The Los Angeles Rams are not like a box of chocolates. You actually do know what you’re going to get.
For instance, quarterback Matthew Stafford has the third-highest number of passing attempts this season and the fourth-most passing yards in the league. So Cowboys linebacker/defensive end Micah Parsons and the rest of the Dallas defense can almost certainly count on plentiful opportunities to wreak havoc with a frequent pass rush.
“If they pass it 50 times,” Parsons told reporters this week at The Star, “I wish I could have 50 sacks.”
Stafford is averaging slightly fewer pass plays that that this year, putting it up an average of 36.6 times a contest and having good statistical success through the air, though it hasn’t necessarily translated to wins.
Even with the rival Eagles on deck in Week 9, Parsons isn’t looking past the former first-round draft pick with over 53,000 career passing yards who’ll be coming home to line up on the other side at AT&T Stadium this Sunday.
“He’s a Super Bowl champion,” Parsons said of Stafford, a Highland Park native. “He knows how to make all the passes, all the reads, look you off, things like that. Super dynamic. The [3-4] record doesn’t show how really good they are. We’ve definitely got our hands full going in to this Sunday.”
And that’s despite already knowing how the Rams will line up most of the time, thanks to an offense that’s long been constructed around a heavy foundation of 11 personnel. That one running back/one tight end configuration maximizes the team’s wide receiver tandem of All-Pro Cooper Kupp and rookie sensation Puka Nacua. Both are in the league’s top five in receiving yards per game. Even L.A.’s third option, Tutu Atwell, has more receiving yards this season than the Cowboys’ WR2 and WR3- Michael Gallup and Brandin Cooks- combined.
“They’re basically saying, ‘We’re going to do this, and you’ve just got to stop it,'” Parsons explained. “And they’ve been very successful with it. It speaks to who they believe in. They believe in their skills guys, they believe in what they have. That’s what it’s all about.”
For Parsons and Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s defensive front, it will be all about getting to Stafford before he can find Kupp, Nacua, and Atwell downfield.
Stafford, however, is used to the heat. He’s been sacked 18 times already in 2023, tied for sixth-most across all passers. And a staggering 17 of those sacks have come in the last five games.
One of the keys for Parsons, who leads the Cowboys with five sacks, will be to give the Rams offensive line extra things to think about, like, “where I’m going to be at, how to find me,” he says. “Dan’s been doing a great job in putting me inside, outside, things like that that make it harder for them.”
Parsons is coming off a bit of a slump, at least relatively speaking. Until he dropped Justin Herbert on the next-to-last play in which the Chargers offense held the ball in Week 6, Parsons hadn’t had a sack since Week 3. Not since his rookie season had he gone three straight outings without a sack.
“I’ve got to do a better job of creating more opportunities for myself,” Parsons explained.
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Now rested and refreshed coming off the bye week, he looks to put himself back in the conversation as one of the most feared and prolific defenders in the game.
“You’ve just got to try to be as consistent as possible,” said Parsons. “Never get too high, never get too low. Understand that people are trying to take you out of the game, people don’t want you to ruin the game. You’ve just got to be a guy that’s willing to risk it all. Every time I step on that field, obviously, I want the big plays, the sacks, and I want to be as dynamic as possible.”
As long as they stay true to form, Stafford and the Rams should give the Lion- and the rest of the Cowboys pack- ample opportunity to hunt.
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