Clay Martin
Clay Martin
The Pittsburgh Steelers will have Clay Martin as their referee for their Week 3 matchup at Acrisure Stadium against the Cincinnati Bengals, and the offensive line will need to be precise with Martin as the referee. This season, Martin’s crew has called 10 offensive holding penalties, seven more than they’ve called any other penalty this season. Football Zebras announced that Martin will be the referee.
Referee for Bengals at Steelers — Clay Martin
https://t.co/aNG2fZNWFI #CINvsPIT #WhoDey #HereWeGo pic.twitter.com/b36kV1fCUP
— Fᴏᴏᴛʙᴀʟʟ Zᴇʙʀᴀs (@footballzebras) September 22, 2026
Martin worked the Kansas City Chiefs-Denver Broncos Monday Night Football matchup in Week 1, and then worked the Tennessee Titans-Philadelphia Eagles Week 2. Seven of the offense holding penalties were called in Week 1, and two of those went against Denver Broncos WR Pat Bryant, so the downfield blocking from the receivers will also be in focus during Sunday’s matchup.
Martin’s crew has called 25 total penalties this season, with 14 coming in Week 1 and 11 in Week 2, per nflpenalties.com. Of those 25 penalties, 14 have been against the home team and 11 have been against the away team. It’s a small sample size, but the Steelers may not have a home field advantage in terms of penalties called in Sunday’s game.
Martin’s crew has also called illegal formation and unnecessary roughness three times, tied for the second-most penalties called by his crew.
Last season gives a better idea into what Martin’s crew likes to call, and offensive holding took the cake for their most penalties called with it being called 50 times, 20 more times than their second-most called penalty, which was false start with 30 instances of them calling it.
This will be the second Steelers-Bengals game Martin has worked in as many years. Last year, he called the team’s Thursday Night Football Week 7 shootout that saw the Bengals come out on top with a 33-31 win. Martin is one of the league’s newest referees, having been promoted to that role in the 2018 season.
He entered the NFL in 2015 as an umpire. Outside of his on-field duties as a referee, Martin serves as an athletic director at Jenks High School in Oklahoma. He’s a member of the Oklahoma Baptist Hall of Fame after starring at the university as a basketball player. Last year, he worked the NFC Championship Game between the Seattle Seahawks and Los Angeles Rams