Dallas Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons was all over the field in a 40-0 beating of the New York Giants on Sunday night. He recorded three tackles, one for a loss, and had two hits on quarterback Daniel Jones, including one sack.
Although it was Parsons’ job to bring Jones down and help dismantle the Giants, he started to feel a little bad for the quarterback late in the game.
The Giants were down big, two of their offensive tackles were injured and Jones was still getting run out onto the field in the pouring rain. It was a potentially dangerous and unnecessarily risky scenario.
After the game, Parsons not only defended Jones the player but also questioned why Giants head coach Brian Daboll would put his franchise quarterback in such a precarious position.
“It’s called protecting your guy — something I thought the Giants should have done,” Parsons said on The Edge podcast. “I don’t think Daniel Jones should have been in that game in the fourth quarter. I thought they should have protected him and pulled him out and, barring injury, their season would be over without Daniel Jones. The Bengals did the smart decision by pulling Joe Burrow.
“I do not agree with Daniel Jones staying out there until that last drive. I thought that was wrong. I thought it was deceiving, that’s your franchise quarterback and he’s out there with a backup offensive line, still getting sacked and hit. I just didn’t understand, maybe it was a prove-it moment by the Giants, I have no idea. A learning lesson. Who knows?”
Is DJ a bad quarterback? Not in Parsons’ mind.
“Daniel Jones is not a bad quarterback,” he said. “Some of you may think that he’s a bad quarterback and why’d they sign him? You have to remember, Daniel Jones just went against a top-3 defense. They’re still learning to gel together. . . It’s only his second year with Brian Daboll. He gets grace. I think nowadays we don’t give the same grace as we (did) with guys like Peyton Manning when they came into the league.
“The reality is, he’s a really good player.”
Parsons wasn’t snarky in his take, either. There was no sort of backhanded commentary despite the confidence he expressed in himself and his team.
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