Clete Blakeman will be the referee for the Pittsburgh Steelers’ Week 3 matchup with the New England Patriots at Gillette Stadium on Sunday. It’s the first time the Steelers will see Blakeman as a referee this year. He last worked the Steelers’ Week 2 matchup on the road against the Denver Broncos in 2024, a game the Steelers won 13-6. The news was posted to the NFL Communications site in their Week 3 game capsule.
Road teams winning with Blakeman as the official was a common occurrence last season. Home teams went just 5-11 with Blakeman as the referee last season, and he called 53.5% of his penalties on the home team, [per nflpenalties.com](https://www.nflpenalties.com/referee/clete-blakeman?view=penalty&year=2024). Over the 2023 and 2024, Blakeman’s crew tended to call a lot of defensive pass interference and defensive holding penalties. Last season, his crew called 20 defensive pass interference penalties, an average of over one per game, and 16 defensive holding penalties.
Notably, the Week 2 game against Denver last season saw OT Broderick Jones called for three penalties in a six-play span, leading to him being benched for OT Troy Fautanu. Week 2 was Fautanu’s only game action last season before suffering a season-ending injury in practice ahead of the team’s Week 3 game against the Chargers.
Those were the third-and fourth-most-called penalties by his crew, behind false start (46) and offensive holding (42). This season though, Blakeman’s crew has yet to call a defensive pass interference in the two games they’ve worked. In Week 1, they worked the Green Bay Packers’ 27-13 win over the Detroit Lions, and in Week 2 the crew worked the Buffalo Bills’ 30-10 win over the New York Jets.
There were 11 penalties called in both those games. In Week 1, there were four accepted penalties on the home team and seven on the away team, while in Week 2, there were five accepted penalties on the home team and six on the away team. Through two games, Blakeman’s crew has called defensive holding four times, almost as much as their most-called penalty, offensive holding, which has been called five times.
The Steelers secondary is going to have to play a clean game, especially CB Joey Porter Jr. if he suits up. Porter has had issues with grabiness, and it’s something that Blakeman’s crew will watch for. Porter is currently listed as questionable, however, and he missed Week 2. Regardless of whether he plays or not, Pittsburgh’s secondary will need to play a clean game.
It will be the first Patriots game Blakeman has worked since the 2023 season, when he worked their 29-25 upset of the Buffalo Bills in Week 7. That game was also played at Gillette Stadium, as Sunday’s game will be.