The 2011 NFL Lockout has apparently reached the Chris Berman touchdown call stage. With the rookie wage scale out of the way, negotiations between players and owners are apparently close enough that some believe a deal could be announced today.

So, back to ESPN’s Berman. This means we are in the “he … could … go … all … the … way” stage of the negotiations. Sounds like we are somewhere around “all”, with the question being whether something will happen that will mess up something that seems very close to being a sure thing at this point.

As Pro Football Talk’s Mike Florio warned this morning:

The cork remains in the bottle of Dom Perignon because there’s no deal until there’s a deal. And every time the owners think a deal is inevitable, they tend to harden their position on the remaining issues, under the mistaken impression that the players will cave.

Via Twitter, Albert Breer of NFL Network listed some of the remaining issues that could provide stumbling blocks.

So, no deal yet. Finally, though, real light at the end of a long, dark tunnel.