Replacements Take the Stage

The NFL’s first job action in 14 years means replacement officials on the field for exhibition games and increased concerns about player safety.

Just as in 1987, when the NFL used replacement players for three regular-season contests, the games will go on.

Ten officials will work each game this weekend, beginning tonight. They will be rotated in and out, both to provide a break and determine who are the best. League officiating supervisors also will serve as on-field officials, perhaps in more than one game each.

Identifying the people blowing whistles and throwing flags will be virtually impossible after the regular officials were locked out by the NFL following stalled contract negotiations.

Some players fear avoiding injuries could be more difficult, as well.

“I think pro games should be officiated by professionals,� Detroit defensive end Robert Porcher said as the Lions prepared for tonight’s game against Tennessee.

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The National Football League Players Association filed a grievance against the New England Patriots over the year-long suspension of receiver Terry Glenn.

In the grievance sent to the NFL Management Council, the union asserted that the Patriots improperly refused to meet with Glenn and his agent, James Gould, after Gould requested a meeting on two separate occasions to discuss Glenn’s returning to the team. Both meeting requests were made before the team placed Glenn on the reserved/left camp list on Aug. 15.

Glenn left training camp Aug. 3, when the NFL suspended him for four games for violating terms of its substance-abuse program. Coach Bill Belichick, who made the decision to suspend him for the season, said Glenn had “ample opportunity� to return but didn’t.

The New York Giants found a quick fix for their placekicking problems, signing Morten Andersen, the third-leading scorer in NFL history.

Andersen, 41, earned the job by edging longtime Giants kicker Brad Daluiso in a tryout at Giants Stadium that also included Steve Videtich, who kicked in the Arena League this season.

“For me it’s all about the passion, winning and the Super Bowl,� said Andersen, who hopes to kick Friday in the Giants’ preseason finale at Baltimore.

New Orleans Saints defensive tackle Norman Hand said a cut block by the Denver Broncos in last week’s exhibition game caused his Achilles’ tendon injury.

Hand said he could excuse the first time it happened in the game, but not the second. That one put him on the sideline and could have put him in the hospital.

“The first time I got cut, it was by accident,� he said. “I was engaged with the center, and the guard got tripped up, fell and rolled over the back of my leg. The second time, I was coming around on a pass, and the right tackle, (Matt) Lepsis, cut me.�

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Rookie linebacker Eric Westmoreland of the Jaguars had arthroscopic surgery on his left knee, adding to the team’s ever-growing injury list