game checks.
