Micah Parsons is still waiting for his first snap of the 2026 season, but the Green Bay Packers’ star pass rusher found a way to make himself heard Sunday.

Parsons went after the NFL and its officiating department over roughing-the-passer calls. It came on a day the Packers drew two of those flags in a 20-17 loss to the Detroit Lions, which ended with Jake Bates’ 22-yard field goal as time expired at Ford Field.

Micah Parsons Takes the Roughing Debate Straight to the League

Parsons is still on the reserve/physically unable to perform list as he recovers from a torn ACL and meniscus damage suffered last December.

He tagged both the league and its officiating account and minced no words: “Let’s just go to flag football if every time a QB gets touched it’s roughing the passer!”

NFL legend Tom Brady, calling the game, also had a blunt reaction to one of the roughing flags. “My goodness. What is that?” he said on the FOX broadcast before adding, “It’s definitely not roughing the passer.”

The first of Sunday’s roughing flags came in the third quarter with Green Bay trailing 17-14. The Packers had stopped Detroit on third-and-10 near midfield. But DE Brenton Cox Jr. was tripped up by Lions center Cade Mays and fell into QB Jared Goff, and the call gave the Lions a fresh set of downs. That 10-play drive still ended without points when Detroit turned it over on downs.

The second, on defensive tackle Karl Brooks, came with the score tied 17-17 on Detroit’s final drive of 10 plays and 71 yards, as the Lions pushed across midfield.

Brooks also jumped offside after the two-minute warning on that same drive, giving Detroit a first down with Green Bay down to one timeout. Jahmyr Gibbs, who ranks second on PFN’s RB Impact Metric, later ran to the Green Bay 3 to help set up the winning kick.

Meanwhile, the roughing flags weren’t the only calls that went against Green Bay. Jordan Love was called for intentional grounding, and cornerback Brandon Cisse had an interception wiped out by a defensive pass interference flag.

Detroit drew flags too, including an unnecessary roughness call on Lions linebacker Derrick Barnes. The Packers finished with eight penalties for 81 yards to Detroit’s five for 50.

However, Green Bay also had chances to win it. A fourth-down stop with 4:53 left gave the Packers possession at the Detroit 22 and an immediate chance to take the lead. Rookie kicker Trey Smack then had a 35-yard try blocked by DJ Wonnum with 3:21 to go, his second missed field goal of the day and seventh missed kick overall this season, including extra points. The Packers came away with points on just one of four red-zone trips.

Sunday’s flags came a week after Green Bay drew three roughing-the-passer penalties, all in the fourth quarter, during a 23-13 win over the Dallas Cowboys on Oct. 18. Lukas Van Ness, Brooks, and Evan Williams were the players flagged. The Cowboys didn’t draw a single one.

Packers coach Matt LaFleur took up the issue the next day: “At the end of the day, you just want it to be called both ways. So if they’re going to call it one way, it should be called for the other team as well.”

The loss dropped the Packers to 4-3 and last in the NFC North, with the Lions at 4-2. Green Bay gets a short turnaround, hosting the Carolina Panthers on Thursday night at Lambeau Field. The Packers had not opened Parsons’ 21-day practice window as of Sunday.