The wound was torn open for the entire world to see on this past Monday Night as they just handed a ball game to the Seattle Seahawks…not making the offensive pass interference call, and then blowing the so-called TD reception call. That play could only be called “simultaneous possession” if you consider the defender catching both the ball and the receivers limp arm at the same time. It was an obvious interception, blown call, and snatched defeat for the Packers from the jaws of victory.

The outrage soon followed from fans (except of course Seahawks fans) as well as all the sports talk shows. The disparity between the NFL officials and the scabs grew more and more apparent each week until it culminated on Monday Night.

It also forced the NFL’s hand, despite the lies from Roger Goodell to the contrary.

Sure, the NFL and NFLRA had been meeting…for 6 hours one day, 8 another, but that became a 17-hr meeting Tuesday ending in an agreement.

Without getting too much into the minutiae of the agreement, it made the NFL realize they had no choice but to actually compromise. When they locked out the NFLPA, the owners had the leverage largely due to the soft economy and NFL attendance decreasing overall after a record-setting 2007 season.

The league tried the same “my way or the highway” strategy in dealing with the officials, but after the “Hail Scary” in Seattle, fan outrage and subsequent league image problem, Goodell had to have realized any public goodwill they may have had just ran out with that play.

Goodell is above all a politician and no matter your political affiliation, you can’t trust anything those guys say. I’ve always said “Watch what they DO, NOT what they SAY.”

September 23, 2012; Oakland, CA, USA; Oakland Raiders wide receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey (85) is carted off the field after taking a hit from the Pittsburgh Steelers during the fourth quarter at O.co Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ed Szczepanski-US PRESSWIRE

Goodell’s “player safety-first” mantra he had been putting out there was about to become a laughing stock…especially after Oakland WR Darrius Heyward-Bey got knocked out in the end zone the previous day in a hit where any one of several calls could have been made.

Shot to the head? Guilty. Launching? Guilty. Hitting a defenseless player? Ditto. DHB laid unconscious for a moment and has no memory of the play at all.

There was no flag.

Had the NFL and Roger Goodell continued to insist upon changing everything from defined-benefit to defined-contribution style pensions, we’d still be in a deadlock. Well, they still tried. The NFLRA isn’t stupid; they knew the pendulum was swinging their way and insisted on a compromise before signing an 8-year agreement. They saw the public outrage and knew it gave them political leverage – especially after Goodell had been spewing his “player safety is paramount” nonsense.

It is, always has been, and always will be about money as far as the NFL is concerned. The players want safety to be important even more than some NFL bureaucrats and attorneys do. The league office spent the first month in spin mode; the players know their future health was at stake and that money, while important, wasn’t their only concern.

What does all this mean for the relationship between the league, Roger Goodell, and the players?

I don’t think the players trust Goodell at all. At least not the ones who’ve been playing the least bit of attention to things. He’s got two strikes lockouts against him already, while reciting the “player safety” mantra the whole time. Playing politics. Spin mode. The career politician telling the public what he thinks they want to hear.

The problem for Goodell is nobody is that stupid. NFL Commissioners seem to have “tenure” but it is my feeling that Goodell has lost a lot of leverage himself, going forward, because of the way he’s handled things in two huge labor disputes now. Being a Presidential election year only heightens awareness of the politispeak, the spin, and the outright lies.

Roger’s nose is growing.

God, I’m old.

Talks between the NFL and the NFLRA broke off Saturday without anything encouraging coming from the talks.

I have seen the video clip of Roger Goodell’s doublespeak and generalities when “answering” questions about player safety and the replacement officials. He was clearly uncomfortable talking with Albert Breer of NFL.com. The clip is in the story here.

The upshot of all this is that the NFLRA and the NFL are arguing over making the officials full-time. The NFLRA says yes; the NFL says no.

And Roger Goodell is truly worried about player safety. And I still believe in Santa Claus.

The economic difference to the NFL is negligible, and it’s silly to think that somehow keeping officials part-time instead of making them full-time is good for player safety.

Goodell’s a bureaucrat trying to put a smiley face on an NFL shield made of the bones of people like Mike Webster and Junior Seau. It’s absurd on its’ face.

Peter King wrote in his Sports Illustrated column “Monday Morning QB” the following:

“All officials, all the time. Another story showcasing these fine, upstanding men in the striped pajamas, aka the replacement officials: I cannot say which game this story happened in, but I can tell you it did happen. Final preseason game for two teams. Official calls defensive pass-interference in front of the penalized team’s bench. Head coach lambastes the official. Official picks up the flag, tells the coach he’s not going to make the call. Coach is stunned. Imagine what will happen when something’s actually at stake.”

If NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell knows what’s good for the NFL, the players, and himself personally, an agreement will be reached either tonight or tomorrow and there will be regular NFL officials in New York calling the Cowboys at Giants game. The rest of the games don’t start until Sunday, but Wednesday is the true deadline. If he’s so concerned about “player safety,” there shouldn’t be a single contest that isn’t overseen by a trained, experienced crew.

It all boils down to pensions and part-time/full-time status for employees. I’m not an expert on the details of the sticking points, nor do I wish to be. But do we want trained vs. not-so-trained people that watch a very violent game take place all around them and attempt to keep it within the defined rules?

Players are going to push the envelope because it’s in their job description and replacement officials are to them as substitute teachers are to 6th graders. It rarely ends well. With such especially timely news of more and more problems with TBIs (Traumatic Brain Injury), officials are the front line of defense in making sure players’ actions and behavior don’t get out of hand. The equipment helps protect the body and the trained official knows more about the psychology of handling professional athletes than replacements can.

For every flag thrown, half the people involved are going to be yelling at you. An NFL gridiron is no place for on-the-job training. And picking up flags because of it certainly isn’t going to earn you any respect. The competitive men involved in the contests already smell blood in the water and will try to push even harder to gain that edge, and that’s exactly why we need the regular NFL officials in New York City Wednesday night.

They aren’t so easily intimidated.