NFL Football - 2012 Season Thread

[Ben Kenobi]

But like I said, **** happens

And that's exactly my point. Replacement refs or no.

[-Jrabbit]

Humans are human. Trained, experienced officials will significantly outperform ill-prepared replacements.

[H Tower]

Thank God it's over

NFL, officials agree to deal
Updated: September 27, 2012, 12:03 AM ET
ESPN.com news services

The NFL and the NFL Referees Association reached an agreement late Wednesday night to end the referee lockout, the league confirmed.

NFL Network, citing a league source, reports the two sides agreed to a new developmental program, rather than adding 21 officials to current pool of 121 NFLRA officials.

The pool of money for the current officials, according to the report, will remain the same.

http://espn.go.com/nfl/story/_/id/8429885/nfl-reaches-agreement-officials-end-lockout

Now we only have to suffer through Thursday's game

[H Tower]

Now we only have to suffer through Thursday's game

Sportsline.com is reporting that the regular refs will be doing the game Thursday night.
[quote]Ever since Monday night's disaster of an ending in the Seahawks-Packers game, there has been a push by both the NFL and the locked-out officials to resolve their labor dispute. That push, CBS Sports NFL Insider Jason La Canfora reports, resulted in a deal getting done between the league and refs that will end the lockout.

Additionally, La Canfora reports there is language in the deal that would allow the currently locked-out officials to begin working on Thursday night, when the Ravens and Browns kick off Week 4./quote]

http://www.cbssports.com/nfl/blog/eye-on-football/20380815/deal-between-nfl-officials-is-imminent-would-allow-refs-to-work-thursday-night

[Sparrowhawk]

Thank God it's over

Tebow might, but I think I will settle for thanking the Officials and the NFL for finally seeing reason.

[ColdWizard]

Yahoo says the NFLRA needs to ratify it before officials can take the field for the Thursday game.

As it turned out, the NFL's nightmare scenario -- a team losing a game it should have won -- was all it took for the league and the NFL Referees' Association to get back to the bargaining table and wrap up a new deal. Negotiations picked up momentum after the Seattle Seahawks beat the Green Bay Packers, 14-12, on Monday Night Football on a touchdown catch by Seattle receiver Golden Tate that was highly questionable.

According to several reports from many sources, the two sides are ready to sign off on the details of a multi-year collective bargaining agreement that will bring the real officials back from their lockout and on the field for Thursday night's game between the Baltimore Ravens and Cleveland Browns. The agreement is completed in principle, and NFL spokesman Greg Aiello confirmed on Wednesday night that the stalemate is indeed over.

From the joint statement released by the NFL and NFL Referees' Association:

The NFL and NFLRA are pleased to announce that they have reached an agreement tonight on an eight-year collective bargaining agreement, subject to ratification by the NFLRA.

"Our officials will be back on the field starting tomorrow night," Commissioner Roger Goodell said. "We appreciate the commitment of the NFLRA in working through the issues to reach this important agreement."

"Our Board of Directors has unanimously approved taking this proposed CBA to the membership for a ratification vote," said Scott Green, president of the NFLRA. "We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week's games."

The NFLRA will vote to ratify the new CBA on Saturday.

The pension plan that the officials wanted to hold on to will reportedly be extended for another five years, with the retirement plans switching to 401k accounts after. The NFL wanted a new pool of 21 officials added to the NFLRA's current staff of 121 members, but the compromise will create a new developmental program.

The developmental officials will work with the existing crews and rise through the ranks as they are graded appropriately. Until they are deemed ready, the developmental refs will not be NFLRA members and cannot work games. It was the NFL's wish that a larger pool of officials be ready to sub in for refs that are either sick or injured, and that there be a program by which officials whose performance is considered sub-par would be "benched."

Tara Sullivan of the Bergen Record reports that the new collective bargaining agreement between the two sides will be eight years in length, and the question now is whether the league can get a crew to Baltimore's M&T Bank Stadium in time for the Thursday night game. The Ravens-Browns contest is scheduled to begin at 8:20 PM ET, and the officials need to ratify the new deal in person before they can hit the field. Sullivan also reports that a crew has not been assigned, but that this is obviously a major priority.

Both sides are concerned that the Thursday night teams are not subject to the competitive imbalance that would result from some teams playing games under the jurisdiction of the replacement officials. And the impetus was clear after the Monday night game -- the NFL and NFL Referees' Association met for at least 25 of the subsequent 36 hours.

Jim Daopoulos, a former NFL official who now works for Pro Football Talk and NBC Sports, told PFT on Wednesday that there will be a Thursday crew, and all the refs scheduled to work Sunday will head to Dallas to get their equipment and possibly take a quick refresher seminar.

Peter King of SI.com reported earlier Wednesday that Ed Hochuli, the Arizona attorney considered the dean of NFL officials by most fans and media people, has been engaging the locked-out officials in weekly rules-related conference calls. All officials get a Hochulli-implemented test once a week, and Big Ed the Muscular then goes over the results with his comrades.

"That's one of the reasons why the officials will be up to date and ready to go,'' a source told King. "Ed grabbed the bull by the horns and made sure that whenever this thing ended, the regular officials would be ready to go back to work immediately.''

Stay tuned for more details as they are made available.

[Demonbinder]

Yes, ESPN just read a statement from both NFL and NFLRA saying agreement was reached. They will work Thursday night and vote by referees happens on Saturday.

It will be interesting to see how long of a honeymoon the regular refs get, esp. from the players. One of the players joked that the refs will be given hugs when they get back but that will only last until the first pass interference call.

[SlowwHand]

A botched call doesn't make another botched call less botched. Botched calls stand alone.

[Ben Kenobi]

Trained, experienced officials will significantly outperform ill-prepared replacements.

Trained, experienced officials are not limited to the 125 chosen by the NFL.

[-Jrabbit]

The ones with NFL experience are very limited indeed - and it's the only game in town. Yeah, surely some of the replacements must have been adequate.

So what?

[Ben Kenobi]

The ones with NFL experience are very limited indeed - and it's the only game in town. Yeah, surely some of the replacements must have been adequate.

So what?

You've been holding the replacements to a higher standard than the regular officials.

[Sparrowhawk]

If someone had told me at the start of the season that either:

The Packers and Saints would both be 1-3 to start the season
or
The Saints would be 0-4 to start the season

I'm not sure which scenario I would have had a harder time believing, but it appears very likely that one of them will be the case by Sunday

I think I am predicting the Saints at 0-4.

[MRT144]

You've been holding the replacements to a higher standard than the regular officials.

They've failed the regular standard at a far greater and more egregious rate. I've watched almost every game this season.

[Ben Kenobi]

They've failed the regular standard at a far greater and more egregious rate.

[citation needed]

[MRT144]

[citation needed]

I've watched almost every game this season. Refute me. You don't even watch football.

You're also a ****ing **** per usual. You just defiantly bash your head against what everyone recognizes to be a defiant ****.