There were several exciting, tightly-contested games during week eight of the NFL season but poor officiating continues to affect outcomes.

In Philadelphia, with 2:22 remaining in the fourth quarter, Atlanta had pulled within six points of the Eagles and was receiving a punt with a chance to go on a tying drive. Instead, a punt allegedly bounced off return man Adam Jennings and the Eagles recovered. Two plays later Brian Westbrook iced the game with a 39 yard touchdown run.

I didn’t see the play, but according to media accounts, Jennings never touched the punt. According to ProFootballTalk.com’s Mike Florio, who was on Fox Sports Radio at the time, Jennings in fact was waving teammates away from the ball. But the Falcons were out of challenges so they could not dispute the call despite its game-changing nature.

While I haven’t seen that play first-hand, the joys of NFL Sunday Ticket have afforded me the opportunity to see several other calls I thought were questionable at best and horrible at worst. Earlier in that Eagles-Falcons tilt, there was a roughing the quarterback call against Trent Cole where he hit Matt Ryan in the chest and drove him to the ground.

He did so with his head up, not leading with the crown of the helmet and he did so about a step after Ryan threw the ball. It was a hard hit, but it was not done with malice or any intent to injure – it should have been a good, clean, non-call.

The fans at Wembley Stadium in London were treated to a couple of the worst calls of the day.

On the first play of the fourth quarter Drew Brees threw a 20 yard pass into the end zone. San Diego defensive back Cletis Gordon, replacing the injured Quentin Jammer, had coverage. He was turned around, playing the ball and doing everything a defensive back is supposed to do in guarding a receiver. Yet the referee threw a flag, whistling a 19-yard pass interference call against him.

I’m not alone on this one. Phil Simms and Jim Nantz both agreed that it was a terrible call. One play later Mike Karney plowed in from a yard out to give the Saints a 37-20 lead.

Did the pass interference call against Gordon make a difference? The Chargers lost by seven when a last minute drive was thwarted by an interception. Might New Orleans have scored anyway? Sure. But San Diego might have held them to a field goal and then the last series the Chargers run would have been completely different.

A few minutes later Philip Rivers threw into the end zone toward Chris Chambers. Kevin Kaesviharn’s coverage also was not interference – unless the play called against San Diego was. Kaesviharn was far more physical with the receiver than Gordon was, yet he was not flagged. Simms called that a good non-call – and I agree – except that I do believe the only thing worse than bad officiating is inconsistent officiating.

I also took issue with a taunting call during that same game. Lance Moore caught a touchdown from Drew Brees late in the first half. He ran a few steps to the right, then turned around and ran a few steps to the left. It appeared as though he had no idea how to celebrate his score – and if he was penalized for anything it should have been this clueless act of celebration.

But it certainly wasn’t taunting, at least in the eyes of anyone watching the game objectively – except for the NFL officials. The Saints were flagged for an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty, a call that illustrated one of my biggest complaints of this season – the league has taken these celebration calls way too far.

It’s almost more rare for games to go without a celebration penalty these days – I understand preventing taunting, but the degree to which the league has emphasized these calls is ridiculous. Chris Johnson’s $10,000 fine for playing the drums after a long touchdown last week is another example – he’s not taunting, he’s excelling at a tough game and he should have the opportunity to express some emotion.

Finally, during the early portion of the Steelers-Giants game, two defenders converged on Mewelde Moore as he was attempting to catch a pass from Ben Roethlisberger. The pass floated over Moore’s head and it was just slightly out of reach. One defender grabbed his legs while rookie safety Kenny Phillips drilled him from the side.

It ended up being an ugly hit. But Phillips was way too close to hold up completely and he led with the shoulder, not the helmet. Yes, Moore didn’t catch the ball, but he was able to get both hands on it. If Moore did catch it and Phillips didn’t attempt to hit him hard he could have made a big play. These bang-bang plays should not be flagged for roughness – sometimes defenseless receivers are going to get hit cleanly – it’s just the way it is.

I understand the league’s desire to protect its players. It’s a noble goal. But football is also a rough game. And you can’t legislate that out. Players are going to be thinking so much about not hitting defenseless players that they are going to end up playing too cautiously and that could get people hurt just as easily as hitting too hard.

I don’t know what the answer is to all of these calls. I understand that human error is a part of the game. But in some cases these calls are inconsistent and ridiculous. That replay can’t be used to fix an obvious mistake, regardless of the number of team challenges remaining, is ridiculous – and costly, as in the Falcons game.

In too many contests this season the outcomes of games are being affected. Something has to change.