LITTLE ROCK — With Commissioner Roger Goodell at the table, the NFL and referees’ union pressed toward a settlement Wednesday to end a threemonth lockout that triggered a wave of frustration and anger over replacement officials and threatened to disrupt the rest of the season.
Two days after a controversial call cost the Green Bay Packers a victory at Seattle, both sides were said to be nearing a deal and several reports put regular officials back at work perhaps as early as Sunday.
ESPN reported that “an agreement in principle is at hand.” The New York Times said the sides “were closing in” on a new agreement.
The NFL declined to confirm that a tentative contract was imminent.
The union wants improved salaries, retirement benefits and other logistical issues for the mostly parttime referees. The NFL has proposed a pension freeze and a higher 401(k) match.
“Until somebody tells me differently, it’s not really changed,” Arizona Coach Ken Whisenhunt said.
Talks resumed Wednesday morning and continued at league headquarters in New York past 10:30 p.m. Eastern. The sides held a marathon session Tuesday — also attended by Goodell, who was present at four meetings last week as well.
“We want to go back to work but it has to be the right deal for 121 guys,” NFL field judge Boris Cheek said. “We have to be patient and let this work itself out.”
Some coaches, including Miami’s Joe Philbin and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis, instructed players not to speak publicly on the issue, especially after a barrage of comments that accompanied Monday night’s Green Bay-Seattle game, which the Packers lost 14-12 on a missed call.
Fines against two coaches for incidents involving the replacements were handed out Wednesday.
New England Patriots Coach Bill Belichick was docked $50,000 for trying to grab an official’s arm Sunday to ask for an explanation of a call after his team lost at Baltimore Sunday. And Washington assistant Kyle Shanahan was tagged for $25,000 for what the league called “abuse of officials” in the Redskins’ loss to Cincinnati on Sunday. Two other coaches, Denver’s John Fox and assistant Jack Del Rio, were fined Monday for incidents involving the replacements.
“I accept the discipline and I apologize for the incident,” Belichick said.
But many players indicated the replacement-ref issues were too significant to ignore.
“Would you let a Toyota dealership work on your brand new Rolls-Royce? That doesn’t work right, does it,” Dallas safety Gerald Sensabaugh said. “Our brand is so big, it’s so important to a lot of people. There’s no way you can have guys that don’t have experience at that level.”
The replacement officials previously worked mostly in lower-division college ranks, such as Division III, and in minor professional organizations like the Arena League.
Rams quarterback Sam Bradford didn’t mince words about the regular refs: “We need them back.”
“I hope it happens soon,” he said. “I just don’t think it’s fair to the fans, I don’t think it’s fair to us as players to go out there and have to deal with that week in and week out. I really hope that they’re as close as they say they are.”
Despite several field fiascos — like Dallas’ Kevin Ogletree getting tripped in the end zone by an official’s thrown cap — not everyone is necessarily pointing fingers at the replacements.
“Maybe we shouldn’t be blaming the refs, but blaming the league, the owners, I don’t know who it is,” Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger said. “Maybe it’s not just the officials. We’re putting them in tough situations and it can’t be easy.”
Even Cheek, the NFL field judge, said the replacement refs are in a difficult position, but noted the end-of-game call in Seattle, at least in his in eyes, should have been easy to get right.
Even if a deal is at hand, it was still uncertain how it would affect the weekend’s games. Week 4 opens Thursday night with the Cleveland Browns at the Ravens.
Titans Coach Mike Munchak said he thought it might take a while before things return to normal, even with the regular refs.
“It’s going to be hard for officials to come back since not doing a game since last December, a lot of them, and all of a sudden they’re doing a game. I think it’s going to be a tough transition either way. You want things to get settled. You want the best people to be out there, the guys who’ve been doing it a lot of years.”
Browns at Ravens
7:20 p.m., NFL Network LINE — Ravens by 12
LAST MEETING Ravens beat Browns 20-14, Dec. 24, 2011
LAST WEEK Browns lost to Bills 24-14; Ravens beat Patriots 31-30
RANKINGS Bowns: offense (26), defense (25) Ravens: offense (4), defense (27) NOTES Baltimore Fourth game in 18 days for Ravens and second night game in fiveday span. ... Baltimore Coach John Harbaugh 8-0 vs. Browns, during which Ravens have outscored Cleveland 203-91. ... Ravens seeking 13th consecutive victory at home and 21st in 22 games. ... Baltimore has won nine consecutive in AFC North, longest current run among teams within own division. ... Ravens have NFL-leading 19 completions of 20 yards or longer. ... Baltimore LB Ray Lewis has seven career sacks against Browns, most against team. Cleveland defense has forced seven turnovers, most in AFC. ... Browns RB Trent Richardson held to 27 yards on 12 carries last week by Buffalo. He leads team in yards rushing (175) and receptions (11). His 18 points is tied for lead among NFL rookies. ... Cleveland is 20-28 in prime time, 3-5 Thursday night. ... Browns LB D’Qwell Jackson only player in NFL with at least two sacks and two interceptions this season. ... Cleveland QB Brandon Weeden passed for 322 yards in Week 2 against Cincinnati, most in game by rookie this season, but has six interceptions compared to 12 TD passes.
Sports, Pages 17 on 09/27/2012