Troy Aikman loves him some Parsons, says Cowboys defense ‘should be getting a lot more credit’

Entering the 2021 season everyone assumed the Dallas Cowboys were going to be fantastic on offense, especially with Dak Prescott back healthy. After two games, however, it’s the Cowboyss defense that’s been turning heads with how they’ve stepped up to complement the offense despite dealing with injuries and COVID issues.

Hall of Fame quarterback and Cowboys legend Troy Aikman recently made an appearance on The Musers on 96.7FM/1310 AM The Ticket to talk about what he’s seen so far from his former team. Although it’s a small sample size, Aikman believes that the defense in Dallas, which many felt would be a liability, should get more kudos for what they’ve done so far.

“What I’ve seen is kind of what I had thought going in was that there would be a much better defense and considering what they have on the offensive side of the ball, that it would be a complimentary piece, which is what most teams are looking for,” Aikman said. “If they’re great on defense, they’re looking for that on offense. There are a few teams like Tampa, that are really good on both sides of the ball. The way the defense played on Sunday and what they’ve done the last two weeks and creating the takeaways — that’s always been a little bit of a problem — has really helped them. This defense probably should be getting a lot more credit.”

Although the Cowboys lost a nail-biter in the season opener to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, their defense intercepted Tom Brady twice and forced two fumbles. Last Sunday against the Los Angeles Chargers, the turnover party continued as the Cowboy’s defense got two interceptions off of Justin Herbert.

Through two games, the Cowboy’s defense leads the NFL with six turnovers. After finishing 31st against the run in 2020 the Cowboys are currently eighth so far this season at 73.5 yards per game. They’re 31st against the pass but that should improve just based on the fact that they won’t be seeing quarterbacks the caliber of Brady and Herbert every week.

Micah Parsons has been a breath of fresh air not only to the Cowboys defense but the entire team. Dallas appeared on Hard Knocks and the world got to see Parsons’ personality and his passion for the game, which Aikman gushed over.

“I love the guy. He’s a great player from what I’ve seen already,” Aikman said. “I hate to use that term early in his career. We got to know him through Hard Knocks and you know typically we don’t, we just see a helmet and a number and whether or not the guy’s playing. But with him, we got to kind of see behind the face mask and see a guy who loves the game, he’s got a personality that I think energizes a locker room.”

Two examples stood out in regards to Parsons’s personality and love for football on the HBO special. As the Cowboys prepared for preseason action, Parsons let one of his defenses coaches know about his mentality when it comes to the game of football during practice.

“The lion is always hungry,” Parsons said.

Moments after that, Parsons would make an interception, and starting quarterback Dak Prescott had this to say about what he had seen from the young stud up until that point.

“I see you, 11,” Prescott said. “He’s good. He’s a good football player.”

Aikman praised the Cowboys for selecting him although they already had established but young veterans at the position.

“He’s one of those young players, not that the Cowboys are that old, but I think that you get a group of rookies that come in — and there’s hopefully one or two in each class, but that’s not always the case — that brings some energy that just gets everybody else going,” said Aikman.

“For a young guy his personality is that and now his play has shown that this guy could be really, really special. We may look back on this one and say ‘wow how fortunate were the Cowboys that they didn’t have one of those corners.’ And then you got to credit the Cowboys for, you look at the linebacker room and there’s Leighton Vander Esch — I know they didn’t pick up his fifth-year option — you got Jaylon Smith, and you’ve got these different guys that are in there and what exactly is that going to look like, and yet the Cowboys still kind of clouded that room up a little bit by taking a guy like Micah Parsons but he was the best player on the board. So kudos to them for that.”

Parsons is off to a fast start in his first two games. He’s been credited with nine tackles (one tackle for loss), a sack, five quarterback hits, and a pass defended. In Week 2, his eight pressures were tied for the most by any defender and were the most by a rookie since Nick Bosa in 2019 according to Pro Football Focus. His 90.8 pass-rush grade last week was second for all defensive players and his 11 pressures on the season are the most by any rookie.

It’s early, but Parsons is showing that he was the right pick for the Cowboys and that he is the new leader of their defense.

List

Cowboys News: Gregory back from COVID list, 2 defensive linemen likely out vs Philly

Like this article?

Sign up for the Cowboys Wire email newsletter to get our top stories in your inbox every morning

An error has occured

Please re-enter your email address.

Thanks for signing up!

You'll now receive the top Cowboys Wire stories each day directly in your inbox.