GREEN BAY, Wis. — If Micah Parsons hosts a housewarming party once he settles in the Green Bay area, don’t expect any NFL officials to get an invitation.

After Packers head coach Matt LaFleur addressed the topic of how Parsons is officiated earlier this week, specifically how he thinks officials are missing “egregious” holds on Parsons, the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history sounded off himself, not only on how he’s being officiated, but also about referees and the league in general.

“Five years of not getting a call, you eventually stop worrying about it,” Parsons began. “I think I just got to keep going. That’s the hunt, yeah. That’s part of the challenge, is you just got to keep going. And that’s bothersome. That worries them. They know that. That’s the part of being one of the best. That comes with some territory, parts that you hate and the parts that the league lets go.

“You can tell how they call the games. 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. It’s just one of those things that we know what the higher-ups is trying to do. The ref would say, ‘I know that’s a hold,’ but what, you’re not going to call it? Come on. It’s just one of those things that like, I’m over, and I’mma just have to keep going, push through it.”

Micah Parsons sounds off on how he’s officiated and refs in general:

“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… pic.twitter.com/fieDTZpWl5

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 16, 2025

Parsons estimated there are two or three “egregious” missed holding calls on players trying to block him every game. He doesn’t think LaFleur advocating for him will have an impact, though LaFleur said Thursday, “That’s definitely a conversation pregame” with regards to nudging officials to watch for blatant holds on his star pass rusher.

“I don’t care what the fans want sometimes,” Parsons said. “If your team holds, they should get better tackles, better guards. S–t, don’t blame that on us.”

It’s not only holds against him that irk Parsons. He said that he changed his facemask in the middle of last Sunday’s game against the Bengals because he was blatantly poked in the eye and popped a blood vessel in his face.

“It’s not the ones that are close that I’m worried about,” Parsons said of missed holds against him. “It’s the ones where I’m getting pulled or someone’s at my facemask. What’s the point of having hands to the face if they’re not going to call it? ‘Well, they didn’t hold it there.’ Well, did that not mess me up? You’ll call that on us. They’ll call that on a DB, though. I just want them to call it both ways. That’s all I ask.

“How do you think my whole face popped a blood vessel in my face? Like, what are we doing here? Guy can consistently keep putting his hands to my face, like what are we doing here? … I gotta protect my face. It’s pretty.”

Parsons wasn’t done criticizing officials for how he thinks they treat offense vs. defense.

“We put so much emphasis on protecting the offense. Protect the defense,” Parsons said. “A guy could be trying to catch the ball and you make a defensive play so he doesn’t catch it, and it’s targeting. It’s a flag. But a defensive end can be rushing and engaged with another player and the guy can come blow his ribs out, and we’re not considered defenseless … that’s complete bulls–t. That’s not good football. That’s not safe football, if that’s what we want to preach on the offensive side. I think those things are more frustrating. Like, who are we kidding? You want to fine guys for putting their head down, but you can be engaged with an offensive tackle and a guard can put his head right into your head. What are we talking about here? Look at how many times that’s on film, guys putting their head down and trying to come clean your clock. But you can’t do that to offensive players. S–t. You’ll get a $50,000 fine. I might get a fine for this conference.

“But like we said, it’s an offensive league. I think a lot of rules are bulls–t … If you’re going to say it’s about protecting players, then protect all players. Don’t just protect one side of the ball.”

Micah Parsons says he thinks “a lot of rules are bullshit.” He elaborates below.

“We put so much emphasis on protecting the offense. Protect the defense.”

“I might get a fine for this conference.” pic.twitter.com/reOAzUeE5b

— Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) October 16, 2025

Parsons has only 2.5 sacks this season, tied for 40th in the NFL, which can be attributed in part to those uncalled holds, but also teams devoting multiple players to blocking him and getting rid of the ball quickly to neutralize him and the entire Green Bay pass rush. Parsons ranks seventh in pressure percentage (18.2) among players with at least 100 pass-rush snaps this season, according to TruMedia, but his biggest influence might be coming in multiple areas elsewhere.

“He is totally changing the game,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said. “He’s sometimes got three guys on him and you’ve got other guys with one, and they need to win. He’s sped up the quarterback. I mean, again, I get like the whole they’re catching a lot of short passes. I’ve got that. But if you give up explosive passes, you lose football games, and they can’t do that against us right now. The other thing he’s doing, which I think people discredit him for, he’s playing good in the run game. We’re playing pretty good run defense. He’s a big part of that … we’re playing good on third down, really good on third down for the most part. He’s a huge part of that. He’s a huge part of three guys are going to him, quarterbacks are getting rid of the ball quick, other guys are getting pressures. But don’t discount the run game. He’s in there on all those downs and we’re playing pretty good run defenses now. I think he’s impacting in a lot of phases.”

Perhaps Parsons’ influence will be more apparent in stats that stick out most if referees change how they officiate him, but it doesn’t sound like he’s counting on it despite whatever efforts both he and his head coach make.