KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- For two weeks, locked-out officials were looking for a poorly officiated game by their replacements to promote a settlement. They got one Sunday when the Oakland Raiders nipped the Kansas City Chiefs 27-24 on a Sebastian Janikowski field goal with 1:06 left in regulation.

After the game, Raiders and Chiefs players, bitter rivals by day, walked over to NFL Referees Association negotiator Tom Condon in unison and begged him to get the regular officials back. Chiefs fullback Tony Richardson, somewhat of a benefactor from a confusing third-quarter non-call, summed it up best.

	Jerry Rice said that one replacement referee asked for his autograph.

"We need our refs back," Richardson said. "We've got to get this done. I'll give them some money to get it done."

The game was held up for close to 15 minutes to review, re-review and figure out a play in which Richardson appeared to be pulled down by two Raiders short of a first down on a third-down play with 37 seconds left in the first half. Line judge Ron Baynes, who is a league supervisor of officials, didn't think Richardson was down so he started running upfield with Richardson.

"I had ruled from my side of the field that the receiver was never down," Baynes said to a pool reporter. "The runner was never down."

So Richardson figured he should have been given the ball at midfield, where he ran out of bounds. Raiders coach Jon Gruden called for a replay because he felt his two defenders pulled Richardson backward before he reached the 30, which was first-down territory.

What happened next was even more bizarre. Referee Randall Beesley viewed the replay and communicated with Nate Jones, the replay official who told him that the play couldn't be reviewed. Beesley, after reviewing the play, announced that the play cannot be reviewed only to find out that it could. Ball placements can be challenged if it involves first downs, and in this case, it did.

So, the play underwent a second review, but this time not by the referee. It was handled by Baynes, who found out he was wrong with his call.

"When I looked in there, his (Richardson's knee) was down, I found out," Baynes said in a pool report. "The play should have gone then to the head linesman's spot and we never had a (TV replay) shot that showed any irrefutable evidence that we could turn it over. We had to take the spot that was given on the field."

In case you didn't know, the head linesman was on the opposite side of the field, and he put the ball at the 30, good enough for a Chiefs first down. Gruden's challenge was denied. The Raiders lost a timeout. Richardson lost his chance for a big gain, but he got the first down. It took close to 15 minutes to bewilder and confuse everybody in what was then a strange 17-14 lead by the Chiefs.

"I said on my radio show last week, I didn't care if the game was four hours. As long as they get the calls right, it's fine," Raiders receiver Tim Brown said. "I think it almost went four hours. It's a tough situation. I knew last week they did pretty good, but we knew the intensity would be higher this week. They just didn't get it done."

Asked if the replacement officials were overmatched, Brown said, "Yes, ain't no doubt about it."

Brown will probably have to contribute to the officials' finance fund because he received a rare unsportsmanlike conduct penalty for talking to Beesley after what appeared to be a blown sideline call. Raiders halfback Charlie Garner got one foot in bounds on an incredible 27-yard sideline catch with less than two minutes left in the first half. Chiefs safety Jerome Woods gave him what appeared to be an illegal helmet-to-lower-helmet hit that drove him out of bounds at the Chiefs' 12

Incomplete was the call. The replay assistant challenged for a replay. Beesley ruled that it was no catch, so the line of scrimmage moved back to the Chiefs' 39.

"I asked, 'What was the ruling?' " Brown said. "The referee said that he didn't get knocked out of bounds. I asked him if he saw the replay. He said, 'Get out of my face or I'm going to kick your ass out.'

"I said, 'What?' Then he threw the flag. I never said anything out of disrespect toward him because I wouldn't do that. I thought it was totally inappropriate."

Beesley might not be a fan of Brown, but Brown claims the officials, particularly Beesley, liked teammate Jerry Rice. Brown said one official came into the locker room before the game and asked for Rice's autograph. Beesley, according to Brown, came into the huddle and shook Rice's hand and said that it was "an honor to referee a game with you."

What an embarrassment.

	“	My biggest concern is player safety and there were a couple of cases today that I thought some players went over the line. There were some things that really didn't have any place on the football field. ”
		— Trace Armstrong, Raiders defensive end

Several Raiders spoke out after the game about their concerns.

"This is my life, and you work all year round to get the opportunity to have 16 chances to do what you like to do," said Raiders defensive end Trace Armstrong, the president of the NFL Players Association. "You want to be certain that the game is determined by actions on the field. I'm not saying it was or wasn't today. But there were some things out there that I'm concerned about."

Armstrong was concerned about two plays in which helmet-to-helmet hits on Raiders received no attention by the officials. The Garner play was one. Another involved Chiefs offensive lineman Donald Willis delivering a helmet spear on Raiders middle linebacker Greg Biekert following a dropped pass by Snoop Minnis that Beikert picked up. After the play was ruled dead, Willis drilled him. A fight almost broke out. There was no flag.

"My biggest concern is player safety and there were a couple of cases today that I thought some players went over the line," Armstrong said. "There were some things that really didn't have any place on the football field."

Raiders quarterback Rich Gannon, who, like Armstrong, admits that his agent is Condon, said he had concerns about questionable calls in relationship to the outcome of the game.

For example, Gannon cited Trent Green's spectacular 12-yard scramble out of bounds on a third-and-10 with 1:32 left. Green made it out of bounds, but he let the play clock get down to five seconds before the officials reset it with a fresh clock. Green still couldn't get the play off from the Raiders' 30, so he called a time out.

"They reset the play clock, and that was incredible," Gannon said. "They never, ever reset the game clock if it gets down below five seconds. That was a big play in the game, and that would have saved a timeout. That was huge. That could have been the difference in the ball game."

Two plays later, Green hit Minnis with a 30-yard touchdown pass to tie the score at 24 with 1:21 left.

"I didn't have any idea it was going to be that bad," Condon said. "The game went almost three-and-a-half hours (3:27). They weren't calling holding. The stoppages in the game were bad. How about that late shot on Biekert and there was no flag on the play?"

Condon plans to call the league on Monday to restart contract talks. Here's hoping that the league listens.

John Clayton is a senior NFL writer for ESPN.com.