Micah Parsons calls out Refs

[Pass2Run]

This is a bad move. Stupid move, especially for Parsons who is usually pretty bright with his words and thoughts.

The NFL has sent out memos to announcers who call the games, warning them not to criticize the officials for calls. I was listening to Chris Collinsworth call the game and he obviously didn't like the call. But unlike previous years, he just kind of bit his tongue and they joked about receiving the no-criticism (loose) policy of the NFL via email.

I suspect the more he talks, the less teams will get called, and the more we'll get called. Micah is usually very intelligent for an NFL player; truly has a lot of maturity for his age. But this was dumb.

It would have been much more prudent had he figured out a way to address the NFL and refs without calling them out on Twitter..

Yes, I realize this wasn't a dis and that he wasn't being a complete jerk, and didn't mention anyone in particular. But this is the same line the announcers are walking because it could impact their jobs.. Micah saying this could negatively impact the team.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

This is a bad move. Stupid move, especially for Parsons who is usually pretty bright with his words and thoughts.

The NFL has sent out memos to announcers who call the games, warning them not to criticize the officials for calls. I was listening to Chris Collinsworth call the game and he obviously didn't like the call. But unlike previous years, he just kind of bit his tongue and they joked about receiving the no-criticism (loose) policy of the NFL via email.

I suspect the more he talks, the less teams will get called, and the more we'll get called. Micah is usually very intelligent for an NFL player; truly has a lot of maturity for his age. But this was dumb.

It would have been much more prudent had he figured out a way to address the NFL and refs without calling them out on Twitter..

Yes, I realize this wasn't a dis and that he wasn't being a complete jerk, and didn't mention anyone in particular. But this is the same line the announcers are walking because it could impact their jobs.. Micah saying this could negatively impact the team.

I mean, I get that, but the officials have been crap this year with all teams. Not just us. I think it's natural for players to be frustrated and voice their frustration. I think anyone would if someone involving our employment was making it harder to do our jobs.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

When he's being held, sometimes it's called, sometimes it's not. It's an imperfect game being ref'ed by imperfect human beings. It doesn't merit inciting mass hysteria on social media. It's a freaking game!

It may be a game to us, but, to Micah, this is his job. How would you feel if someone at your workplace, in this case the officials, were making it harder for you to do your job when they won't do theirs? Wouldn't you be voicing your frustration after a while? I think it's the same for Parsons. I think a lot of people, players included, are voicing frustration because the officials have been crap across the board.

 

[JoeKing]

It may be a game to us, but, to Micah, this is his job. How would you feel if someone at your workplace, in this case the officials, were making it harder for you to do your job when they won't do theirs? Wouldn't you be voicing your frustration after a while? I think it's the same for Parsons. I think a lot of people, players included, are voicing frustration because the officials have been crap across the board.

Do you think I don't practice what I preach? In this country, there are established fair business practices. If someone is not being held accountable to those standards, there is a course of action to correct that. The system works!

Likewise, the NFL has a competition committee that meets several times every year. They change the rules every year, thus the game is constantly evolving. This is the system that Parsons should get his issue addressed to by telling his coaches. Skipping steps by going to Twitter is the wrong way to get results. A fine from the league and a suspension from Elon's Twitter are in order to stop what I think is an abuse of social media.

 

[RonnieT24]

It may be a game to us, but, to Micah, this is his job. How would you feel if someone at your workplace, in this case the officials, were making it harder for you to do your job when they won't do theirs? Wouldn't you be voicing your frustration after a while? I think it's the same for Parsons. I think a lot of people, players included, are voicing frustration because the officials have been crap across the board.

I think a lot of people are also missing the point that some of these offensive techniques are downright dangerous to the defensive players. The league has bent over backwards to protect offensive players over the years but has done relatively little to safeguard defenders.. The removed the chop block and the crack back.. other than that pretty much anything goes. I forget which game it was when Micah got bent over backwards when one blocker went high on him and the other went low. He had to leave the game for a series or two.. and there was no flag.. even though it was a textbook example of an illegal chop block. If enough high profile players call them on their BS the league will have no choice but to address this crap.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Do you think I don't practice what I preach? In this country, there are established fair business practices. If someone is not being held accountable to those standards, there is a course of action to correct that. The system works!

Likewise, the NFL has a competition committee that meets several times every year. They change the rules every year, thus the game is constantly evolving. This is the system that Parsons should get his issue addressed to by telling his coaches. Skipping steps by going to Twitter is the wrong way to get results. A fine from the league and a suspension from Elon's Twitter are in order to stop what I think is an abuse of social media.

That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that it's natural for Parsons to be frustrated with the officials and this is how he saw fit to express this, which is normal nowadays. I don't know for sure who else he's told about this, but I've seen other NFL players (both current and former) using Twitter to express disdain for the officiating. For example, here's a Tweet from a Colts player after the roughing call on Chris Jones from the Chiefs:



And here's a Tweet from Ryan Clark, who's currently an ESPN Analyst following his Steelers career:



So, it's not just Micah Parsons that are taking to Twitter to express disdain for the Refs. Is it professional? Maybe not, but is it effective? We shall see.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

I think a lot of people are also missing the point that some of these offensive techniques are downright dangerous to the defensive players. The league has bent over backwards to protect offensive players over the years but has done relatively little to safeguard defenders.. The removed the chop block and the crack back.. other than that pretty much anything goes. I forget which game it was when Micah got bent over backwards when one blocker went high on him and the other went low. He had to leave the game for a series or two.. and there was no flag.. even though it was a textbook example of an illegal chop block. If enough high profile players call them on their BS the league will have no choice but to address this crap.

That was the Rams game, which makes his Tweet even more legitimate imo. I think that should have been a chop block, but the refs just stood there. So yes, I understand Micah's frustration, and Twitter is one way to get his thoughts known.

 

[RonnieT24]

That was the Rams game, which makes his Tweet even more legitimate imo. I think that should have been a chop block, but the refs just stood there. So yes, I understand Micah's frustration, and Twitter is one way to get his thoughts known.

Over the years we have seen the NFL be stubborn about making changes until they got shamed enough. I think this issue and the ridiculous roughing the passer calls might just be pushing them in the right direction. I know they won't just give in midseason or maybe even not next year.. They will hold out as long as they can until they can make it seem like it was their idea. But it has to start somewhere.. Micah has 10-12 more yeas to play in this league so if he can help drive some changes he can maybe play the last 6-8 years in a better version of the NFL. But I applaud him for putting it out there. I do think they should move in the direction of college football and make everything reviewable with no need for coaches challenge. Why the hell should a team have to risk something as valuable as a timeout to correct a ref's mistake? College football gets their reviews in and out very quickly and I think that's just because they have more practice at it. Now if THEY could just get rid of that stupid "targeting" rule.. Throwing guys out of the game for basically playing football. Don't even get me started..

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Over the years we have seen the NFL be stubborn about making changes until they got shamed enough. I think this issue and the ridiculous roughing the passer calls might just be pushing them in the right direction. I know they won't just give in midseason or maybe even not next year.. They will hold out as long as they can until they can make it seem like it was their idea. But it has to start somewhere.. Micah has 10-12 more yeas to play in this league so if he can help drive some changes he can maybe play the last 6-8 years in a better version of the NFL. But I applaud him for putting it out there. I do think they should move in the direction of college football and make everything reviewable with no need for coaches challenge. Why the hell should a team have to risk something as valuable as a timeout to correct a ref's mistake? College football gets their reviews in and out very quickly and I think that's just because they have more practice at it. Now if THEY could just get rid of that stupid "targeting" rule.. Throwing guys out of the game for basically playing football. Don't even get me started..

Exactly, and it seems, from the responses I saw (besides my own), a lot of people agree with his Tweets and those of other NFL players who have been echoing similar statements about the officials.

 

[OmerV]

Can't blame Micah. He was literally being held so many times against the Rams, yet the officials hardly threw any flags on them Rams linemen for holding. These holds might even have contributed to Micah injuring his groin.



Does Micah have a case to call out the Refs, or does he simply need to be quiet?

I am not one who typically calls out the refs. I understand they are human and miss things, and also that if they called everything possible the games would be unbearable to watch.

But in this past game I was upset pretty much constantly because Parsons was getting held over and over and over again, and the refs ignored it. And it wasn't subtle or questionable. The picture in the OP is very typical of what was happening repeatedly.

 

[Iago33]

Technically, yes.

According to what sources? All the sources I can find, including the US Census Bureau, include Pennsylvania in the Northeast region, which is the region that gets the most media attention. I can’t find any sources that have the Midwest going east of Ohio. I know it doesn’t really matter, but if we are talking about not getting attention, I wouldn’t put Pennsylvania in that bucket. It’s all good, though.

 

[JoeKing]

That's not what I'm saying. I'm just saying that it's natural for Parsons to be frustrated with the officials and this is how he saw fit to express this, which is normal nowadays. I don't know for sure who else he's told about this, but I've seen other NFL players (both current and former) using Twitter to express disdain for the officiating. For example, here's a Tweet from a Colts player after the roughing call on Chris Jones from the Chiefs:



And here's a Tweet from Ryan Clark, who's currently an ESPN Analyst following his Steelers career:



So, it's not just Micah Parsons that are taking to Twitter to express disdain for the Refs. Is it professional? Maybe not, but is it effective? We shall see.

You call it "normal" these days and supported that idea with ample examples of other players doing it. Good job.

Now hear me out. A player calling out a ref, on or off social media should be discouraged by the league with fines and suspensions. The NFL needs to lay down the discipline hammer to stop this behavior. This may be common behavior nowadays but it's not normal by any means. This generation of players needs to be taught a lesson about respect for authority. It should not be tolerated. This is my opinion and you can't dissuade me from it.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

You call it "normal" these days and supported that idea with ample examples of other players doing it. Good job.

Now hear me out. A player calling out a ref, on or off social media should be discouraged by the league with fines and suspensions. The NFL needs to lay down the discipline hammer to stop this behavior. This may be common behavior nowadays but it's not normal by any means. This generation of players needs to be taught a lesson about respect for authority. It should not be tolerated. This is my opinion and you can't dissuade me from it.

I hear what you're saying about authority. However, the League also needs to do something about the officials. The officials have been awful. If the League is going to discipline the players but not the officials, what kind of accountability is that? I'm not saying the refs have to be perfect, but my goodness. How many times do we see a lineman with their arms around Micah's neck or chopping at Micah's knees? How many times this season have we seen rubbish roughing the passer calls? So, yes, maybe the League might need to discipline the players for this, however, they also need to fix the officiating.

 

[JoeKing]

I hear what you're saying about authority. However, the League also needs to do something about the officials. The officials have been awful. If the League is going to discipline the players but not the officials, what kind of accountability is that? I'm not saying the refs have to be perfect, but my goodness. How many times do we see a lineman with their arms around Micah's neck or chopping at Micah's knees? How many times this season have we seen rubbish roughing the passer calls? So, yes, maybe the League might need to discipline the players for this, however, they also need to fix the officiating too.

You can't have it both ways. Please recall a few weeks ago there was a mass demand from fans on social media to do something about what happened to Tua Tagovvailoa. Fans don't like seeing players get brain-damaged on live TV. It's a rare event for the league to make mid-season changes to the rules but when it comes to safety, they will do it. It was clear that refs needed to do a better job of protecting QBs. So changes were made and protecting the QB was made a point of emphasis. This is why Teddy Bridgewater wasn't allowed to finish the game last week. It's the right thing to do. So if the side effect of protecting the QB is some overprotection of the QB then so be it. It's better than QBs getting brain-damaged. If there needs to be some correction to the rule it will wait until the offseason unless it becomes a matter of safety again.

 

[droopdog7]

Micah consistently gets the edge on guys that this has become a legitimate "blocking" strategy that isn't getting called nearly enough. Happens 3-4 times every game.

 

[RustyBourneHorse]

Micah consistently gets the edge on guys that this has become a legitimate "blocking" strategy that isn't getting called nearly enough. Happens 3-4 times every game.

Exactly

 

[GORICO]

Can't blame Micah. He was literally being held so many times against the Rams, yet the officials hardly threw any flags on them Rams linemen for holding. These holds might even have contributed to Micah injuring his groin.



Does Micah have a case to call out the Refs, or does he simply need to be quiet?

America's Cowboy---- that makes total sense....if you rushing with all momentum going forward and then you are held that puts much strain on groin....i am going with America's Cowboy's diagnosis....and

maybe Parsons has enough "Juice" to call out refs and be heard????

 

[America's Cowboy]

You call it "normal" these days and supported that idea with ample examples of other players doing it. Good job.

Now hear me out. A player calling out a ref, on or off social media should be discouraged by the league with fines and suspensions. The NFL needs to lay down the discipline hammer to stop this behavior. This may be common behavior nowadays but it's not normal by any means. This generation of players needs to be taught a lesson about respect for authority. It should not be tolerated. This is my opinion and you can't dissuade me from it.

Shut it, Joe. The NFL head office and the crooked Refs have been evidently fixing games by helping certain teams. Enough is enough. It's like taxation without representation. It's picking favorites and helping those favorites out only, all while everyone else is paying the price. It's simply not fair nor right, so it's only right that the unfairly treated teams/players publicly call out such years-long illegal and unfair treatment. Call them out in public and make the whole organization look embarrassing, because that is exactly what the league office and them crooked refs have created.

 

[America's Cowboy]

You are a rebel by thinking that way. The powers that be want to put the best product on the field as possible. If the players have an issue the FO most certainly wants to know about it. You must have been treated poorly as a child, to not trust authority as an adult. Sad for you.

Screw your wrong and personal attacks, Joe! You're absolutely wrong!! I'm 100% all for the rule of law, but when that rule of law is unfairly being used against certain teams but not everyone else, that's when the unfairly treated should publicly voice their displeasure and embarrass the organization for deliberately and intentionally abusing those laws while unfairly applying them only to certain teams/players instead of everyone evenly.

 

[cityochamps]

Refs under a microscope-finally! Trash those part timers and hire full time professionals and better trained referees with a more transparent and accountable system!  These clowns make around 150K a year (in that range), so it's not a money issue for the NFL but it sure is a quality issue with us fans..