[h=3]by Mike Garafolo, USA TODAY Sports[/h]Updated
Andy King, AP
The NFL referee lockout is over after three months after the sides reached a deal Wednesday night.
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The NFL and its referees union reached a deal Wednesday night to end a three-month lockout and return its officials to the playing field, a spokesman for the league announced.
The agreement ends a chaotic opening three weeks to the NFL season, which saw replacement referees -- recruited from lower-level college divisions -- blow calls, lose control of games, misapply rules, and generally prove that they were in over their heads in the big leagues.
The incompetence led to flare-ups by coaches, who were then hit with huge fines by the league for their misbehavior.
Criticism of the replacements by media, players and coaches reached its peak when the Seattle Seahawks were awarded a game-winning touchdown Monday night on a last-gasp play that appeared to be an obvious interception by the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL insisted the latest round of talks with the NFL Referees Association had been scheduled before the blown call and weren't sparked by the public outcry that followed.
But players, who heard rumors of a possible deal Wednesday, were skeptical. When told about the ramped-up talks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson chuckled.
"Wonder what brought that about?" he said. "Somebody got a phone call at about 3 in the morning and said, 'OK, we've got to meet tomorrow.'"
While players, coaches and fans no doubt will be glad to see the regular officials return to work, Bucs defensive back Ronde Barber warned them that the love probably won't last: "Their first week back, they'll mess up a call, and it'll be, 'They had too much downtime,'" he said.
This week, President Barack Obama weighed in that he wanted to see the regular referees back on the field. Other politicians joined him in a bipartisan chorus. The buzz about what was happening on the playing fields of the NFL went beyond the TV and radio sports shows. It became a prime topic on the regular news and entertainment shows. Tweets of uproar reached the tsunami level.
In the second week of the regular season, issues were raised about whether the replacements had lost control of the games. Shoving matches and trash talking among players got out of hand in several games.
Angry, frustrated coaches became as issue, too. During the Denver Broncos Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 17, Broncos Coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio demonstrated their displeasure with the officiating.
The NFL this week hit Fox with a fine of $30,000 and Del Rio with a fine of $25,000 for their conduct in that game. ESPN reported that at halftime of that Sept. 17, NFL officials called Fox and Del Rio and warned them to ease up on their criticisms.
This week, the NFL also fined offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan of the Washington Redskins $25,000 for berating officials at the finish of a Sunday loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Disciplinary action is pending against Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, who said he grabbed an official to get his attention following a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The NFL's contract with the NFLRA expired last May 31. Weeks before that, the NFL sent a memo to clubs saying it would begin looking for replacement officials. The contract expired, the regular officials were locked out, and the NFL worked the entire preseason and the first three weeks of the regular season with replacements.
The replacements weren't the top level officials from the top college conferences. They were hired primarily from the lower divisions of college football.
USA TODAY's Jim Corbett contributed to this report.
[h=2]Sponsored Links[/h]
Andy King, AP
The NFL referee lockout is over after three months after the sides reached a deal Wednesday night.
[h=2]Sponsored Links[/h]
The NFL and its referees union reached a deal Wednesday night to end a three-month lockout and return its officials to the playing field, a spokesman for the league announced.
The agreement ends a chaotic opening three weeks to the NFL season, which saw replacement referees -- recruited from lower-level college divisions -- blow calls, lose control of games, misapply rules, and generally prove that they were in over their heads in the big leagues.
The incompetence led to flare-ups by coaches, who were then hit with huge fines by the league for their misbehavior.
Criticism of the replacements by media, players and coaches reached its peak when the Seattle Seahawks were awarded a game-winning touchdown Monday night on a last-gasp play that appeared to be an obvious interception by the Green Bay Packers.
The NFL insisted the latest round of talks with the NFL Referees Association had been scheduled before the blown call and weren't sparked by the public outcry that followed.
But players, who heard rumors of a possible deal Wednesday, were skeptical. When told about the ramped-up talks, Tampa Bay Buccaneers wide receiver Vincent Jackson chuckled.
"Wonder what brought that about?" he said. "Somebody got a phone call at about 3 in the morning and said, 'OK, we've got to meet tomorrow.'"
While players, coaches and fans no doubt will be glad to see the regular officials return to work, Bucs defensive back Ronde Barber warned them that the love probably won't last: "Their first week back, they'll mess up a call, and it'll be, 'They had too much downtime,'" he said.
This week, President Barack Obama weighed in that he wanted to see the regular referees back on the field. Other politicians joined him in a bipartisan chorus. The buzz about what was happening on the playing fields of the NFL went beyond the TV and radio sports shows. It became a prime topic on the regular news and entertainment shows. Tweets of uproar reached the tsunami level.
In the second week of the regular season, issues were raised about whether the replacements had lost control of the games. Shoving matches and trash talking among players got out of hand in several games.
Angry, frustrated coaches became as issue, too. During the Denver Broncos Monday night game against the Atlanta Falcons on Sept. 17, Broncos Coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio demonstrated their displeasure with the officiating.
The NFL this week hit Fox with a fine of $30,000 and Del Rio with a fine of $25,000 for their conduct in that game. ESPN reported that at halftime of that Sept. 17, NFL officials called Fox and Del Rio and warned them to ease up on their criticisms.
This week, the NFL also fined offensive coordinator Kyle Shanahan of the Washington Redskins $25,000 for berating officials at the finish of a Sunday loss to the Cincinnati Bengals. Disciplinary action is pending against Coach Bill Belichick of the New England Patriots, who said he grabbed an official to get his attention following a loss to the Baltimore Ravens.
The NFL's contract with the NFLRA expired last May 31. Weeks before that, the NFL sent a memo to clubs saying it would begin looking for replacement officials. The contract expired, the regular officials were locked out, and the NFL worked the entire preseason and the first three weeks of the regular season with replacements.
The replacements weren't the top level officials from the top college conferences. They were hired primarily from the lower divisions of college football.
USA TODAY's Jim Corbett contributed to this report.
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