Don Willard to serve as the head referee for 2 NFL games in the same day after league switches up assignments
It is unclear whether Willard and his crew will make history on Sunday.
On a day marked by unusual travel complications, the NFL made a surprising decision to assign referee Don Willard to officiate two games in one day. This decision came after a four-hour nationwide ground stop for domestic flights caused some disruptions in travel arrangements for various sports leagues, including college football, which ultimately led to the NFL adjusting its referee assignments.
Willard, an experienced NFL official with nine years of experience, including six playoff games, will begin his day officiating the Miami Dolphins-Indianapolis Colts game, scheduled to start at 1 p.m. ET in Indiana. After the first game, Willard and his crew—umpire Terry Killens, field judge Jabir Walker, and side judge Justin Larrew—will travel 110 miles to Cincinnati, Ohio, to officiate the Pittsburgh Steelers-Cincinnati Bengals game for the Week 10 "Sunday Night Football" matchup, which begins at 8:20 p.m. ET.
The NFL's decision to reassign Willard and his crew was based on driving distance from the officials' hometowns. Other reassignments included umpire Barry Anderson taking over for Alex Moore in the Jacksonville Jaguars-Tennessee Titans game, and Duane Heydt stepping in for Shawn Smith in the Carolina Panthers-New Orleans Saints NFC South matchup.
Initially, Carl Cheffers was scheduled to referee the Miami-Indianapolis game, while Clete Blakeman was set to lead the Pittsburgh-Cincinnati game. However, Willard will now be the head referee for both games on this unprecedented day.
Written by urgent.news from Yahoo Sports's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
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