Steelers-Colts matchup scheduled for one of worst officiating crews in NFL

The Pittsburgh Steelers are tied for the 22nd-most in penalties per game (7.3) and the Indianapolis Colts are tied for eighth-fewest (5.3); both could change dramatically on Sunday.

Dale Lolley of Steelers.com noted in a tweet:

Be warned. Steelers-Colts this week will have Land Clark’s crew officiating. They’ve called 50 penalties in three weeks, second only to Clete Blakeman’s crew on a per-game basis. Clark’s crew has thrown 43 flags the past two weeks. False start (12), holding (9) and illegal formation (6) have been the penalties called by this crew the most, so some of that isn’t on them. Eighteen of the penalties are clearly on the offenses they’ve seen.

Pittsburgh has cleaned up its act since Mike Tomlin paid referees overtime to officiate more practices. The Steelers were charged with nine penalties in Week 1 and 10 in Week 2 (the most in a game since 2020) but only committed three in Week 3.