OXNARD, Calif. — Dallas Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy didn’t have to think long when asked to name linebacker Micah Parsons’ best play from 2023.
“The touchdown against Chicago,” he said. “The ball security was awful, but it was a huge play in the game.”
Actually, that brief description doesn’t do the play justice.
On third-and-17 from Chicago’s 18-yard-line with 5:16 left in the third quarter, Justin Fields dropped back to pass. Parsons, part of a three-man pressure, rushed from the left side and forced Fields to step up in the pocket.
Fields drifted left and side-armed a pass to David Montgomery, who caught the ball at the Chicago 25. When Fields threw the ball, Parsons was at the Chicago 15.
Montgomery eluded one defender and headed toward the left sideline when linebacker Leighton Vander Esch forced him to fumble. The ball bounced to the 36, where Jayron Kearse tried to scoop it up.
Parsons, sprinting the entire way, knocked Kearse out of the way and collected the ball. He fell to one knee, but no Bears player touched him. So Parsons gathered himself and headed toward the end zone. The former high school running back cut inside a Bears lineman at the 25, avoided another tackler at the 5, and stumbled into the end zone, giving Dallas a 42-23 lead.
“That was unbelievable,” Cowboys vice president Stephen Jones said. “He showed it all: Pass rush with bend to flush the passer. Then he chased the play and hustled and tried to get in on the tackle. And once he got the ball, he looked good enough to be a running back in the league. He showed instincts and athleticism.”
Micah Parsons’ rise to top of defense chart
In Parsons’ first two seasons, he had 26.5 sacks, 33 tackles for loss and six forced fumbles, and three fumble recoveries. He has 56 quarterback hits and has been named first-team All-Pro each of his first two seasons.
San Francisco defensive end Nick Bosa was named 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year. Parsons finished second but did not get a first-place vote. Finishing second, combined with the Cowboys’ loss to San Francisco in an NFC Divisional round playoff game, has motivated him to elevate his game.
Parsons spent the off-season working away from the team in Austin, Texas, 200 miles south of Dallas. He wanted to add 8-10 pounds of muscle to his body to withstand the rigors of a 17-game NFL season.
He weighs 252 pounds and has vowed not to weigh more than 255 at any point in his career. The off-season work has helped because he has terrorized the Cowboys’ offense during training camp.
A few days ago, he wowed the coaching staff and teammates by hurling left tackle Tyron Smith, a two-time All-Pro and eight-time Pro Bowl player, to the ground as he rushed the passer.
He practices at such a high level that the staff must occasionally remind him to stay away from quarterback Dak Prescott, who wears a red jersey during practice. He came dangerously close to hitting Prescott low during a recent practice.
“We go through these spots all the time: You don’t hit the quarterback. The quarterback hasn’t been hit in practice in my 30 years [as an NFL coach] that I can recall,” McCarthy said. “That’s all part of working together, having discipline in your rush lane, discipline in your pass-protection unit, and this is why you have camp.
“We have a tremendous amount of work to do in the area of technique and fundamentals. Oh yeah, we’ve talked about that a number of times. That’s all part of the practice ethic plan. (Micah) is a No. 1 violator right now.”
Prescott said it doesn’t make sense to ask Parsons to change his practice habits because it makes everyone better, including him.
The Cowboys have always been a team known for its offensive stars and prowess for decades, whether we’re talking about the Hall of Fame trios of Roger Staubach, Tony Dorsett, and Drew Pearson from the 1970s to Troy Aikman, Emmitt Smith, and Michael Irvin of the 1990s.
This team, though, might be the first built around the defense — and that’s entirely the result of Parsons’ dominance. The Cowboys have led the league in takeaways each of the last two seasons, and they finished fourth with 54 sacks last season.
Dallas re-signed Vander Esch and safety Donovan Wilson in the offseason and traded for cornerback Stephon Gilmore to pair with Trevon Diggs.
“The talent we have, the vet and the young guys, the experience we all have. Since my rookie year, we got thrown into the fire,” Parsons said. “And we’ve gotten experience from tough games, playoff-level games, and I don’t think there’s a guy on our team that doesn’t have postseason experience outside of the guys that just came in.
“We’ve got some elite guys with elite talent, and some have been to the [Super] Bowl and that have just been on playoff runs. I think we’ve got a great chance.”
To do that, the rest of his teammates simply need to follow his lead. The Cowboys have not been to the NFC Championship game since 1995. Only Detroit and Washington have longer streaks in the NFC.
For a team that begins nearly every season with championship aspirations, it’s an embarrassing streak Parsons wants to end.
“Everybody’s comfortable when their knees are in the water, but I’m ready to go out into the deep water, and I hope everybody’s prepared to go out into the deep water,” he said. “In terms of my conditioning and where I’m at, and how I determined how I was gonna get better this year, I think it’s through the roof.
“I just hope everybody’s ready. You gotta see if they can swim. I’m gonna take them to an island. I invest in how I can get better, not in the things I do right already. I invest in my weaknesses. I want to turn them into strengths.”
Jean-Jacques Taylor is an NFL Insider for Sportsnaut and the author of the upcoming book “Coach Prime“, with Deion Sanders. Follow him on Twitter.