MIAMI GARDENS, Fla. — In the 22-20 loss to the Miami Dolphins, Micah Parsons accounted for seven tackles including a half-sack, but it was the play outside of the box score that drew the attention with missed holding calls and a key roughing the passer penalty in the second quarter that set up Miami's only touchdown.
For Parsons, it's been a battle he has been trying to fight all season, as he hits 38 straight quarters without drawing a penalty for holding – or anything else for that matter.
"It's mind-blowing, the things that are getting called, the positions we get put in," Parsons said. "We just gotta learn to fight the adversity and know a lot of it is BS. It's football plays, but it's the world we live in. We got the star on the helmet."
The roughing the passer penalty saw Parsons hit Miami quarterback Tua Tagovailoa in the back a mere moment after he let go of the ball. He was flagged for the hit, his first roughing the passer penalty all season.
"[The official] said my intent was to punish the quarterback," Parsons said. "But how am I trying to punish him if I'm just trying to sack him? It's not like it's a late hit, I didn't leave my feet. I didn't lead with my head. I don't know how you make that call."
"I got there so quick, how was I supposed to know he got the ball out? It was within a second. I didn't leave my feet. I didn't lead with my head, so I don't know what a roughing the passer is anymore. In reality, I ran into D-Law. We both met at the quarterback. Like I said, it's just hard to play defense."
All in all, while the defense did bend at times, it didn't break until the final play that gave Miami the victory. Against a plethora of offensive firepower weapons, the Cowboys limited the explosive plays, only allowed one touchdown and kept the team in it until the very end.
"I thought we did good," he said. "We didn't give up anything big. They scored one time, a lot of field goals. Coming into the game, I think everybody knew they were going to get big plays and big opportunities with the weapons they have and I thought we did a great job containing them."
While officiating was a hot topic and hurt the defense at times, Parsons took accountability for the loss and what they could have done to enact a different result.
"It's a game of inches," he said. "The game is decided by one or two plays. They won the turnover battle. As a defense, we take accountability because we pride ourselves in getting the ball back and we didn't do a good enough job of that."
