NFL refs approve deal, ready for today’s games
IRVING, Texas — NFL officials ended their labor dispute with the league by approving a new eight-year contract with a 112-5 vote Saturday, then hustled off to the airport to get to work.
Next stop, stadiums around the country.
And, the officials hope, anonymity.
“The last Super Bowl that I worked, when we got in the locker room, I said, ‘You know, the best thing about this game, nobody will remember who refereed this game,’” said Scott Green, president of the referees’ association. “That’s how we like to work.”
The vote ended a labor spat that created three weeks of increasingly chaotic games run by replacement officials who drew criticism of everyone from the average fan to President Barack Obama.
The referees met for about an hour and a half Friday night to go over the contract, then gathered for another 30 minutes Saturday morning before approving the contract.
“We are obviously pleased to hear it,” NFL spokesman Greg Aiello said in an email to The Associated Press on Saturday.
Broncos put
Quinton Carter
on injured reserve
ENGLEWOOD, Colo. — Second-year safety Quinton Carter needs another surgery on his left knee and is done for the season. The Denver Broncos placed him on injured reserve Saturday.
With Carter hurt and linebacker Joe Mays suspended for Sunday’s game against Oakland, the Broncos promoted two players from their practice squad in rookie safety Duke Ihenacho and second-year linebacker Mike Mohamed.
Mays was suspended for one game and fined $50,000 for an illegal hit on Houston quarterback Matt Schaub last week.
Denver has been fined more than $150,000 in the first three weeks of the season, with coach John Fox and defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio getting theirs for verbal abuse of the replacement officials. They are appealing. Fox had never been fined in his two dozen years of coaching in the NFL.
Heyward-Bey,
Gordon to miss
game for Raiders
ALAMEDA, Calif. —Receiver Darrius Heyward-Bey and tight end Richard Gordon will miss today’s game for the Oakland Raiders in Denver with injuries.
The team announced Saturday the status for both players had been downgraded and they will miss the game against the Broncos.
Heyward-Bey did not practice all week as he recovered from a helmet-to-helmet hit that sent him to the hospital last Sunday with a concussion and strained neck. He leads Raiders wideouts with nine catches this season for 98 yards and a touchdown.
Gordon had been listed as questionable with a hamstring injury but will not play.
Chargers sign Novak, release Wells
KANSAS CITY, Mo. — The San Diego Chargers have signed kicker Nick Novak to replace Nate Kaeding for Sunday’s game at Kansas City.
To make room for Novak on the roster, the Chargers released offensive lineman Reggie Wells.
Kaeding hurt his groin in practice Friday.
After Kaeding tore up his knee on the opening kickoff in the 2011 season opener, Novak spent the final 15 games with the Chargers and connected on 27 of 34 field goal attempts. He was in camp with the Chargers this summer and released during the final cuts.
Logano dominates
in Nationwide
win at Dover
DOVER, Del. — Joey Logano dominated on the concrete to win the Nationwide Series race at Dover International Speedway.
Logano raced to his series-leading seventh victory of the season Saturday, winning for the 16th time on the Nationwide Series.
Paul Menard was second, followed by Michael Annett, points leader Elliott Sadler and Kyle Busch.
Logano swept the Dover races this season. He powered his way to the lead with six laps left in the June race.
This win was easier. He led 184 of the 200 laps in the No. 18 Toyota. Logano moved into a tie for 16th on the career victory list in the second-tier circuit.
Donald Fehr, NHL Commissioner Bettman meet again
NEW YORK — The best that can be said about back-to-back days of negotiations between the NHL and the locked out players’ association is that the sides are still talking and making more plans to meet yet again.
While core economic issues still weren’t on the agenda Saturday when the opposing groups got together again at the NHL office, dialogue continued on secondary topics that will ultimately go toward forming a new collective bargaining agreement.
By wire sources
