It was a long weekend of football with the Steelers on their much needed bye week. I watched other teams struggle, or should we say fight, claw and plead for penalties to win in Week 8.

There were as always, many WTF moments over the weekend.

Here are the highlights.

Do NOT touch the referee!

Our first WTF moment of Week 8 has to do with the zebras.

In the NFL (or better known as the No Fun League) there is a rule that you “cannot touch an official” even if it is to give him a celebratory hug after a TD.

That’s exactly what Seahawks #29 FS Earl Thomas did Sunday.

Thomas was so excited after he recovered a fumble, and ran the ball in for a touchdown during the first quarter of the Seahawk’s game versus the Saints, that he hugged the referee.

He later told, ESPN that he didn’t realized he was flagged until after the game, that he was just having fun.

It wasn’t the first time he has done that.

In a game last week versus Arizona, Thomas also hugged a ref after a big play, and that didn’t pull a penalty.

WTF?

So some Refs are okay with a little love, and some aren’t?

The rule book does not say you can’t hug a ref: it does prohibit “shoving, pushing, and striking officials”.

In those instances they are supposed to be ejected.

We are waiting for his fine. Is $500 too much?

Editor’s note: as a referee myself, there is a saying that goes “you can also pet the dog to tell him he’s good,” meaning, you don’t have to penalize or fine every single action, especially if the intentions were positive and it was for the good of the game. I have to agree with Terry, and say, this isn’t a flag: unless the league sat down after the previously unflagged “hug” and told the officials that this is unacceptable behavior going forward. (I would expect the NFL to notify their members of such a memo, so it doesn’t happen again.)

Just for kicks

Next, it appears that Halloween trick-or-treats came early with kickers around the league: there were a total of 7 missed FG’s, and 4 missed PAT’s this weekend. Those misses changed the course of games, and lead to another tie, this time between the Redskins and Bengals.

Nothing better than waking up at 6am PST to watch a London NFL game that went on for 4 hours, including OT, only to end in a tie!

WTF.

No amount of coffee helped that game.

The positive?

The tie kept the Steelers a game ahead in the AFC North.

Okay… thank God for ties!

Raider Nation

The Raiders had so many WTF moments throughout their game, it was hard to keep track of them all.

They gave up 200 yards on 23 penalties, and get this, they still won their game over Tampa Bay!

Oakland is now 6-2.

WTF?

Following the game, Raiders head coach Jack Del Rio was overheard saying:

“We made history today men, the most penalties in a game ever.”

Not that you want to make that kind of history, but a win is a win. The refs couldn’t stop pulling out flags!

I am not a Raiders fan, but you had to appreciate the effort here by the players to keep grinding for the victory.

Hey Dad: what’s that on the field?

Finally, the funniest, if not the best WTF moment of the weekend, was during the Patriots at Buffalo game.

During the 2nd half, a fan from the stands threw a dildo onto the field by the 1 yard line.  (For those of you that do not know what that is, a dildo is a sex toy.)

After the game, Tom Brady and Rob Gronkowski both said they thought the sex toy was for Buffalo!

Brady went on to say that the official didn’t want to pick it up, so he kept trying to kick it off to the side of the field!

WTF?! (And LOL!)

So much for NFL games being a family show.

I wonder if that fan will be banned, or fined, for an inappropriate celebration near the endzone?

Since they lost to New England probably not, but one has to wonder if Rex had anything to do with it.

But wait, there’s more!

I could go on because there was so much more… such as Cam Newton‘s rant on being hit.

We’ve heard enough about that.

Time to get ready for the Steelers as they prepare to take on their AFC rivals, the Baltimore Ravens, in what will be a physical match-up as usual.

We just hope the bye allowed for our injured starters to heal enough to return… and Big Ben is back on the field.