FRISCO – Cowboys pass rusher Micah Parsons was moved to different defensive line spots in Week 1 against the Cleveland Browns.
In the second game of the season, with the Cowboys sticking to a base defense, Parsons wasn’t moved around as much. He played both end spots and saw a handful of snaps lined up in the middle of the line of scrimmage.
The ability to move Parsons around limits offenses from doubling him. In the Saints game, Parsons was doubled an unofficial 12 times in 44 defensive snaps.
“At the end of the day, I feel like it should boost people, right?” Parsons said after Wednesday’s practice. “You know, the expectation is like, ‘I’m the person that’s gonna get this slide [protection]. I’m the person who’s gonna get majority of the chips and the double teams and, you know, the harassment.’ So, you know, at the end of the day we trying to expect people to win.”
When Parsons says they expect other people to win, he’s talking about the need for teammates such as DeMarcus Lawrence and Marshawn Kneeland to see and exploit more one-on-one matchups.
“Like, I don’t really think moving around is like that difficult for people because it’s not something we’re not practicing, or we’re not doing,” Parsons said. “This is all practice behavior.”
In the loss to the Saints, defensive end Chauncey Golston was credited with a sack after chasing quarterback Derek Carr out of bounds for a loss of yardage.
The lack of pressure was alarming for the defense, which sacked Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson six times in the opener.
Ravens quarterback Lamar Jackson is considered one of the fastest players at his position so sacking him might be a challenge.
“Yeah, man, at some point, you know, all 11 gotta have the same mind-set, and that’s just toughness, right?” Parsons said. “You talk about who you want to be and all this other stuff, but you gotta go out there and be and it can’t just be one guy, it can’t be two guys. It’s all 11 guys. It takes everyone.”
Find more Cowboys coverage from The Dallas Morning News here.
