FRISCO, Texas — In the days following Dallas' 45-10 win over Washington on Thanksgiving, videos and highlights were posted on social media that put a spotlight on Micah Parsons being held throughout the game despite not receiving one holding call in his favor.
Much like it's been his whole career, Parsons couldn't do much aside from plead with officials throughout the game, but he looks forward to the day that he is able to earn those penalty calls.
"Yeah it's frustrating," Parsons said on Monday. "I kinda wish people saw it the way I do, but I tell the ref if you just look at me the whole time, you don't even gotta look nowhere else. You just look right there and it's right in front of you."
While the emotion does come out when Parsons says he doesn't feel like he's being treated fairly by the officiating, he said that as his career has gone on, he's been able to manage the ups-and-downs much better.
"It kinda gets me on the emotion side because I'm competing, and I'm daring to be great, and I'm challenging these guys, and I know I'm getting the best of them and it may not show up the way I want it to show up," he said. "That definitely bothers me and I'm working on it. Playing it cool, not letting it get the best of me, I think that's been the difference between this year and last year."
Parsons' defensive coaches, defensive line coach Aden Durde and defensive coordinator Dan Quinn, have both been able to help in keeping his confidence high despite the officiating.
"[Durde] is like 'You got to keep going, f— all the other stuff,'" he said. "I'm just like yeah you're right. I just gotta keep going. That's kinda why I've been getting these late game sacks and just trying to survive in here and things like that and I'm going to keep hunting."
His relentless hunting has allowed for not only Parsons to have success in 2023, but the entire defensive line and pass rush unit as a whole with the attention that he draws on a week-to-week basis. Because of that, Parsons is grateful even when he doesn't show up on the stat sheet as a result of opposing offenses keying in on him in their gameplan – holding or not.
"I kind of had to talk to (Aden Durde) and (Dan Quinn), I was like, 'I see what's going on. They're making sure that I don't get started or they're trying to eliminate me from these games,'" he said. "I think they spend a lot of time trying to focalize me, make sure that I get one-on-ones in these game plans, but teams are just like, 'Nah, we don't care what you show, what you do, we're going to eliminate 11.'"
While it has taken some getting used to, Parsons is learning to sacrifice what he has in front of him in order to help the team succeed, which will eventually allow him to have his opportunities open back up.
"I told them, 'Don't be afraid, I get it. Don't be afraid to go to someone else,'" he said. "I think I'm at that point in my career where I understand what they're trying to do and I need other guys to get going so that way it can open it back up for me. It's sacrifice time."
