By: Sara

The prayers of football fans everywhere have been answered! The regular referees will be back in action tonight, after a marathon session of negotiations with the NFL on Wednesday. The eight year deal will be ratified either Friday or Saturday, but the relief has been felt immediately around the league. Players and coaches are calling it a blessing and even Matthew Stafford let out a hearty, “Oh sweet!” When he was told the news.

What do the refs themselves think about the new deal? They seem to be excited just to get back to work. None more so than P90 X poster child, Ed Hochuli. His response on Twitter said, “As soon as I heard the rumors, I got down on the floor and started doing push-ups.” (I can just picture Eddie Murphy’s mom from The Nutty Professor crying out, “Hochulis, Hochulis!”) The 61-year-old added that he and his fellow officials “worked very hard to be prepared” and he thinks they are ready.

Of course we can’t expect perfection just because the regular officials will be back on the field. But hopefully the sheer volume of mistakes will go down, and the proper pace of the game will remain intact. Fans have to feel good that, on some level, their voices were heard and that the NFL realized the value of their product had already taken too much of a hit.