Gene Steratore
The real referees are finally back and all is right again in the world of football. Yesterday marked the return of the refs and the departure of the amateurs the NFL put out on the field. The cheers normally reserved for the superstars of the sport, were instead given to the three officials when they emerged from the tunnel. So how did the refs do on their first night back? Nobody really noticed them. It was quite the change from week’s past when no one could not stop watching them.
The ironic part was that last night’s game ended almost identical to Monday night’s game that expedited the lockout ending. The Browns were down seven with ten seconds left on the clock. Browns’ quarterback Brandon Weeden threw a hail mary similar to the one Aaron Rodgers threw that nobody caught, but this time there was a flag thrown! That is where the replacement refs did not get it right. The flag was for unnecessary roughness and moved the ball to the Browns 18-yard line with two seconds left on the clock. Could the Browns really overtake the Ravens? Was this their chance to earn some respect? Well, not quite. Weeden’s pass sailed out of the end zone as the clock expired. The Ravens won 23-16. One of the scariest moments happened during the first half in which Cleveland’s punt returner Josh Cribbs took a nasty hit in which his helmet flew off and he laid motionless for what felt like forever. Luckily, after commercial break we saw Cribbs sitting on the bench smiling. He was taken into the locker room for tests, but said he was fine. Unfortunately, that hit ended in a fumble and gave Baltimore the ball.
