Another star player is broadcasting his issues with NFL officiating to a mass audience.
In a 33-13 win over the Philadelphia Eagles that vaulted his team into the NFC East lead, Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons recorded a sack to push his season tally to 12½. But it was a play in which Parsons was unable to reach the quarterback that created a stir on social media.
With his team trailing 17-6 on a first-and-10 from the Cowboys’ 41-yard line, Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts ran right before sliding for a 1-yard loss. Parsons attempted to slip tight end Dallas Goedert to make a tackle in the backfield, but Goedert appeared to get a hold of Parsons’ jersey and hook the two-time Pro Bowl selection.
Parsons pleaded with an official after the play, but no flag was thrown.
After Jon Machota of The Athletic posted the clip on X, formerly Twitter, Parsons wrote, ‘I told you it’s comical !’
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His comment appears to be a reference to his remarks Wednesday, in which he was asked about Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Teryl Austin’s recent claim that star pass rusher T.J. Watt was the victim of many missed holding calls. Parsons suggested there was a league-wide disinterest in calling penalties for the infraction.
“It’s comical, you know,” Parsons said. “… It’s something that we should not even call out anymore. We all see what’s going on. We don’t got to say it. The fans, the media, the reporters, they all see it. It is just something they are not making an emphasis on.
‘And you know, they’re getting away and they want teams to score lots of points. At the end of the day, that’s what they want. They want fans to get excited. That’s what fans like – you like touchdowns. Y’all don’t really like sacks and things like that.”
The Eagles were called for 10 penalties on the night, while the Cowboys were cited for seven.
“It’s unbelievable that they can call all those penalties and not call those holdings,’ Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said of the no-calls involving Parsons, according to Machota.
Cleveland Browns defensive end Myles Garrett also bemoaned what he believed were several missed calls in his team’s 31-27 win over the Jacksonville Jaguars.
‘It was honestly awful,’ Garrett said of the officiating. ‘And the fact that they’re letting them get away with hands to the face, holding, false-starting. I know they called a couple, but damn, they could have called it all game.’
Earlier on Sunday, Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes and coach Andy Reid each voiced their displeasure with an offsides penalty against wide receiver Kadarius Toney that nullified what would have been a go-ahead touchdown with just over a minute remaining in the fourth quarter of a 20-17 loss to the Buffalo Bills.