Micah Parsons speaks out on pressure of being a Cowboy

There’s perhaps no greater pressure cooker in the NFL than being a member of the Dallas Cowboys.

Once known as “America’s Team” thanks to a stint from 1971-95 that saw the Cowboys win five Super Bowls, Dallas nowadays seems like a team expected by most onlookers to fail.

It’s the team that people love to hate, and when it’s criticized, it’s criticized loudly.

There are different expectations in Dallas than there are in Jacksonville, for instance. Some of that is the history. Some of it comes from owner Jerry Jones, who has consistently pointed to a championship as the bar.

“You’d have to be blind to say that you don’t have expectations wearing a star,” star pass rusher Micah Parsons told beat writer Jon Machota on Thursday, addressing the criticism that he and the Cowboys have taken over the past few seasons. “That’s why I say there’s a delusion factor. They say it’s OK not to win or act like those losses don’t hurt or don’t matter. That’s delusional to me. Because it’s earned.”

Micah Parsons was asked today about how much of the scrutiny he gets is because the Cowboys’ lack of success: “I get a lot. But you know, scrutiny is because you earn scrutiny. It’s the expectations. You’d have to be blind to say that you don’t have expectations wearing a star.… pic.twitter.com/b4U0DxsOSh

— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 1, 2024

Parsons went on to explain that not only does the Cowboys fanbase expect Super Bowls, but it’s an expectation from the ground up within the organization.

That doesn’t mean all criticism is fair criticism, though.

“It just hurts me when they think I don’t try to win,” Parsons said. “That’s the part that hurts me, because people don’t know how much I love this game and what I put into the game just so we can win. That’s the part that hurts me the most, when people have this thing or idea that players aren’t trying.”

Parsons and even the Cowboys as a whole have rarely shied away from the expectations, but they’ve certainly not lived up to them, either.

Dallas has been 12-5 over the past three years but the Cowboys have been bounced early in the Wild Card round in two of the past three campaigns. Last season, despite being a heavy favorite against the young Green Bay Packers, they lost at home, 48-32.

“The reality is, sometimes you are out-coached, sometimes you are out-schemed,” Parsons said. “Sometimes people have the answers for what you dial up, and there’s nothing you can do. And the game plan you thought they were going to come out in, they come out different. That’s the reality of the NFL. It is physical. You need speed, you need strength, all that stuff. But so much of it is mental, IQ.”

The Cowboys haven’t made it to the NFC Championship game since 1995 — when they won their last Super Bowl.

Parsons and Co. will take another stab at breaking that streak this fall.