The Cowboys have one of the best pass rushers in the NFL in Micah Parsons, but he never sacked or hit Aaron Rodgers in Sunday’s loss to the Packers, and he often wasn’t even trying to pressure Rodgers on a day when the Cowboys often had Parsons dropping into coverage. That has led to some criticism of their game plan, but not from Cowboys owner Jerry Jones.
Jones said on 105.3 The Fan that the Cowboys headed into the game expecting a run-first game plan from the Packers, and Parsons’ usage was part of the Cowboys’ response to that.
“Micah can be Micah. He can impact the game at any designation, addressing any part of the other team’s game. He can do that. We all know that,” Jones said, via the Dallas Morning News. “But more importantly, we did not think Rodgers was going to throw the ball a lot, and he didn’t. And we did think they were going to run a lot, and they did. That’s how he was deployed and I understand the reasons the he was where he was logistically during the game, and don’t have any issue with that.”
The Cowboys were right that Rodgers didn’t throw a lot: He threw a season-low 20 passes, even though the Packers were trailing for most of the second half and the game went into overtime. It was a run-first game plan from the Packers, and that helped neutralize what Parsons does best.