Prior to the start of the 2025 NFL season, the Green Bay Packers made waves throughout the league by acquiring four-time Pro Bowl pass rusher Micah Parsons in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys. In order to acquire the three-time All-Pro, the Packers had to send Kenny Clark, a three-time Pro Bowler in his own right, and two future first round draft picks to the Cowboys.
Green Bay acquired Parsons, of course, in an effort to boost their pass rush, which was disappointing in 2024. The hope was that adding a player of Parsons’ caliber to their defensive line would result in more sacks, both by Parsons himself and other players in the front seven.
But as of Week Six, the Packers only have 12 sacks as a team, and Parsons has just 2.5 of them. And while they are generating pressures on opposing quarterbacks regularly, they are not making the splash plays they had hoped would result from having Parsons on the team. At least, not yet.
And Parsons knows why it is not happening.
While Parsons has just 2.5 sacks, he is constantly generating pressure on the quarterback and drawing double or triple teams from opposing offensive lines. And, as many fans saw on Sunday, many holding penalties that do not get called.
For years, Cowboys fans bemoaned the fact that Parsons was held on nearly every single play, but officials rarely called it.
And, based on his comments during a press conference with Packers media members on Thursday, Parsons agrees with these criticisms of NFL officials, but thinks that it is because the league wants offenses to succeed more than defenses:
“I might get a fine for this (press) conference.”#Packers EDGE rusher Micah Parsons feels there’s a lot of rules to protect players on offense, but that’s not happening for the defense. pic.twitter.com/3Apu1Sbrxs
— Dominique Yates (@RealDYates) October 16, 2025
“Five years of not getting a call, you eventually stop worrying about it.” “They don’t call offsides for offense, but they’ll call it on defense. They won’t call offensive pass interference, but they’ll call defensive pass interference immediately. We know what they’re trying to do. They wanna load the points up so fans can be happy. They’ll call defensive holding, but they won’t call offensive holding. Let’s just wake up.
“I might get a fine for this (press) conference.”
For his part, head coach Matt LaFleur said that he plans on asking the officials on Sunday to keep an eye out for holds against Parsons.
It will be interesting to see if that conversation goes anywhere or produces any results.
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