Officially, Season Off to Rocky Start

Oakland Raider guard Steve Wisniewski is in his 13th NFL season. But until Sunday’s opener against the Kansas City Chiefs, he had never seen anything like this:

“The head referee came up to Jerry Rice on about the third play of the game and said, ‘Jerry, it’s an honor to call a game with you,’ and shook his hand,” Wisniewski said, referring to referee Randall Beesley. “I broke out laughing, and I said, ‘I didn’t just hear that did I?’ I thought he was going to take off his hat and have him sign it. It was comical.”

The Raiders beat the Chiefs, 27-24, yet the subject on the lips of the victors was the shaky performance of the replacement officials. The league’s regular officials, in a contract dispute, are being locked out.

Some of the Chiefs were more careful in critiquing the replacements.

“They had some really good calls, and they had some not-so-good calls,” quarterback Trent Green said, adding, “They need some room for error just like we do.”

Not everyone in the Kansas City locker room was so charitable.

“Let’s just say I’d pitch in to get the refs back,” cornerback Ray Crockett said.

Raider receiver Tim Brown seconded that. He began his postgame comments by pleading: “Please bring back the real officials!”

Around the league, reactions to the debut of the stand-ins were mixed. Some games went smoothly, others had some rough spots:

* Green Bay’s Bernardo Harris recovered a fumble by Detroit’s Charlie Batch and wasn’t touched before getting up and running toward the end zone. He was ruled down at the spot he recovered. “I can tell my buddies that I should have had a touchdown,” Harris said. “They robbed me, but that doesn’t matter.”

* In the Carolina-Minnesota game, officials were consistently slow in making calls and marking the spot of the ball. Before one play in the first quarter, referee Wayne McKreight had to run to the sideline and ask someone what down it was.

* In the Chicago-Baltimore game, referee Joseph Rider left his microphone on for three plays in the second quarter, shutting it down only when attempting to announce two penalties. Said Bear cornerback R.W. McQuarters: “I think the answer I’m supposed to give, for the purposes of fines, is that they did OK.”

* Washington defensive end Bruce Smith said he absorbed several questionable hits against the San Diego Chargers. “The head referee told me after a guy cheap-shotted me about three or four times, ‘You play football. I’ll referee. If you get hurt, you just get hurt.’ ”

There’s no telling when the league’s regular officials will be back on the job. They were locked out before the final round of exhibition games and appear to be no closer to an agreement. On Saturday, the league rescinded its best offer--a 60% raise this season, escalating to 120% over the life of the five-year deal--and returned to the more modest offer extended in June.

Agent Tom Condon, representing the officials, is a former Kansas City offensive lineman who attended Sunday’s game at Arrowhead Stadium and watched from prime seats in the lower level. He represents Chiefs Tony Gonzalez, Marvcus Patton and Jason Belser, and Raiders Rich Gannon and Trace Armstrong. During the times when the referees looked most confused, Condon either shook his head or laughed.

“I think it’s been a poor job so far,” he said in the first half. “They’re just on the verge of being able to control this game. Guys are going at each other hard. And there’s not many calls. There hasn’t been much done with the offensive and defensive line. I think as the game goes on, there could definitely be an aggression problem.”

And there was, a near-scuffle with unlikely combatants--a Pro Bowl receiver and the referee.

Brown drew an unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty late in the first half after a controversial play involving teammate Charlie Garner, whose apparent catch was called an incompletion because he was knocked out of bounds before getting his feet down.

The mood among the Raiders went from elated when Garner made the beautiful grab--hanging onto the ball despite a tremendous hit by Chief safety Jerome Woods--to irate when officials made their ruling. They challenged the call, but the play stood.

“I asked [Beesley] what was the ruling, and he said the ruling was that he didn’t get knocked out of bounds,” Brown said. “I said, ‘Were you guys looking at the same replay we were looking at?’ I guess he didn’t like my comment, and he told me that if I didn’t get out of his face he was going to stick my . . . Being a guy who doesn’t curse, I just went ballistic. I just thought that was totally inappropriate for him to be saying that to me.

“I said, ‘What did you say?’ And in the time I said that, he threw the flag. . . . If I was a different man, if [Beesley] had caught me five years ago, and [interceding offensive lineman] Mo Collins wasn’t there today, I don’t know what would have happened.”

It should be noted many of the Raiders, Brown among them, routinely complain about officials. Brown sounded saintly and composed in the wake of victory, but Brown gestured wildly when he and Beesley were bickering.

By the time Brown told reporters his side of the story, Beesley had showered, dressed and left the stadium. Officials did give their explanations of the three most controversial calls that went against the Raiders: Garner’s apparent catch; a questionable first down awarded to the Chiefs; and what looked to be a late hit on linebacker Greg Biekert that was not flagged.

Of the Garner play, Beesley said: “The replay evidence clearly showed that, as he was going out of bounds, he didn’t have two feet inbounds and it was not a force out.”

The questionable first down came with 37 seconds to play in the third quarter and the Chiefs trying to build on a 17-14 lead. On third and five from the Kansas City 25, Trent Green dumped a pass over the middle to running back Tony Richardson, who looked to be stopped well short of the first down. TV replays showed Raider linebacker William Thomas hitting him around the 29, and knocking him back two yards or so.

What followed was a 10-minute delay that included a replay review (requested by the Raiders) and booing by the crowd of 78,884, all to the backdrop of Marvin Gaye’s “What’s Goin’ On” blasted on the stadium speakers. Officials initially said the play was not reviewable, although NFL rules say replay can be used to solve problems of “forward progress in respect to first down.”

Normally it’s the referee, the supervisor of the seven-man officiating crew, who pokes his head under the replay hood and makes a decision. Sunday, however, line judge Ron Baynes studied the videotape. He is an NFL supervisor of officials who, unlike the replacements signed to four-game contracts, has on-field experience in league games.

To the delight of the Chiefs, the ball was placed at the 30 and they were awarded a first down. Baynes said the spot was based on Richardson’s forward progress.

Later, even Richardson criticized the job the officials did.

“There were so many missed calls, it wasn’t funny,” he said.

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Falling Flags

Replacement officials called an average of three fewer infractions per game Sunday compared with the league average last season:

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Pen. Yds. 2000 season 12.6 105.3 Sunday 9.6 87.5

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