Friday’s nationwide ground stop did not keep any NFL team from reaching its Week 10 game, but it has broken up the league’s officiating crews. The NFL said on Saturday, Nov. 14, that because of “the ongoing nationwide impact to air travel this weekend” it had moved officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns, and that three backup referees will run games on Sunday for the first time in the regular season.
Umpire Duane Heydt will referee Panthers at Saints, umpire Barry Anderson will referee Jaguars at Titans, and side judge Don Willard will referee two games in one day: Dolphins at Colts at 1 p.m. ET in Indianapolis, then Steelers at Bengals on Sunday night in Cincinnati, about 110 miles away. “Each of the league’s 17 officiating crews have a backup referee identified, and that individual trains throughout the year to work at the referee position should the need arise,” the league said.
How significant is the NFL’s officiating shuffle? Backup referee Don Willard will work TWO games on Sunday:
— Kevin Seifert (@SeifertESPN) November 14, 2026
Miami at Indianapolis (1 p.m. ET)
Pittsburgh at Cincinnati (8:20 p.m. ET)
Vikings-Packers referee has changed from John Hussey to Clete Blakeman.
Why the crews had to change
The Federal Aviation Administration stopped departures across the country for about five hours on Friday afternoon, the longest nationwide ground stop in 25 years. More than 2,000 flights were cancelled, and federal officials blamed new technology added to the air traffic control system for overloading older parts of it. Teams used charters and were mostly able to keep their plans, as the 49ers did on their trip to Dallas. Officials fly commercial, one or two at a time, from their homes all over the country, so the airlines’ weekend recovery hit them much harder.
The officiating department turned to a plan written in 2020 for travel limits during the pandemic, Football Zebras reported. Under it, officials are placed in games within a day’s drive and flying is a last resort. That means the regular crews, which stay together all season, were essentially scrapped for this week. The only crew that was not affected is Clay Martin’s, which flew to Germany earlier in the week for Patriots vs. Lions in Munich.
Who is refereeing where
These are the Sunday and Monday referee changes from the assignments published on Tuesday, which are in our Week 10 referee assignments story. Times are Eastern, with Cairo times in brackets. The league and Football Zebras both said the assignments could still change.
| Game | Original referee | Now |
|---|---|---|
| Patriots vs. Lions (Munich), 9:30 a.m. [4:30 p.m.] | Clay Martin | Clay Martin (no change) |
| Chiefs at Falcons, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Shawn Hochuli | Alan Eck |
| Texans at Browns, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Alan Eck | Shawn Smith |
| Vikings at Packers, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | John Hussey | Clete Blakeman |
| Dolphins at Colts, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Carl Cheffers | Don Willard (backup) |
| Panthers at Saints, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Shawn Smith | Duane Heydt (backup) |
| Bills at Jets, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Ron Torbert | Ron Torbert (no change) |
| Jaguars at Titans, 1 p.m. [8 p.m.] | Alex Moore | Barry Anderson (backup) |
| Rams at Cardinals, 4:05 p.m. [11:05 p.m.] | Adrian Hill | Land Clark |
| Seahawks at Raiders, 4:05 p.m. [11:05 p.m.] | Brad Allen | Bill Vinovich |
| 49ers at Cowboys, 4:25 p.m. [11:25 p.m.] | Bill Vinovich | John Hussey |
| Steelers at Bengals, 8:20 p.m. [3:20 a.m. Mon.] | Clete Blakeman | Don Willard (backup) |
| Chargers at Ravens (Mon.), 8:15 p.m. [3:15 a.m. Tue.] | Land Clark | Adrian Hill |
Clete Blakeman had the longest trip of anyone. Kalyn Kahler reported, citing a league source, that he drove about eight hours from Omaha, Nebraska, to Green Bay on Saturday to take over Vikings at Packers. He had originally been set to work the Sunday night game in Cincinnati.
Per a league source- referee Clete Blakeman drove about eight hours from Omaha, Nebraska to Green Bay today- that’s the furthest distance a game official traveled today to get to their NFL assignment. Blakeman was originally scheduled for SNF in Cincinatti.
— Kalyn Kahler (@kalynkahler) November 14, 2026
Referees working out of position
Three of the league’s 17 referees will not wear the white hat on Sunday. According to Football Zebras and a crew list Aditi Kinkhabwala posted for CBS, Alex Kemp, whose crew was scheduled to be off, will work as the umpire on Blakeman’s crew in Green Bay. Carl Cheffers, who was due to referee in Indianapolis, will be the umpire on Vinovich’s crew in Las Vegas. Shawn Hochuli will work as the back judge, the position he held when he came into the league, in Arizona. Scott Novak’s and Craig Wrolstad’s crews were also off this week, and their officials were available to fill gaps.
Willard will not make the trip to Cincinnati alone. Umpire Terry Killens, field judge Jabir Walker and side judge Justin Larrew are listed on both his Indianapolis and Cincinnati crews, so four officials will drive from one stadium to the other between the early game and the night game. If Dolphins-Colts goes to overtime, their window gets tighter. Football Zebras said it has no record of any NFL official working two games on the same day.
Who are the three backups?
None of the three has refereed a regular-season game, though all have done it in the preseason. Anderson is in his 20th season and has been an emergency referee for more than 10 years. Heydt is in his fifth season as an umpire and refereed the January 2022 college football national championship game between Alabama and Georgia before the NFL hired him. Willard is in his ninth season, all of it as a deep official, which makes him unusual among future referee candidates, most of whom come from the umpire position.
No replay official in New Orleans
Replay was hit too. Tom Pelissero reported that Panthers at Saints will not have a replay official in the stadium, and that the duties will be handled by the league’s replay center in New York. Every game’s replay is already monitored from the Art McNally GameDay Central in the league’s headquarters, but the in-stadium replay official is the one who normally stops play for a booth review in the final two minutes of each half and in overtime. In New Orleans, that call will come from New York.
One more officiating change for Sunday: The Saints-Panthers game won’t have a replay official in the stadium, so his duties will instead be handled by the replay center in New York, per sources.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 14, 2026
The pandemic plan also includes mechanics for a crew of five officials instead of the usual seven, according to Football Zebras, but the league is not expected to need them this week. The full makeup of every crew may not be official until the game books are posted after Sunday’s games.
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