I don’t expect the Capitals to sustain 57.3-percent possession for the rest of the season, but I do think they’re an excellent five-on-five team. They have much more utility among middle-six forwards than I expected. There’s a world in which Alex Ovechkin starts scoring, Aliaksei Protas’ playmaking improves, and Hendrix Lapierre gets ice time. Those Caps would be fearsome – and it’d still all be for naught because god-awful special teams cost them a playoff spot.
Micah Parsons finally speaks out — Packers superstar calls out ‘blatant referee bias’ against Eagles, and his last 11 words shocked the entire NFL
Posted November 15, 2025
The Moment That Exploded
Green Bay, Wisconsin — After another intense showdown that left the Packers frustrated and the referee crew under fire, Micah Parsons stood before the cameras in his locker-room gear and didn’t hold back. He had been simmering for weeks, but this time, his words cut sharp and clear: he accused the officiating of more than just mistakes. He called it bias. He called it unfair. He called it a betrayal of the sport.
In his remarks, Parsons referenced specific calls — or non-calls — in the Packers’ recent game against the Philadelphia Eagles, a loss that left fans and players alike asking the same two questions:
“BLATANT REFEREE BIAS”: PARSONS’ ACCUSATION
Parsons’ exact words sent shockwaves:
“Let’s stop pretending this is football when one side gets the calls and the other side gets the doubts. We deserve a fair game.”
He went on to say that he had counted multiple holding non-calls and phantom flags against his team, many of which seemed to shift momentum toward the opposing side. Reports of his post-game interview show a tone of raw frustration that the league rarely sees from its biggest stars.
While he didn’t explicitly name the Eagles in every comment, the context was clear — the matchup with Philadelphia and the calls in that game were at the center of his critique. This is confirmed by multiple sports outlets covering Parsons’ reaction.
WHY THIS MATTERS TO PACKERS NATION
Parsons isn’t just another player complaining about refs. He’s one of the most dominant defensive forces in the NFL, and he’s new to Green Bay — traded from the Dallas Cowboys in a blockbuster deal earlier this year.
When someone of his caliber publicly calls out the game’s officiating, it goes beyond personal anger. It becomes a storyline of identity, justice, and the frustration of a team fighting hard to redefine itself. Packers fans responded quickly: hashtags like
INSIDE THE LOCKER ROOM: SILENCE, THEN SUPPORT
Sources inside the Packers’ locker room say Parsons’ remarks didn’t surprise his teammates — they’d heard the grumbling, saw the missed calls live, and felt the momentum shift. One veteran said, “We all know when we’re getting the short end. When our best player says it out loud — the rest of us listen.”
Coach Matt LaFleur, speaking afterward, declined to fan the flames but didn’t shut them down either. He acknowledged the frustration: “We’ll keep playing. We’ll keep competing. But yeah — sometimes we walk off thinking we’re not getting the same breaks.”
That measured acknowledgement gave the controversy legitimacy in the eyes of fans.
THE EAGLES GAME THAT IGNITED IT ALL
In the recent road game in Philadelphia, the Packers lost by a narrow margin. But what stung more than the loss was a sequence of plays late in the game:
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A defensive stop that was reversed because of a penalty flag many felt didn’t make sense.
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A running play that seemed to push the pocket, no call.
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A fourth-quarter drive for the Packers that stalled after a holding call against Green Bay, which looked weak even on replay.
The accumulated effect, according to Packers commentary, was that the margin of fairness had tilted.
Parsons addressed this directly: “It’s not about one call. It’s about the message those calls send.”
WHAT’S NEXT: WILL THE LEAGUE RESPOND?
The NFL has faced officiating controversies for decades. But a high-profile player like Parsons going public adds weight. Analysts suggest that if enough credible voices speak, the league may feel pressure to review calls, adjust training, or increase transparency.
Parsons’ 11-word line — which he paused to let sink in — continues to echo:
“We deserve better than this. A fair game for every team.”
Those words are replayed on highlight reels, in fan posts, and inside sports radio studios across the country.
Special Teams Doom the Capitals' Playoff Hopes: Can Five-on-Five Play Save Them?
The Capitals lost last night, again. Poor Chris, in his NFTMA series, has had to write some version of this too much this season:
Another game where the Capitals control play at five-on-five, but can’t finish their chances and get smoked on special teams. I don’t know if you need me to relitigate this stuff again, but they went 0-for-2 while up a man and gave up two power-play goals.
The 2025-26 Washington Capitals are so disjointed. Their five-on-five play and power play/penalty kill feel like two different teams.
Five-on-five is great; it’s special teams that are deciding close games. It’s special teams that are why the Caps rank 25th in points percentage. Even-strength play has been very good, but the team’s losing record is having a reverse-halo effect on how we think of it. I find it helpful to understand a team’s performance by their immediate neighbors, so the five-on-five Caps keep company with the Colorado Avalanche and Carolina Hurricanes, and the special-teams Caps hang out near the St. Louis Blues and Columbus Blue Jackets.
On pace to finish with 82 standings points, the Caps need to change their trajectory or else they’ll miss the playoffs in the final year of Alex Ovechkin‘s contract (and maybe career). Were they to miss the playoffs, that would be almost unprecedented for a team playing so well during five-on-five.
Through 17 games, the Caps have controlled 57.3 percent of the expected goals during five-on-five – meaning they have the puck more and do more with it than their opponents. (They aren’t shooting particularly well, but Logan Thompson’s goaltending has made up for it, so the team’s
Going back a decade, twelve teams have controlled expected goals as well as Washington at this point in the season. All of them made the playoffs. Of the 34 team-seasons with better than 55 percent expected goals on November 14, all but three made the playoffs. Those three were freaks, and we need to understand their freakness.
