Two weeks in a row, the Dallas Cowboys’ defense has been suboptimal. Both the New Orleans Saints and Baltimore Ravens have put together dominating performances inside AT&T Stadium. Derek Carr shined early in Week 2 while the two’s run game was unstoppable at certain points of the game.
Nobody has been more upset with the Dallas execution than Micah Parsons. On Tuesday, he doubled down on calling out the defense, saying it’s time for them to rise to the occasion. The message has certainly been sent during meetings — now, the results need to show up on the field Thursday night against New York.
“It’s very hard to tell because everyone was nodding their head like, ‘Yeah, we all agree.’ But at the same time, it’s not (showing) out on the field,” Parsons said via Jon Machota of The Athletic.
“I feel like as a competitor, at some point you got to be prideful enough to say, ‘I’m not going to allow this to happen to me.’ I just feel like some people are just allowing them to keep getting smacked in the face. When are you going to stand up?”
From the outside, the defensive tackle position has been a weak point for Dallas. Opposing offensive lines are having their way with interior players when handing the ball off to their running backs. However, Parsons and somebody like Demarcus Lawrence are not producing at a high clip either.
Parsons does not feel the need to single anybody out, though, even if the showing is not up to the standard. He is not wired to call people out when going through tough times.
“I just feel like I’m not there yet to go to someone, because it’s hard to just blame one particular person for one thing,” Parsons said. “I don’t think that’s right.”
The Giants showed life for the first time on Sunday, getting a win against Cleveland — similar to Dallas. Quarterback Daniel Jones threw for 236 yards and two touchdowns, both of which were to rookie wide receiver Malik Nabers. A nice breakout game for the first-year player set to go up against Trevon Diggs.
Parsons has to know Devin Singletary will receive some carries too as New York attempts to go right at Dallas’ major flaw. Message has been delivered over the past few days and now, the defense must go out and execute against a major NFC East rival.
