Former Penn State linebacker [autotag]Micah Parsons[/autotag] and the Dallas Cowboys were about as dominant as any NFL team can possibly be in a season opener on the road on Sunday night. The Cowboys destroyed the New York Giants in the season opener between the two NFC East rivals by a score of 40-0, and it didn’t even feel that close to anyone watching the game.
Despite the lopsided affair, and the unpleasant weather conditions, the Giants kept starting quarterback Daniel Jones in for the entire game, allowing the Cowboys to treat him like a rag doll at times. Perhaps showing a little sense of sympathy, Parsons came to the defense of his opponent and ripped the team that left him in to take the abuse for the entire game.
“It’s called protecting your guy — something I thought the Giants should have done,” Parsons said Tuesday on his “The Edge with Micah Parsons” podcast, according to ESPN. “I don’t think Daniel Jones should have been in that game in the fourth quarter.”
[lawrence-related id=35793]
“I thought they should have protected him and pulled him out. Barring injury, their season would be over without Daniel Jones.”
Parsons sacked Jones once and brought him down for another loss in addition to getting a few hits on the Giants’ quarterback. Despite the Giants going with multiple backups at other positions, including the offensive line, Jones remained in the game to take on the beatings by the Cowboys’ defense, which did not let up all night long.
Parsons has never been one to keep his thoughts to himself, especially since entering the NFL. And he has a great point about how the Giants handled their franchise quarterback, fresh off a brand new contract in the offseason. It seemed questionable having Jones in that particular game for as long as he was. He was not effective at any point in the game. He was playing behind a backup offensive line later in the game, and the weather was terrible. Continuing to play Daniels with the game well out of reach in those elements seemed questionable at best.
This was especially true as the sacks kept racking up. The Giants were keeping Jones in the fire without a great reason to do so, thus jeopardizing his health for a 17-game season just one week into it.
It is worth noting one of the starting players the Giants did pull when things got beyond a repairable situation was former Penn State running back Saquon Barkley. Barkley rushed for 51 yards on 12 carries and caught 3 passes for 12 yards before being relieved.
Parsons and the Cowboys will hope to keep the pain train coming against the New York Jets this weekend. The Jets, a day after the Giants were obliterated, lost their star quarterback, Aaron Rodgers, to a season-ending injury four snaps into the game on Monday night. But the Jets fought back and won their first game of the season against the Buffalo Bills behind backup quarterback Zach Wilson.
Follow Kevin McGuire on Threads, Instagram, TikTok, and Facebook.