Micah Parsons says he was reluctant to show his face in public for a while after the Cowboys’ devastating wild-card round playoff loss to Green Bay. The Dallas linebacker got out of the country with family for a while to purge the 48-32 defeat from his system, but he nevertheless heard some of the chatter that followed about how he didn’t seem to care much when things went off the rails early versus Jordan Love and the Packers.
Speaking Wednesday from Orlando, he answered some of those questions.
Saying he was ready to “speak my piece,” the third-year superstar came right out of the gates on his latest episode of The Edge with Micah Parsons on Bleacher Report by stressing how badly he wanted to win that game and see Dallas advance in the postseason.
“If you think I was okay with that loss or how we lost,” Parsons said, “you’re obviously delusional. Very delusional.”
The 24-year-old called the team’s performance “completely embarrassing and unacceptable,” and tried to explain to fans how it went wrong.
“At the end of the day, we were just outperformed, outschemed, however you want to put it. They had an answer for everything.”
"Completely embarrassing and unacceptable … It took me a while to even show my face in public.”
Micah talks about the pain of losing early in the playoffs
(Via The Edge with Micah Parsons) pic.twitter.com/2mamQ1I2oL
— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) January 31, 2024
That goes for both defense and offense, but Parsons was quick to throw his support behind embattled Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott, who simply couldn’t dig his unit out of a deep hole despite having turned in an MVP-caliber year.
“We gave up over 40 points. What do you expect Dak Prescott to be? Do you expect him to be Superman? He cannot win games by himself,” Parsons said. “I do not put that on Dak Prescott.”
The three-time Pro Bowler also addressed buzz over his usage on the field. While technically listed as a linebacker, Parsons has become used more as an edge rusher. And he was extraordinarily effective, tallying a career-best 14 sacks on the season.
But whichever slot Parsons occupies most, when the Cowboys get exposed as they did by Green Bay, the knee-jerk reaction has been to complain that Parsons wasn’t deployed enough at the other position.
Some have even intimated that Parsons himself refuses to line up as a ‘backer because it would reduce his sack totals.
Parsons tried to put that rumor to bed.
“The packages are in for me to go to linebacker. There’s multiple packages, multiple variations. But I can only play what was called,” he explained. “I’ve told multiple players and coaches that I’m very fine playing linebacker- in the playoffs if that’s what you want me to do. I just want to win.”
As for the accusations that recently made the rounds on social media that Parsons doesn’t take his personal preparation seriously enough or selfishly puts his own individual glory above the team’s goals, Parsons subtly clapped back at that, too.
“I’m at full peace. I don’t think I could have done anything more to try to win that game, and that comes from watching film with the other guys in the room,” he said.
“I challenge anyone to actually go look at the game film and say that Micah didn’t play his heart out in that game or what more could I have done?”
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Parsons did not directly address the decision by the team to stand by head coach Mike McCarthy, and he didn’t mention defensive coordinator Dan Quinn by name. Parsons has referred to Quinn as a father figure in the past, but now Quinn is reportedly a strong contender for the head coaching job in Washington.
It could be the beginning of a time of dramatic change for Parsons, the Dallas defense, and the Cowboys locker room as a whole.
That’s what team owner Jerry Jones would have the outside world believe, anyway. And Parsons, for one, is optimistic that Jones’s “all in” comments made this week will hold true… and lead to better results in 2024.
“They’re talking about how we’re going ‘all in’ this year. Man, that’s what I would hope for,” said Parsons. “I hope that we go out and get the players that we’re missing, because we didn’t do that this year. I hope that we challenge ourselves to become better, become greater. For us.”
And maybe as the calendar once again turns to February twelve months from now, Parsons will be preparing-with his team- to play for a world championship instead of the all-star celebrity gala that’s staged the week before.
“This is not where I want to be sitting right now,” Parsons admitted, “telling you about what we’re doing at the Pro Bowl.”
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