It's been a crazy couple of days for integral internet systems. On Thursday, Microsoft 365 apps stopped working for millions of users in the early afternoon, with a ton of people being kept from Outlook, Teams and other central work systems through midday on Friday. Just as that was easing up, the FAA grounded all air travel in and out of the United States because of an error. That lasted for hours. Just as that was lifting, Workday, an HR, timesheet and benefits application used by major businesses went down as pay periods and open enrollment closed for millions.
It suffices to say, that many NFL organizations were affected by the first and third, but the second, the air travel restriction, hits in a major way for the on-field product. NFL teams
that are scheduled to be on the road for Week 10 are heavily impacted by the cancellation of flights and the backlog ripple effect that is going to impact travel for days. That also includes referees, who are flown from city to city. Will the Cowboys-49ers game be impacted?
The two rivals are set to meet Sunday afternoon at 3:25 pm CT. San Francisco head coach Kyle Shanahan was oblivious to the travel issues when he was asked about it following practice on Friday.
On Saturday, the NFL announced that they would be shuffling assignments so that referees would be able to drive to their destinations. Back-up referees will have to be deployed and three contests were impacted.
Due to the ongoing nationwide impact to air travel this weekend, the NFL has adjusted its officiating assignments for Week 10 games, reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns.
— Tom Pelissero (@TomPelissero) November 14, 2026
The changes will necessitate that three back up referees – umpires…
Due to the ongoing nationwide impact to air travel this weekend, the NFL has adjusted its officiating assignments for Week 10 games, reassigning officials to games within driving distance of their hometowns.
The changes will necessitate that three back up referees – umpires Barry Anderson and Duane Heydt and side judge Don Willard – will work as referees in the following games:
Carolina-New Orleans – Duane HeydtJacksonville-Tennessee – Barry AndersonMiami-Indianapolis and Pittsburgh-Cincinnati – Don Willard
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 NFL has not yet announced the reassignment crews in totality. Duane Heydt is listed as being part of John Hussey's crew on Football Zebras. Barry Anderson is on Ron Torbert's crew and Don Willard is on Scott Novak's crew.
Connecting the dots, that means the following shuffles:
- Hussey's crew has been reassigned from Vikings at Packers to Panthers at Saints
- Torberts' crew has been reassigned from Bills at Jets to Jaguars at Titans
- Novak's crew was not originally assigned a game this weekend
- Willard (Novak) and company will call a 1pm game, then drive from Indy to Cincy to call SNF.
Cowboys-49ers was supposed to be manned by Bill Vinovich's team. The full slate of referee reassignments is sure to come out eventually. Bettors who pay close attention to the tendencies of ref crews are going to be left without key intelligence for at least a little while longer.
This article originally appeared on Cowboys Wire: Cowboys-49ers affected by FAA flight screw up? NFL adjusts refs on fly
