Replacement Refs Gone?

Not yet, but could it be coming soon? As reported late last night by ESPN and CBS Sports the NFL has reopened negotions with the locked out officials of the National Football League.

"“There’s a short-term issue which we obviously would love to be able to get the best officials on the field,” Goodell told ESPN’s Darren Rovell in an interview Thursday."

Reports have indicated that the sides are anywhere between 40-50 million dollars apart and cannot agree on what percentage of the officials will become full-time. However, given the horrific showing of the officials in the Giants-Patriots game along with numerous other preseason games this year the league is in a tough spot (just search YouTube for many hilarious video tributes to them)

Jerry Jones has been quoted as saying that he doesn’t believe the replacements officials will impact the game as long as their consistent. However, Wednesday is a day long party for the NFL and they cannot have the crown jewel of that party, the game, come out looking like  cubic zirconium instead of a shinny diamond.

It would appear, that as of right now all of the leverage is with the NFL officials . The replacements have been horrific and the league,

no matter what they say, does not want their multi-billion product to look more like the XFL then the NFL. My gut still makes me believe that come Wednesday night at 8:27pm EST, when the coin flip takes place we will see Ed Hochuli in his way too small shirt on the field. If so, expect a standing ovation from the crowd.