How did Mike Zimmer challenge Micah Parsons during Cowboys’ five-game slide?
Despite a 3-7 start to the season for the Dallas Cowboys and an outside shot at making any sort of run to the postseason, defensive coordinator Mike Zimmer is still expecting the most out of his players, including three-time All-Pro defensive end Micah Parsons.
Parsons, who has had his leadership put under question multiple times in the last year after missing voluntary workouts in the spring and calling out teammates in media availabilities, is one that Zimmer is expecting more out of with seven games left in the season.
To Parsons’ credit, the young player is responding well to the challenge given by his new defensive coordinator.
“Zim’s talking to me about my leadership and how I need to be better,” Parsons said this week, prior to Sunday’s division game at Washington. “And I love that stuff, because you know it bothers me when I feel like a coach is upset at me. He gave me a challenge, and I’m going to live up to that challenge.”
While Parsons wouldn’t elaborate on what exactly the challenge is, a step up in leadership from arguably the best player on the team is needed at this moment. With quarterback Dak Prescott out for the season, veteran defensive end DeMarcus Lawrence out for at least two more games and noise continuing to surround the job status of his coaches, Parsons’ presence in the locker room has only become more important.
What lies in his hands is to make it a positive presence or a negative one.
“Right now, in this five-game losing streak he gave me a challenge,” he said. “I said, ‘I told you I would do it.’ He said, ‘No you gotta do it the rest of the way.’ So, I’m gonna live up to that challenge. He challenged me, so I always like that from my coaches.”
Zimmer has often compared Parsons to some of the greats he has coached on the defensive side of the ball. From Deion Sanders in the 1990s to Danielle Hunter during his stint in Minnesota, the Cowboys defensive coordinator has high hopes for his star pass rusher.
“He always tells me stories about the great players he had,” Parsons said. “He tells me how I could be one of the best players he had, and the things that I have to do and how I got scratch for every inch of the game I can take from it...But when you got a guy that’s willing to say, ‘Hey man, like I don’t want [bad] for you. I want better for you.’ Then yeah, I’m always going to take that in. It would make me upset and do myself a disservice if I didn’t appreciate that.
Parsons has accounted for three sacks in six games so far this season after missing four contests with a high ankle sprain. In his fourth season, Parsons is expected to negotiate a contract extension with the Cowboys with his rookie deal concluding at the end of the 2025 season.
Zimmer is on a one-year contract as defensive coordinator with the Cowboys.
