Packers star Micah Parsons goes off on ‘tush push’, NFL rules that protect only offensive players

GREEN BAY – If you really want Micah Parsons to speak his mind, just ask him about being held or getting poked in the face or having to play against the Philadelphia Eagles’ ‘tush push.’

In his Oct. 16 weekly gathering with reporters, the Green Bay Packers’ star pass rusher joked that he’s probably going to get a $50,000 fine for talking about some of the things he did, but given he’s making more than $45 million a year, he was willing to risk the NFL’s wrath for exercising his First Amendment rights.

Some of the public might be outraged over how much they think Parsons gets held by opposing offensive linemen every game, but that has become commonplace and it doesn’t frustrate him as much as NFL rules favoring the offense.

Take getting poked in the eye.

It happened to him late in the second quarter of the Packers’ 27-18 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. He was taking an outside rush from the right side when tight end Noah Fant came over to help Orlando Brown block him. Fant’s hand got into Parsons’ facemask and poked him in the face.

“I didn’t even get that call,” Parsons said. “Like, what are we doing here? A guy can consistently keep putting his hands in my face. This was blatant. It literally popped a blood vessel in my face. I changed my whole facemask. I have to protect my face. It’s brutal.”

Here’s a summary of some of the things Parsons addressed:

Micah Parsons took on the Philadelphia Eagles and their ‘tush push’

After going through all of his gripes with how the rules favor the offense in the NFL, Parsons took a shot at the controversial “tush push.” The Packers play the Eagles in four weeks and Parsons is not a fan of the play.

“If you ask the Eagles offensive players, they’d probably say that’s the best thing they do with their offense right now,” he said. “It’s the most consistent thing they got. That might come back to bite me one day. It is what it is.”

He said no one on defense enjoys playing against it because it is weighted to the offense.

“I hate that play,” he said. “The whole league hates that play. I don’t think you’ll find one defensive player in the league that’s like, ‘Oh yeah, go tush push, we have to learn how to stop it.’

“You can’t stop it when they’re leaving early. It’s impossible. It’s an unfair advantage. We have 320-pound momentum coming early on the play. Whatever.”

Parsons bothered more by discrepancies in how defensive players are penalized than being held as much as he is

Parsons said he doesn’t let the number of times he gets held and no flag is thrown bother him anymore. He said it’s part of the game and tries to live with it.

He said it would be easier if the scales weren’t tipped against the defense in the rule book.

“Five years of not getting a call, you eventually stop worrying about it,” he said. "I just have to keep going. That’s part of the challenges. You have to keep going. And that’s bothersome, that worries them. They know that’s part of being one of the best. It comes with some territory, parts that you hate.

“I mean, 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. I mean, we know what they’re trying to do. They want to load the performance up so fans can be happy.”

Parsons said it’s time to acknowledge that it’s the way things are:

“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? It’s just one of those things I’m over it. I just have to keep going, push through it.”

Parsons talks to the officials during the game, but he doesn’t lobby them beforehand

Coach Matt LaFleur said he will talk to the officials about things to look for before a game and might say something before the Packers play Arizona on Oct. 19. But he said during the game, he’s usually too focused on other things to notice who is being held.

Parsons said he doesn’t want to deal with it before the game starts and will have a discussion with an official if it comes up in the game.

“I don’t say anything before because it’s all about just staying focused,” he said. “I don’t want to start off the game, like, ‘Hey, I’m not going to do the hold today.’ But sometimes, I’m just like, whatever. But sometimes some of the egregious ones, I think should be called.

“Like, a man pulled me to the ground. I just feel like those type of things, like in those situations, need to be called. They won’t hesitate to call me for a neutral-zone infraction and call a man offsides. I mean, you see the same things I’m seeing.”

When it comes to offenses against him – he has drawn two holding penalties and one hands-to-the-face penalty – Parsons said this season hasn’t been any worse than his four previous seasons with Dallas before being traded to the Packers.

He said it doesn’t matter what LaFleur or anybody else says to the officials.

“They’re going to call what they’re going to call,” he said. “All we can do is hope we get called a fair game. Like I don’t care what the fans want sometimes. If your team holds, they should get better tackles, better guards. (Expletive), don’t blame it on us.”

Parsons said the offensive emphasis in the NFL results in defensive players taking a punishment, uses “tush push” as an example

There are few who will argue the NFL rules favor the offense, but not everybody thinks that’s a bad thing.

Parsons disagrees.

“We put so much emphasis on protecting the offense,” he said. “Like, protect the defense. A guy can catch the ball you make a defensive play so he doesn’t catch the ball and it’s targeting. It’s a flag. But a defensive end can be rushing and engaged with another player and a guy can come blow his ribs up. And we’re not considered defenseless.

“But like I said, it’s an offensive league. I think a lot of the rules are (expletive). Like they hurt (Lucas) Van Ness last week. What are we doing? You’re going to say it’s about protecting the players, then protect all the players. Don’t just protect one side of the ball.

“I don’t mind guys chipping from the outside, but like running backs going to come to sneak (block) players while we’re engaged with offensive linemen, that’s complete (expletive). People want to encourage that; it’s not good football. It’s not safe football.”

Parsons had some choice words for the Philadelphia Eagles’ “tush push”, which multiple clubs around the NFL, led by the Packers, tried to ban during the offseason. The rugby scrum-type play has drawn criticism because replays have shown some Eagles linemen moving before the ball is snapped, which should be a penalty.

“How many times does a guy got to leave early before they call it?” he said. “Be serious. I got like what, two neutral-zone infractions? I feel like one of them was real, but the other one’s like, hmmmm … It’s crazy, bro.

“Like you can hit the quarterback in the face by accident, put your hand up and they call roughing the passer. But an offensive lineman can jam your neck back like this and there’s nothing. It’s just crazy to me, the standards we set and are allowing in a football game. This ain’t real football.”

This article originally appeared on Packers News: Packers star Micah Parsons speaks mind on ‘tush push’, NFL rules, refs