NFL officials are going into full Constanza mode on the topic of replacement officials.
Last night, the league’s vice president of football operations, Ray Anderson, was in Baltimore, and said he was encouraged by the improvement replacement refs have shown.
“We expected going in, just like the players going through the preseason, that every week they would get better,” Anderson told Aaron Wilson of the Baltimore Sun. “The first week, we had some rough spots and we got better from the first week to the second week and we expect to get better this week, too, and on and on.
“This is the third week and it seems to me they’ve had a pretty solid first half. Uneventful, that’s exactly what you want. That’s the improvement we expect.”
Anderson also made it clear the league’s in no rush to budge on their position at the moment, reminding the officials that the league has the hammer and won’t hesitate to keep using it.
“Labor peace, absolutely, that’s the goal, but it’s got to be under circumstances that we believe are reasonable and hopefully they believe are reasonable,” Anderson said. “We’re not there yet. Eventually, hopefully, we’ll get there. In the meantime, these current officials are the ones out there and we’ll work with them.”
Anderson can tell himself that as much as he wants. The reality is, there are glaring mistakes in each game, and they will only be magnified when the games become real, and the scrutiny grows.