After the Dallas Cowboys got humiliated 42-10 by the San Francisco 49ers in Week 5, Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott showed some self-awareness in his postgame press conference.
“We know what’s going to come from this from outside of our building,” Prescott said.
Prescott is in his eighth season as the starting quarterback for the Cowboys. This isn’t his first rodeo. The one thing that’s consistent with the Cowboys is noise. Sometimes it’s good noise, sometimes it’s bad noise, but it’s always there, and it’s always loud. After that showing in San Francisco? The noise was going to be bad and at a fever pitch. That’s something Cowboys’ superstar pass-rusher Micah Parsons is still learning.
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Parsons has spent a good amount of time starting his bye week verbally sparring with critics. Parsons did his regular solo podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons” on Bleacher Report, on Wednesday, dedicating a portion to addressing critics the Cowboys’ critics, and particularly, Prescott’s critics.
“I see my quarterback, maybe not have the red zone success but move the ball way better than the Eagles did on Sunday,” Parsons said. “We want the same energy for everybody because there’s a whole bunch of bashing when it’s Dak Prescott but not the same when it’s the Eagles.”
Parsons’ impassioned plea to defend his quarterback is why his teammates gravitate toward him. Parsons isn’t a phony. He’s genuinely hurt by the criticism hurled at his leader and quarterback, which he deems unfair.
For Parsons’ own sanity, especially as he plans to stick around in Dallas for the long haul, it’s best he understands as quickly as possible that there is no keeping “the same energy” when it comes to the Cowboys, and especially not when it comes to their quarterback.
This is the same Prescott who, as a rookie in 2016, went viral online because he properly placed his trash in a trash can. CBS Sports ran a headline on that moment headlined “What Dak Prescott does with a cup during a game could reveal about his character.” Again, he threw a paper cup in a trash can. Fast forward to training camp this past summer and a fairly normal clip of trash talk between Cowboys’ All-Pro cornerback Trevon Diggs and Prescott went viral and took a life of its own, this time against Prescott.
“I think the intensity of the microscope on Dak, I’ve never seen anything like it,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said this week on Mad Dog Sports Radio. “For him to be as consistent, his attitude is very much the same every day as far as how he attacks the preparation part of it, you have to be unique to deal with that. And this is Year 8 for him, so he’s been dealing with this a long time here. The intensity is nothing like I’ve ever seen.”
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This is McCarthy, who has coached Hall of Famers Joe Montana, Brett Favre and Aaron Rodgers, and spent over a decade patrolling the sidelines of an iconic NFL franchise in the Green Bay Packers, leading them to the mountaintop. The intensity surrounding the Cowboys’ starting quarterback was jarring for him.
Beyond the quarterback position, heightened levels of scrutiny and intensity are what come with wearing the star on your helmet. As much as it annoyed Parsons when it was negative coming out of the loss to the 49ers, that same element is why the win over the Chargers in Los Angeles on Monday night felt like a home game with the number of Cowboys fans that packed the road stadium, a common occurrence for the Cowboys around the country. It’s also why Sunday Night Football color analyst Cris Collinsworth said earlier this year that “if NBC had its choice, we would do 17 Dallas Cowboys games.”
“I’m not kidding,” Collinsworth said. “Doesn’t even matter what the record is. It doesn’t matter, they can be 4-6, we would take (them). … It’s insanity but it’s true. They draw the ratings. They get it done.”
Sure enough, the Cowboys’ demolition at the hands of the 49ers two weeks ago was the most-watched Sunday Night Football game … ever.
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Another part of this is that Parsons is getting drawn offside. On his podcast, Parsons singled out Emmanuel Acho, a television entertainer whose industry runs on hot takes and garnering strong reactions. Parsons then got on Twitter and amplified Acho a couple of times himself, quote-tweeting a video Acho recorded directed just at Parsons and then another of a TV segment from Acho’s show on FS1. Parsons also engaged with ESPN analyst Kimberley Martin, who reacted to Parsons’ comments.
“I’m just calling out the BS because I’m tired of people trashing my quarterback, I’m tired of people trashing my team,” Parsons said on his podcast. “That’s why I had nothing to say to the media this week.”
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Besides Parsons skipping out on his weekly media availability or postgame media session with beat reporters being a misdirected reaction to his beef with talking heads and television pundits — two totally different professions — Parsons should know that regardless of what he says or does on the matter, the Cowboys’ brand is too robust for him to regulate. In fact, whereas Parsons is trying to smother a fire with a wet blanket, he’s actually adding wood to the fire. The same analysts and personalities Parsons is calling out will now use him calling them out as additional content for their platforms. That’s the nature of the Dallas Cowboys.
After the Cowboys lost to the 49ers, McCarthy was asked if he tells players to stay off social media, knowing a storm is coming after a performance like that.
“Those days are over,” McCarthy said. “I think there was a day as a head coach in this league that that may have come out of my mouth, but it does not today. Social media is a part of the everyday life. … I just think it’s like anything else, these are grown men. They’re heavily involved, they’ve grown up in this generation. I just think it’s like anything, we always talk about making sure you control what you put in your body, (same with) your mind. That’s the only suggestion I make.”
Parsons is one of the best at his craft on the field, and he’s entertaining, passionate and good-natured about his teammates, and NFL peers at large, off the field as well. While his latest defense was of Prescott, Parsons has also publicly defended his teammate and close friend Diggs against comments made by ESPN analyst Bart Scott, as well as New York Jets quarterback Zach Wilson after NFL analyst Rodney Harrison trashed Wilson on TV.
Credit to Parsons: He does keep “the same energy.” But as long as he plays with a star on his helmet, he should be prepared, for better or worse, to experience the opposite from others.
(Top photo of Micah Parsons: Michael Owens / Getty Images)
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