Football

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Monday night's botched end zone call last straw in lockout

By: Nomaan Merchant

Posted: 09/29/2012 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

NFL officials on the verge of approving a new contract say they're excited to get back to work.

Officials started arriving Friday at a Dallas-area hotel to discuss and vote on an agreement reached with the league late Wednesday. Some planned to fly directly to their assigned cities for Sunday's game.

The deal must be ratified by 51 per cent of the union's 121 members.

Some said they thought Monday night's Packers-Seahawks game, which ended in chaos after a call in the end zone gave the Seahawks the winning touchdown instead of a Packers interception, provided the final push toward a settlement. Many fans, commentators -- and players in the league -- thought the call was botched.

Monday night's call brought the three-week furor over replacement officials to a fevered pitch.

"It's all history now," head linesman Tom Stabile said. "For us, it was a benefit. It may have been the straw that broke the camel's back."

Line judge Jeff Bergman said he could see the play coming as he watched at home. He noticed that players were starting to take advantage of replacement officials struggling to keep control of the game.

"The last play of the game was something that was going to happen sooner or later," Bergman said. "It gave us and the league an opportunity to get together and hammer out a deal that was going to get hammered out anyway."

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 29, 2012 C6

Fact Check

Have you found an error, or know of something we’ve missed in one of our stories? Please use the form below and let us know.

* Required

In which story did you find the error? *
Please post the headline of the story or the title of the video with the error.
What was the error? *
Please post exactly what was wrong with the story.
What should we have written?
Please indicate your source for the correct information.
Who else should we interview to improve this story?
Please include any contact information you may have.
Can we contact you in the future for advice on stories about this topic?
Yes

No
First Name: *
Last Name: *
E–mail Address: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Phone: *
This will only be used to contact you if we have a question about your submission, it will not be used to identify you or be published.
Colour:
Are you blue? If you can see this, leave it blank and get some CSS support.
Enter the words that you see: * This is to prevent our forms from being filled out automatically.
You have failed to correctly identify the words in the box above. Please try again.

More Football

Undock

You can comment on most stories on winnipegfreepress.com. You can also agree or disagree with other comments. All you need to do is register and/or login and you can join the conversation and give your feedback.

Have Your Say

New to commenting? Check out our Frequently Asked Questions.

The Winnipeg Free Press does not necessarily endorse any of the views posted. By submitting your comment, you agree to our Terms and Conditions. These terms were revised effective April 16, 2010.