By JOSEPH WHITE
The Associated Press
BALTIMORE —
Referee Gene Steratore turned on his microphone to greet the captains of the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens for the pre-game coin toss.
“Good evening, men,” Steratore said. “It’s good to be back.”
The stadium erupted in a roar.
Yes, the real refs are back. Official harmony is restored to the NFL.
Steratore and his seven-man crew donned their familiar stripes for the first game of Week 4 after three weeks of replacement officials created moments of chaos throughout the league. The officials ran a mostly smooth and efficient first half Thursday night, with no headline-making calls as the Ravens took a 9-7 lead over the Browns.
“You know we always pride ourselves in being a face without a name,” Steratore, a 10-year league veteran, told The Associated Press about an hour before kickoff. “This will be a little different, but I don’t expect it to last too long. And that’s the goal – is that we can let them get through that portion of this. It’s happy to be back, it’s happy to be appreciated. But then as soon as the game starts, it’s happy to disappear again and let the entertainers entertain.”
Everyone on all sides was happy to see the familiar faces they usually love to boo, and the welcome-back love began early. About an hour before kickoff, the officials walked on the field and heard cheers from the early arrivals. A few minutes later, Steratore was shaking hands with Browns coach Pat Shurmur near midfield and getting a hug from Ravens face-of-the-franchise Ray Lewis at the 30-yard line.
Later, when the crew returned, they walked on the field they received a standing ovation and doffed their caps to the crowd. One fan held up a sign that read: “Finally! We get to yell at real refs! Welcome back!”
“The other refs just made dumb calls,” said Jessie Riley, a 15-year-old fan wearing an Ed Reed jersey. “I couldn’t stand them. Now we won’t get robbed; everything will be fair – hopefully.”
A lockout of the league’s regular officials ended late Wednesday, two days after a disputed touchdown catch on the last play of “Monday Night Football” brought debate over the use of the replacements to a fevered pitch nationwide. The Seattle Seahawks were awarded the score – and a 14-12 win – over the Green Bay Packers, a result that Commissioner Roger Goodell acknowledged “may have pushed the parties further along” in the talks.
“Obviously when you go through something like this it is painful for everybody,” Goodell said. “Most importantly, it is painful for our fans. We are sorry to have to put our fans through that, but it is something that in the short term you sometimes have to do to make sure you get the right kind of deal for the long term and make sure you continue to grow the game.”
The deal is only tentative – it must be ratified by 51 percent of the union’s 121 members in a vote scheduled for Friday and Saturday in Dallas – but both sides nevertheless went forward with the plan to have the regulars back for Thursday’s game.
So Steratore hustled to Baltimore, making the 3 1/2-hour drive Thursday morning from his home in the Pittsburgh area. He’s usually in place the day before a game, but none of his regular pregame meetings had to be changed because the Browns-Ravens game was at night.
“Very elated to be back,” he said. “It feels like being back home.”
Steratore, who is a basketball official in the Big East Conference among others, also was fully aware he would be booed the first time he makes a questionable call – just like always.
“Without a question,” he said. “I’ve been yelled at by my own children many times, so this won’t be any different.”
Steratore’s crew nearly made a misstep in the first quarter, incorrectly spotting the ball by 2 yards after a misapplication of the rules following a holding call on the Browns. But two members of the crew caught the mistake and notified the referee before the next snap. A brief huddle ensued, and the ball was moved to its correct spot.
The crew made it clear early that it wouldn’t tolerate the extra pushing and shoving after the whistle that had been frequently permitted by the replacements. Offsetting personal fouls were called on Cleveland’s Johnson Bademosi and Baltimore’s James Ihedigbo for extracurricular roughness on a punt return.
Steratore had to make a trip to the replay monitor for the same play to review a turnover. The replays clearly showed that Cleveland’s Joshua Cribbs had fumbled, so Steratore confirmed the ruling on the field. Cribbs had his helmet knocked off and was injured on the play, creating the only lengthy delay in the first half.
There were eight penalties called in the first half, mostly the familiar calls for holding and false start. There was a rare – and indisputable – whistle for fair catch interference on a punt return on Cleveland. The only call that appeared to generate any sort of quibbling from the sidelines was a hands-to-the-face call against the Ravens on another punt return.
Steratore and his crew set up shop in the designated “Officials Locker Room” in the bowels of the stadium. He emerged about 2 1/2 hours before kickoff to talk briefly to a stadium official about the wireless on-field microphone the referee wears. He later held a regular pregame meeting with stadium crew, telling them to “make sure we run this thing as smoothly” as they had in his previous visits to Baltimore.
Steratore then walked down the tunnel and onto the field, pacing the sidelines with little fanfare because he was still wearing his coat and tie.
The lockout ended after marathon negotiations produced an eight-year agreement to end the lockout that began in June. However, for the Packers, Redskins, Lions and other teams who voiced their displeasure with calls that might have swayed games, the agreement doesn’t change their records.
The commissioner said he watched Monday night’s frenetic Packers-Seahawks finish at home.
“You never want to see a game end like that,” he said.
The new agreement will improve officiating in the future, Goodell asserted, reducing mistakes like those made Monday and making the strains of the last three weeks worthwhile.
Goodell acknowledged “you’re always worried” about the perception of the league.
“Obviously, this has gotten a lot of attention,” he said. “It hasn’t been positive, and it’s something that you have to fight through and get to the long term. … We always are going to have to work harder to make sure we get people’s trust and confidence in us.”
The dispute even made its way to the campaign trail, with President Barack Obama’s spokesman, Jay Carney, calling Thursday “a great day for America.”
“The president’s very pleased that the two sides have come together,” Carney said.
—
AP Sports Writer Rachel Cohen and AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner in New York, AP Pro Football Writer Howard Fendrich in Washington, and AP Sports Writers David Ginsburg in Baltimore, Larry Lage in Allen Park, Mich., Joe Kay in Cincinnati and Tim Reynolds in Miami contributed to this report.
—
Follow Joseph White on Twitter: http://twitter.com/JGWhiteAP
—
Online: http://pro32.ap.org/poll and http://twitter.com/AP-NFL
NEW YORK — So long, replacement refs. The NFL’s regular crews will be back on the field starting tonight.
After two days of marathon negotiations — and mounting frustration among coaches, players and fans — the NFL and the referees’ union announced at midnight Thursday that a tentative agreement had been reached to end a lockout that began in June.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, who was at the bargaining table Tuesday and Wednesday, said the regular officials would work this evening’s Browns-Ravens game at Baltimore.
“Welcome back REFS,” Buffalo Bills running back C.J. Spiller tweeted shortly after the news broke.
The replacements worked the first three weeks of games, triggering a wave of outrage that threatened to disrupt the rest of the season. After a missed call cost the Green Bay Packers a win on a chaotic final play at Seattle on Monday night, the two sides really got serious.
“We are glad to be getting back on the field for this week’s games,” referees’ union president Scott Green said.
The tentative eight-year deal is the longest involving on-field officials in NHL history and was reached with the assistance of two federal mediators. It must be ratified by 51 percent of the union’s 121 members, who plan to vote Friday and Saturday in Dallas.
The agreement hinged on working out salary, pension and retirement benefits for the officials, who are part-time employees of the league. Tentatively, it calls for their salaries to increase from an average of $149,000 a year in 2011 to $173,000 in 2013, rising to $205,000 by 2019.
Under the proposal, the current defined benefit pension plan will remain in place for current officials through the 2016 season or until the official earns 20 years’ service. The defined benefit plan will then be frozen.
Retirement benefits will be provided for new hires, and for all officials beginning in 2017, through a defined contribution arrangement. The annual league contribution made on behalf of each game official will begin with an average of more than $18,000 per official and increase to more than $23,000 per official in 2019.
Beginning with the 2013 season, the NFL will have the option to hire a number of officials on a full-time basis to work year round, including on the field. The NFL also will be able to retain additional officials for training and development, and can assign those officials to work games. The number of additional officials will be determined by the league.
“As you know, this has to be ratified and we know very little about it, but we’re excited to be back. And ready,” referee Ed Hochuli told The Associated Press in a telephone interview. “And I think that’s the most important message — that we’re ready.”
Replacement refs aren’t new to the NFL. They worked the first week of games in 2001 before a deal was reached. But those officials came from the highest level of college football; the current replacements do not. Their ability to call fast-moving NFL games drew mounting criticism through Week 3, climaxing last weekend, when ESPN analyst Jon Gruden called their work “tragic and comical.”
Those comments came during “Monday Night Football,” with Seattle beating Green Bay 14-12 on a desperation pass into the end zone on the final play. Packers safety M.D. Jennings had both hands on the ball in the end zone, and when he fell to the ground in a scrum, both Jennings and Seahawks receiver Golden Tate had their arms on the ball.
The closest official to the play, at the back of the end zone, signaled for the clock to stop, while another official at the sideline ran in and then signaled touchdown.
The NFL said in a statement Tuesday that the touchdown pass should not have been overturned — but acknowledged Tate should have been called for offensive pass interference before the catch. The league also said there was no indisputable evidence to reverse the call made on the field.
That drew even louder howls of disbelief. Some coaches, including Miami’s Joe Philbin and Cincinnati’s Marvin Lewis, tried to restore some calm by instructing players not to speak publicly on the issue.
Fines against two coaches for incidents involving the replacements were handed out Wednesday.
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. And Washington offensive coordinator 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 the previous week.
“I accept the discipline and I apologize for the incident,” Belichick said.
Players were in no mood for apologies from anyone.
“I’ll probably get in trouble for this, but you have to have competent people,” Carolina receiver Steve Smith said. “And if you’re incompetent, get them out of there.”
Added Rams quarterback Sam Bradford: “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.”
They were.
