Week 9 Officiating: Meet Clay Martin and Crew

Name: Clay Martin

Age: 50

Promoted To Referee: 2018

Graphic Courtesy of Football Zebras

Last Game: Week 7 2025 PIT @ CIN

Last Lions Game: 10/20/24 – DET 31 @ MIN 29

• The Detroit Lions committed 8 penalties for 49 yards. They were flagged a total of 12 times.

• The Minnesota Vikings committed 8 penalties for 59 yards. They were flagged a total of 10 times.

• Together there were 16 penalties for 108 yards. There were 22 total flags in this game.

The Lions will be looking for some hometown help with the crowd noise to rattle JJ McCarthy and the Vikings Sunday afternoon at Ford Field. Clay Martin and crew are notorious for calling a lot of penalties within the five yards on either side of the line of scrimmage. Offensive holding, False Start, Illegal Formation and Defensive Offsides are four of their top five (along with DPI), and although both teams are guilty of those penalties quite a bit, it appears to be a benefit for the Lions. The big one is the Vikings Offensive Line, as they have committed 14 offensive Holding penalties so far, and Martin’s crew has called it 25 times so far this year. Hutch, McNeil, Reader, Williams and AQM are likely to feast again, especially when McCarthy tries to scramble and leaves his OL hanging out to dry.