The nationwide ground stop that shut down the aviation system has impacted the NFL’s officiating assignments for Sunday games. And while the league has announced the specific changes that will result in non-referees serving as referees for four games on Sunday (with side judge Don Willard working two games in the same day), other adjustments have not been officially announced.
There surely will be others. For now, one game will be shorthanded.
Via Tom Pelissero of Netflix, the Panthers-Saints game won’t have a replay assistant.
Those duties will be handled by the league office. Which will put a strain on the usual resources there, especially in the cluster of 1:00 p.m. ET games. (Panthers-Saints is one of the seven games to be played in that window.)
Given that the league has otherwise adjusted the Week 10 assignments to keep the officials within driving distance of their hometowns, it’s likely that the existing crews will be altered significantly. Which will introduce unfamiliarity and otherwise complicate the effort to get calls right on a consistent basis.
Absent an advance announcement from the league as to the full extent of the changes, they won’t be known until the NFL posts the official Game Books for the Sunday contests.