Cowboys' Micah Parsons has excessive reward for teammate: 'He is one of the crucial thrilling gamers that I've seen'

FRISCO, Texas — Dallas Cowboys three-time All-Professional edge rusher Micah Parsons is the NFL’s greatest at getting after quarterbacks.

He led the NFL with 103 quarterback pressures in 2023, and he racked up an NFL-best 11 pressures, tied for essentially the most within the league with Lions Professional Bowler Aidan Hutchinson, in Week 1 towards quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Cleveland Browns in a 33-17 Cowboys win. Parsons additionally totaled a sack, however he gorgeous obtained beat out for a second one by second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown. The 24-year-old 2023 third-round select of Texas misplaced his whole rookie season after tearing his ACL within the preseason. In his first sport post-ACL and first profession NFL regular-season sport, he made the explosive Parsons look gradual on a fourth-and-six sack of Watson within the third quarter that resulted in a turnover on downs for Cleveland. Within the video of under, he hits the afterburners to corral the Browns cellular quarterback. 

Parsons could not imagine his eyes.

“I do not even know what occurred,” Parsons stated of the play on Wednesday. “I will inform you. I used to be like, ‘Bro, you are gonna have individuals who suppose you are quicker than me now.’ I say, ‘I am unable to take no extra breaks. That is what these recent legs is getting you.’ He is [Overshown] so quick. He is explosive, although. I instructed him after the sport how proud I used to be of him. Me and Overshown had an incredible relationship final yr. Over his time he was recovering, simply stored checking on him. To see all these abilities and the whole lot we noticed in camp, simply occurred to have that harm, come on the market like that within the first sport, his confidence by the roof, it simply obtained me tremendous excited.”

How excited is Parsons? He has seen sufficient to declare Overshow a future All-Professional after one common season sport within the linebacker totaled a game-high 11 tackles and the explosive sack.

“He is going. There isn’t any doubt about it. He is going. I have been telling individuals how explosive he’s,” Parsons stated.  “He is coming downhill with intent with the whole lot. He is one of the crucial thrilling gamers that I’ve seen. I believe he’ll be an All-Professional participant.”

Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy seconded Parsons’ opinion about feeling Overshown’s presence on the sector after his restoration from the torn ACL. 

“Yeah, impactful,” McCarthy stated of Overshown on Monday. “All of us felt his pace. There have been a few performs, the fourth down, some nice pursuit performs. You undoubtedly really feel him on the market. It was nice to see him on the market flying round. … Actually, simply joyful for these guys [Diggs and Overshown who both came back from torn ACLs]. These are darkish hours. You see them within the coaching room. I am watching [defensive lineman] Sam [Williams] undergo it proper now. He is down there each morning. It is a lengthy street again. To see them run out of that tunnel, that is an enormous deal. It is good to see these guys taking part in free. Undoubtedly, the quantity of the work these guys put in, you need to give [director of rehab] Britt Brown and the workers loads of credit score.”

Dallas defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer leaned on Overshown’s pace to make use of him as a quarterback spy in an effort to dissuade Watson from taking off and operating the ball himself. 

“Yeah, he is obtained good pace, and we used him a pair instances to spy Watson,” Zimmer stated on Monday. “Him doing that was massive for us. As soon as the man [Watson] obtained out of the pocket that enables the line of defense to form of flip it free. You do not have to fret about move rush lanes as a lot. You could have any person overlaying for him that has some juice. So he did good.”

 Ravens MVP quarterback Lamar Jackson (Week 2),  Giants passer Daniel Jones (Weeks 4 and 13), Justin Fields or Russell Wilson beginning for the Steelers (Week 5), Eagles Professional Bowler Jalen Hurts (Weeks 10 and 17) and 2024 second general choose Jayden Daniels (Weeks 12 and 18) are all on Dallas’ schedule in 2024. Overshow will assist by limiting these dual-threats alternatives to get exterior the pocket as evidenced in Week 1. 

“Yeah, clearly a bunch of those guys can run round,” Zimmer stated of the quarterbacks Dallas will face that yr. I believe the line of defense appreciates having somebody ready to do this.”

New Orleans Saints quarterback Derek Carr is not in the identical tier of mobility as a number of the aforementioned quarterback, however his backfield mate in five-time Professional Bowl operating again Alvin Kamara is without doubt one of the NFL’s shiftiest gamers. Dallas will want all fingers on deck, not simply Overshown and Parsons, to maintain him in examine. Kamara performed a key position in curb-stomping the Carolina Panthers 47-10 in Week 1 with 110 scrimmage yards (83 speeding on 15 carries and 27 receiving yards on 5 catches) and a speeding landing on 20 touches. 

“He is the primary focus,” Parsons stated of Kamara in Week 2. “That run sport all the time. They have been dominant final week towards the Panthers and I believe it is a nice system. Their OC [Klint Kubiak] got here from San Fran, so it provides us a glimpse of what we might probably see in a while down the street. Kamara is Kamara man. What he put up one other 100 final week? He did not actually have any drop off. It should be an incredible problem. He is nonetheless the most effective backs on this league. He handled accidents during the last couple of years, however so does everybody, however to date we noticed he appears to be like wholesome and I am excited for the primary time to go towards the man.”

Cowboys Professional Bowl linebacker Eric Kendricks battled Kamara for years taking part in beneath Zimmer on the Minnesota Vikings, which is why he can not stress sufficient how vital it’s to remain on level towards Kamara due to the mix of pace and energy he possesses. 

“He is very elusive, very, very shifty,” Kendricks stated on Thursday. “He is avery easy athlete. Nothing is simply too shifty. He simply,  strikes round very easy and easy, however he is shifting quick. Then on the finish of the day, he is like 225 [215 pounds to be exact]. You suppose he is all finesse … , however on the finish of the day, while you go to sort out him he is obtained some weight behind his pads.”

New Saints offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak came visiting from the NFC champion San Francisco 49ers the place he labored because the 49ers’ passing sport coordinator. New Orleans’ offense already has a Shanahan model really feel after one week. 

New Orleans lined up beneath middle greater than every other offense within the league in Week 1, on 61.3% of their performs, and so they used play-action on over one third of their dropbacks (39%) for the primary time since signing Carr within the 2023 offseason, in accordance with NFL Professional Insights. The Saints additionally utilized two-back formations at an NFL-high fee of 37%, and so they despatched a participant in movement on 74.2% of their snaps, the fifth-highest fee within the league. These offenses centered the beneath middle, zone-blocking scheme with heavy play-action have despatched the Cowboys residence within the final three playoff runs between the 49ers (2021 and 2022) and the Green Bay Packers (2023). Dallas’ protection is prepared for a combat on Sunday.

“Yeah, these offenses are annoying,” Cowboys Professional Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs stated Wednesday.