Titans ready to welcome back regular officials

The NFL’s regular officials are back, and the Titans can’t wait to see them.

“I don’t think I’ve ever heard officials get applause, but I think there might be applause all over the league this weekend,” wide receiver Nate Washington said. “I may have to go ahead and hug them.”

Replacement officials worked the first three games of the season, but the regulars will call Sunday’s Titans-Texans game in Houston. On Wednesday night, the NFL and the NFLRA finally reached an agreement, ending the lockout of the officials.

Most of the Titans, including coach Mike Munchak, had been politically correct when answering questions about the replacement referees. On Thursday, players and coaches admitted the first three weeks of the season were a bit of a mess at times.

“I am just going to say they called it the way they saw it. They had their way of calling the game,” Washington said with a smile. “It was definitely a different kind of game with the replacement refs.”

Titans defensive coordinator Jerry Gray took offense at the suggestion defenders have gotten away with a lot so far. He pointed to linebacker Akeem Ayers as an example.

“In San Diego, (Ayers) got the crap knocked out of him on one crossing route. If you look at enough film, you’ll see there was some illegal stuff going on,” Gray said. “Nothing against San Diego, but when you put the film on there’s some calls I think veteran (officials) will make. You don’t fall all of a sudden. It doesn’t happen. Those are things that will be picked up either way by the guys that are on the job either way.

“Hopefully it will clean up a lot of those pick routes we have been getting hit on a lot of those clips we’ve been getting hit on… From a defensive standpoint, bring (the regular officials) out.”

Munchak said the replacements “came in and did the best they could do.”

“They didn’t let things go, I just don’t think they could see as much,” he said. “It’s just a matter of the more you do something, the better your vision gets. When you play football, you see more the more you play. The game slows down. I think it’s the same for officials.”

Running back Chris Johnson has 45 yards and a 1.4 average per carry through three games. Asked about the return of the regular officials, he said: “I feel like I have way bigger problems than that.”

Source: Titans Insider