Cowboys’ Micah Parsons making his case for early MVP consideration after Dallas’ dominant 2-0 start

“He’s special,” new Cowboys cornerback Stephon Gilmore said of Parsons after Sunday’s win. “I have never seen anything like him.”

Sunday also marked his 10th career multi-sack game, making Parsons the sixth player since sacks became an officially tracked statistic in 1982 with 10 or more such games in their first three seasons. 

“He has really worked his ass off this offseason,” Cowboys defensive coordinator Dan Quinn said Monday, via The Dallas Morning News. “He’s faster. His hands are better. His rushing is better. …He’s definitely playing better than he ever has, which is saying a lot.” 

Quinn’s take on Parsons, the engine of a defense that has led the NFL in takeaways in each of the last two seasons, does indeed say a lot. The 12th overall pick of the 2021 NFL Draft co-led the league in quarterback pressures (90) in 2022 with 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa, the 2022 NFL Defensive Player of the Year, while his 13.5 sacks last season ranked as the seventh most in the NFL, five behind Bosa’s league-leading 18.5. That output earned up DPOY runner-up and First-Team All-Pro honors in 2022. 

As a rookie, Parsons still wreaked havoc in opposing backfields, totaling just one-half sack fewer in 2021 (13.0). However, his quarterback pressures total improved significantly from Year 1 when his 67 pressures were tied for the ninth most in the NFL. His 2021 season still ended with First-Team All-Pro honors. Through two games in 2023, Parsons’ 12 quarterback pressures are the second-most in the league behind Lions defensive end Aidan Hutchinson‘s 13, and his three sacks are tied for the second-most in the NFL, trailing only Vikings defensive end Danielle Hunter‘s four. 

“He [Bosa] knows that I’m coming for him,” Parsons said while grinning when told the news of Bosa’s five-year, $170 million contract extension. “He even said to my ears like ‘I won this year’ and he’s like, ‘I know you’ll be coming for next year.’ I said ‘you’re damn right.’ It’s going to be a good chase [to be the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year]. Not only [me and Bosa], you also have [Raiders defensive end] Maxx Crosby, too, and those guys are all really good.”  

The one thing the Cowboys defense wasn’t great at last season was run defense as they allowed 129.3 rushing yards per game, ranking 22nd in the NFL. Through two games, Dallas has trimmed that number down to 86 rushing yards allowed per game, a figure that was aided by Parsons and company holding Cook and Breece Hall to a combined 16 rushing yards as well as limiting the entire Jets offense to 64 total rushing yards. 

“Extremely proud,” Parsons said about he and his teammates ability to shut down the Jets’ ground game. “I think this season we all committed to saying ‘we’re going to make these guys pass the ball.’ We’re going to force them to let us rush and when we come out, we come down and set the tone saying ‘you won’t run on us’ and then we go get our sack, now that’s what changes everything. To all the teams with them game plans, c’mon. Run at me. Run at whoever.”

That “bring it on” attitude and All-Pro production Parsons provides on a weekly basis left Cowboys owner and general manager Jerry Jones, the team’s owner and GM since 1989, unable to think of a player comparison after Sunday’s game. Stunning, considering Jones has been around the NFL for nearly 35 years.

“I have never gotten anything but trouble when I’ve ever made a comparison with a player, okay,” Jones said Sunday. “But I have never seen anybody with his skill, with his motor and his overachieving and how he is planning ahead of how to get better. He is the entire package. No, I can’t remember. You can’t deny his excellence and inordinate skill level. It forces me to point out how hard he works and how driven he is. He’s just literally an overachieving, great player. He’s handling every part of it. It was really great to see and everybody sees it.”

Jones’ belief in him and his own internal thirst to achieve new levels of greatness drives Parsons. Those two factors could power him and the Cowboys to an unprecedented run in 2023. 

“I’m just hungry,” Parsons said. “To me it don’t matter where I am, where I’m at, I’m coming. I don’t care if I’m gassed out. My lungs hurt, but mind over matter. I think every time I’m out there, I seize every opportunity unlike some guys that  take this opportunity for granted. I take this extremely to the heart. This organization changed my life. So, I’m just trying to give everything I had back to the fans, to Mr Jones and all my teammates.”