Getty Cowboys linebacker Micah Parsons at Lincoln Financial Field on November 05, 2023.
Micah Parsons is fed up.
The Dallas Cowboys star pass-rusher took aim at what he called ‘fake analysts’ for their criticism in the aftermath of Sunday’s 31-10 shellacking at the hands of the Buffalo Bills.
“Everyone just waits for the Cowboys to lose,” Parsons said on his podcast, The Edge with Micah Parsons. “I saw multiple analysts, people who are fake analysts, who somehow got jobs on TV, saying ‘there goes your boy, oh there he is, that’s the person we’ve been waiting for.’
“It’s almost to the point where it’s almost sick. Former players are waiting for other current players to fail, so they have something to talk about. It’s not even to just get into names, I mean, I feel like at this point you kind of know who you are.”
Micah Parsons responds to analyst takes after Cowboys’ 31-10 loss 👀
(via The Edge with @MicahhParsons11)
There are many former players, and sports debate shows on television that Parsons could have been singling out.
However, former All-Pro tight end Rob Gronkowski offered what may be the most scathing criticism of the Cowboys, when he suggested immediately after the game on FOX that Dallas is “not a mentally tough football team.”
“When you’re a team and you can’t go on the road and win a big game in a hostile environment with weather that isn’t on, you know, on your side, isn’t in your favor, it means you’re not mentally tough and the Dallas Cowboys are not a mentally tough football team,” Gronkowski said, according to Fox News. “That being said it has been shown last year in the playoff. It has been shown the year before in the playoffs.”
It is clear that Parsons is privy to the criticism, and is pushing back.
“Why do you want a person to lose so bad?” Parsons lamented. “It’s almost like some people are just waiting for people to fail.”
Micah Parsons on Cowboys’ Road Woes
If the Cowboys’ blowout loss to the Bills showed anything, it is how vulnerable Dallas is away from the friendly confines of AT&T Stadium.
In major tests against fellow playoff contenders, the Cowboys fell to the Eagles in Philadelphia, the 49ers in Santa Clara, and the Bills in Buffalo. Then there’s the inexplicable loss to the Cardinals, in Arizona.
Even though the Cowboys currently lead the NFC East, barring a 49ers collapse, there’s a pretty good chance Dallas is going to need to go on the road at some point during the postseason.
“Honestly, it’s unacceptable at this point,” Parsons told reporters, via NFL.com. “There’s no excuse for it. It’s mind-boggling and I don’t understand why we’re not playing well, and why we’re not coming together on the road. We’ve something we need to look at and get better at, because we’re back on the road next week.”
Mike McCarthy on James Cook Outburst
The Bills, and running back James Cook absolutely gashed the Cowboys in Week 15.
Cook ran roughshod over Dallas, exposing a potential flaw in the Cowboys’ defense’s inability to play from behind when teams can commit to the running game to shorten the game and extend drives.
However, Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy doesn’t believe the Bills wrote any sort of blueprint for how to beat his team.
“They got on our edge a bunch,” McCarthy told reporters postgame. “I know [defensive coordinator Dan Quinn] and the guys were very impressed throughout the week. They performed that way. They broke contain, they broke tackles, they won the bend-back battle. They were better at it today.”
Cook rushed for 179 yards with a touchdown against the Cowboys.
Beginning on Christmas eve against Raheem Mostert, De’Von Achane and the explosive Miami Dolphins, the Cowboys’ run-defense is going to need to be far stingier than it was in Buffalo.