In one National Football League preseason game, the referee announced a penalty with his back to the television camera. In another, an official twice referred to a team from Atlanta as Arizona. That referee, whose previous experience included a stint in the Lingerie Football League, also mixed up which team had won the coin toss.

These preseason games usually carry little meaning beyond an excuse for fans to tailgate, but this year’s batch has presented something different: an unintentional comedy routine from a roster of replacement officials, many of whom might have had trouble even dreaming about working at the game’s highest level just a few months ago.

A labor dispute between the league and its regular officials, however, turned those pipe dreams into reality. Yet to many, the replacements’ performances so far have done little to dissuade visions of an impending disaster. On Sept. 5, when the Super Bowl champion Giants open the regular season against the Dallas Cowboys, what happens on the field will be meaningful — to players, coaches, fans, owners, oddsmakers and anyone else who has a stake in America’s most popular game.

“I actually overheard one of the refs saying he only refereed glorified high school games,” Giants wide receiver Victor Cruz said recently. “I don’t even know what that means.”