Tag: Clay Martin

NFL assigns referee Clay Martin to Week 13’s Saints-Lions game

The NFL has assigned referee Clay Martin and his crew to officiate Week 13’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions:

The NFL has assigned referee Clay Martin and his crew to officiate Week 13’s game between the New Orleans Saints and Detroit Lions; Martin has been on hand for just three Saints games since being promoted to referee in 2018, but New Orleans is 2-1 with him on the field. Detroit is 2-3.

And Martin’s crew averages the second-fewest penalty flags per game among the NFL’s 17 officiating staffs (10.7), with an emphasis on offensive holding fouls (30) and false starts (20). That’s the good news. The bad news is that Martin’s staff have penalized home teams much more often (63 times) than visitors (44) this season, so the Saints won’t have any benefits of hosting this game.

Dennis Allen’s Saints team is not as disciplined as Dan Campbell’s Lions squad. Detroit has been fouled 62 times in 11 games, for a total loss of 578 yards; New Orleans has drawn 70 penalty markers for a combined 642 yards in 11 games as well. Take that down to per-game averages and the Saints are being fouled 6.4 times for 58.4 yards each week. The Lions are being penalized 5.7 times for 52.5 yards. The Saints must mind their hands and play clean football on Sunday to avoid those penalties and stay out of their own way.

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Zebra report ahead of Titans vs. Falcons in Week 8

Shaun Calderon takes a look at the officiating crew for the Week 8 game between the Titans and Falcons.

The Tennessee Titans are fresh off their bye and are set to host the Atlanta Falcons in a game they desperately need to win if they want any realistic chance at keeping their season alive.

A loss on Sunday will likely have a negative trickle-down effect on everything from attendance and relevancy going forward. It could also lead to several veteran players being put on the trade block before Tuesday’s deadline.

Only time will tell whether any of that actually happens, but the focus this week is trying to get back in the win column after dropping two straight games prior to the bye.

Fortunately for Tennessee, it will have one of the most lenient referees in the league who has called the second-fewest amount of penalties in the NFL going into Week 8.

According to the NFLPenalties.com, Clay Martin and his crew have only called 57 penalties on the year for a combined 490 yards. For perspective, the five officiating crews who have called the most penalties have all thrown at least 87 flags up until this point in the season.

Listed below is each penalty that Martin and his staff have called through the first five weeks, how frequently they called them, and which teams they’ve favored the most.

All other penalties not listed either haven’t been called or were negated by offsetting and/or penalties that were declined.

NFL assigns referee Clay Martin to work Saints vs. Buccaneers in Week 13

The NFL assigned referee Clay Martin and his crew to work the Saints vs. Buccaneers prime-time game in Week 13. New Orleans is 2-0 in games with Martin on the field:

Here’s the Week 13 referee assignment for the New Orleans Saints’ game with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Monday night, per Football Zebras: Clay Martin, a fifth-year referee with eight years of experience working NFL games. Martin was promoted from umpire to referee in 2018, and he’s since officiated two games with the Saints — with New Orleans winning each time (beating the Arizona Cardinals in 2019 and outlasting the Los Angeles Chargers in 2020), both games at home. This will be the first time they work with Martin’s crew on the road.

So how do the trends from Martin and his staff match up with the Saints and Buccaners this season? Let’s explore:

Browns-Chiefs game draws a playoff rookie at referee

Clay Martin was the referee for the Browns win over the Cowboys in 2020

Most of the Cleveland Browns players got their first taste of playoff football last weekend. This weekend, the man in charge of the officiating crew will experience being the referee for a postseason game for the first time.

Clay Martin heads up the officiating crew for Sunday’s game between the Browns and the Chiefs in Kansas City. He’s in his third year as a referee but this is his first playoff assignment at that spot. He did work a previous playoff game as an umpire.

The NFL breaks up the crews from the regular season and cobbles together something of an all-star crew based on merit to officiate the postseason. Martin himself was the referee for one Browns game this year, the Week 4 win over Dallas. He helmed two Chiefs games, including their matchup against Carolina where 20 penalties were assessed.

Notable in the breakdown of what Martin’s crew called: they threw 10 flags for personal fouls but did not assess a single taunting penalty.

NFL Week 5: Clay Martin to referee Saints vs. Chargers on MNF

The New Orleans Saints will play the Los Angeles Chargers on “Monday Night Football” in Week 5 with referee Clay Martin working the game.

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There’s a chance the New Orleans Saints could end up playing the Los Angeles Chargers away from the Mercedes-Benz Superdome, depending on what happens next with Hurricane Delta. Whether they kick off at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis or remain in New Orleans, Week 5’s “Monday Night Football” matchup will be refereed by Clay Martin, per Football Zebras.

While Martin has worked several Saints games as an umpire — 2015’s loss to the Carolina Panthers, and wins in 2016 and 2017over the Seattle Seahawks and Chicago Bears, respectively — this will be just his second assignment to New Orleans as a referee. In 2019, he officiated the Saints’ blowout win over the Arizona Cardinals, in which the black and gold were fouled twice for 15 yards. Arizona drew five penalties for 35 yards, mostly for neutral zone infractions, a false start, and for having too many men on the field (all attributed to communication issues in the raucous Superdome).

Hopefully Martin and his crew will call a clean game on Monday night. They’re averaging 11.7 flags thrown per game (slightly above the league average) but only 86.7 penalty yards per game (15.6 below the NFL average). They’ve done a great job of staying out of the way of games.

The Saints were fouled just four times for 67 yards in Week 4’s win over the Detroit Lions, both season-lows, but they still lead the NFL in penalty yards (398) through four weeks. It’s overwhelmingly due to defensive pass interference calls, where the Saints have racked up 244 yards in fouls. The next-worst teams are the New England Patriots (93) and Indianapolis Colts (91). Here’s a chart illustrating that disparity between the Saints and the rest of the league (teams that have played just three games listed in blue):

Martin’s crew has thrown just two flags for defensive pass interference all season, totaling 30 yards. So if that trend continues, the Saints should stand to benefit so long as they check themselves, and barring any shenanigans from the officials.