Micah Parsons will not play when the Dallas Cowboys visit the Green Bay Packers on Sunday night, and he says he is fine with that. The edge rusher used this week’s episode of his podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons,” to push back on the idea that his first meeting with his former team should set his return date.
“I don’t care about the team I left or the team they think I want my revenge against,” Parsons said. “I don’t need revenge. I just need two healthy knees to do what I love to do.”
“It’s not just the ACL”
Parsons is still working back from the torn ACL he suffered late last season. He said the long runway is not about the repaired ligament itself but about everything around it, and he framed the plan as protection against the setbacks that tend to follow a rushed comeback.
“What a lot of people don’t figure out is it’s not just the ACL,” he said. “It’s like, why did the ACL happen? What was weak? Because it all works together. It’s a chain.” He pointed to players around the league who have returned from major injuries and then lost time to groin, core-muscle or ankle problems. “What’s the point of getting me back for four weeks, and then next thing you know, my groin bothering me, now I have a core muscle [injury], now I’m missing [time]?”
He also made it clear that the delay is about the details, not about a setback. “If the Super Bowl was this week, I’m playing in the Super Bowl,” Parsons said. “But it’s just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first.”
No revenge game
Since the trade that sent him from Dallas to Green Bay after his contract talks with the Cowboys broke down, Week 6 has been circled as the obvious return date. Parsons said that storyline was never his.
“So many people wanted me to be back for that game to make the game bigger than what it was,” he said. “It’s just another Sunday Night Football game against two good teams. It’s not about me. I think that probably let people down. ‘Oh, Micah, he’s gonna wanna be back for the Dallas game.’ No, I’m in that phase of life where I just wanna be healthy again. That’s it.”
Even without him on the field, the Packers say Parsons is still shaping the defense. Defensive coordinator Jonathan Gannon called him “an energy giver” on Tuesday.
Where his return stands
Parsons remains on the reserve/physically unable to perform list, and Green Bay has not opened his 21-day practice window. Adam Schefter reported Monday that the Packers did not expect him back at practice this week, which rules him out against Dallas. The club has said it wants him fully healthy for the back half of the season rather than partly healthy now.
The Packers have played well without him, routing the Chicago Bears 31-7 in Week 5. The Cowboys, 2-3 after their Thursday night loss to Tampa Bay, visit Lambeau Field on Sunday, October 18, at 8:20 p.m. EDT. The next sign of a Parsons return will be the Packers opening his practice window.
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