The New Orleans Saints won their Week 12 game with the Carolina Panthers, but it was ugly. Saints coach Sean Payton watched his team commit 12 penalties for 123 yards, while his opponent executed poorly in several areas of the game — including two missed extra-point attempts and a botched field goal try that gave the Saints a chance to win.

However, the two teams on the field weren’t the only ones having an off day. Payton said after the game during his postgame press conference, “It wasn’t our best game, it wasn’t (Carolina’s) best game, and quite honestly it wasn’t New York’s best game.” Payton clearly took issue with mistakes from the on-hand officiating crew, which initially failed to give the Saints possession of a muffed punt until Payton forced their hand with a challenge.

He infamously received a private phone call from NFL officiating czar Al Riveron after last year’s botched NFC championship game. Riveron’s responsibility on Sundays from the NFL offices in New York City is to watch a wall of monitors streaming each ongoing NFL game and assist on-site officials with making the correct calls; apparently, Payton wasn’t happy with the officials’ performance on Sunday.

Payton challenged a foul for offensive pass interference on tight end Jared Cook early in the first quarter, which wiped out a 42-yard gain, but after reviewing the play with instant replay the officials let the penalty stand as called.

Late in the fourth quarter, the officials hit New Orleans defensive back C.J. Gardner-Johnson with a foul for defensive pass interference after Panthers coach Ron Rivera challenged the non-call. It was just the fourth overturned pass interference play of the year, per ESPN Stats and Info.

Ridiculous as that seems, the Saints were able to overcome it. And Payton declined to dwell on the officiating’s impact in the game, adding, “I’m not going to go down a list of all these calls. Any more questions about the game? Or are we just looking for hits?”

New Orleans did enough to win on Sunday. But they can’t keep playing sloppy and making opportunities for lesser teams to hang with them deep down the stretch. Here’s hoping this was just another aberration against a division rival. With a game against the Atlanta Falcons on Thanksgiving night just around the corner, they can’t afford to make many more of the same mistakes.