When Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons addressed the media Thursday about NFL officiating, five years of frustration came pouring out of him. He risked a fine from the league by addressing the way defensive players are treated differently than offensive players in the NFL. The bottom line is that Parsons is right about most of his criticisms, but they likely won’t change anything.

Parsons was direct and specific in his criticisms. He went as far as to call many of the NFL’s rules “Bull—-.”

The basis of Parsons’ criticism was the double standard between the way penalties are called against defensive players as compared to offensive players. He is also tired of being held so often during a game with hardly any of them getting called. Packers head coach Matt LaFleur alluded to it last Monday after the Packers win over the Bengals.

“I know he’s frustrated by it. And there are some that are egregious and those need to be called,” LaFleur told reporters.

Parsons said it’s all part of the league’s plan. “You can tell how they call the game,” Parsons explained. “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 want to 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.”

Parsons said he doesn’t expect every call to be made. There is holding on nearly every play. He continued, “I think there’s like two or three [missed calls] a game,” Parsons said. “The ones that are close, like whatever, that’s football. It’s competitive, I get it. But the egregious ones need to be called. That’s how guys get hurt.”

In addition, Parsons spelled out how this double standard can lead to injuries for defensive players. “We put so much emphasis on protecting the offense,” he added. “Protect the defense. 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 could be rushing and engaged with another player and a guy could come blow his ribs out. We’re not considered defenseless. But like we said, it’s an offensive league.”

Parsons is largely correct here. The league does go out of its way to protect offensive players like receivers and especially quarterbacks. If it is truly concerned about player safety, defensive players who are vulnerable should also be protected equally as offensive players.

Ultimately, the NFL has been using the rules to favor the offense since at least 1978. Prior to that, defenses were dominant. Team defenses typically had nicknames like “The Steel Curtain” in Pittsburgh, “Doomsday” in Dallas and “The Purple People Eaters” in Minnesota. Quarterbacks were considered good if they completed more than half their passes and had more touchdowns than interceptions. Zone defenses took away the long bomb and the big play.

So, the league changed the rules. They limited contact with receivers to one hit within five yards of the line of scrimmage. Holding rules for offensive linemen were liberalized and quarterbacks were protected from being hit.

The league wanted higher scoring games, and they got it. The pendulum has gone so far in the direction of the offense that we are almost getting to the point where the NFL is becoming similar to arena football. In arena football, you expect a team to score nearly every time they touch the ball. Defenses occasionally create a turnover or penalties derail a drive, but the expectation is that an offense will score at least a field goal. The NFL has nearly gotten to that point.

Parsons may have been blowing off steam. His frustration is understandable, but he also realizes that there won’t be many changes on the way.

“It’s just one of them things, it is what it is,” Parsons said. “Five years of not getting a call, you eventually stop worrying about it. I think I just got to keep going. That’s part of the challenges—like you just got to keep going… That’s part of being one of the best.”

Parsons is one of the best. He continues to make an impact on the Green Bay defense and has also emerged as a leader. The NFL will continue to favor the offense while Parsons and other defensive stars will continue to fight on.