Former Dallas Cowboys star linebacker Micah Parsons will return to AT&T Stadium for the first time on Sunday, before a trade before the regular season.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones allowed tribute videos for past Dallas star players who returned after changing teams. That included former running backs Emmitt Smith and Ezekiel Elliott. However, Jones sees it as quite different for Parsons, who left amid an offseason-long contract standoff before the Cowboys (1-2) sent him to the Green Bay Packers (2-1).
“I don’t think that’s appropriate this way,” Jones told reporters on Monday via The Dallas Morning News. “Emmitt [Smith] was a different story. That’s not to diminish Micah. I think Micah has enough welcome out there, and we just need to show that we’ve got antidotes for that.”
Dallas traded one of the top players in the league last minute and within the NFC when a contract agreement couldn’t be reached. Parsons was present at Cowboys training camp, but he didn’t participate amid the contract dispute.
The Cowboys drafted Parsons with the No. 12 pick out of Penn State in 2021, and he became one of the team’s biggest stars over the past four years. Parsons earned All-Pro honors in three of his four seasons, and he made the Pro Bowl every year.
With the Cowboys, he tallied 256 tackles, 52.5 sacks, 112 quarterback hits, four fumble recoveries, nine forced fumbles, and nine pass deflections in 63 career games. The Packers have slowly eased him in due to injury, but Parsons has been productive in three games with 1.5 sacks, five tackles, and six quarterback hits.
Dallas’ defense hasn’t been the same, amid 92 points surrendered in three games, and the Cowboys gave up 397.67 total yards of offense per game in that span. The Cowboys currently have the league’s worst passing defense.
“What you want is what we’re going to do about it,” Jones told 105.3 the Fan on Tuesday. “There’s not much argument as to what we didn’t do well that resulted in the loss. There’s not a lot of conversation about that other than how can we, this coming week and the three days of practice, how can we basically address it personnel wise, scheme wise.”
Cowboys Defense in Dire Straights
Dallas had no answers in Week 3 against the Chicago Bears as second-year quarterback Caleb Williams looked like the generational talent many considered him. Williams torched the Cowboys secondary for 298 yards and four touchdowns as he completed 67.9% of his passes. Despite that, the Cowboys at least held the Bears to 87 yards rushing on 29 attempts.
“The play on the front didn’t match what we were doing in the back,” Jones said. “A zone defense is a safe defense, it should allow, when played right, shorter gains but not big plays.”
“If you do a zone defense and you limit your rush by number then that’s the perfect storm against you,” he added. “You got to be able to stop explosive plays. When you don’t have it, you have to make adjustments.”
Jerry Jones Not Primed to Make a Defensive Coaching Change
Jones didn’t want to jump on the bandwagon for making personnel changes, however. Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus has been under fire of late.
“I think it’d be unfair, not to me, but to you, to answer that way as though it’s a policy,” Jones said. “It is not anything. It is just that I really like our coaching staff, and they’re really outstanding teachers. They know what they’re doing…” Jones said.
Cowboys’ Jerry Jones Reveals Micah Parsons Tribute Decision