ARLINGTON, Texas — It was another dominating effort by the Dallas Cowboys defense on Sunday afternoon in a 43-20 win over the Los Angeles Rams, and it was another productive day for Defensive Player of the Year candidate Micah Parsons.
In the first half, Parsons got to Matthew Stafford for a third down sack that led to a blocked punt on the next play. Later in the half, Parsons had what appeared to be a strip sack before it was overturned to be just a violent hit on Stafford to end yet another drive.
The sack that did count came on a play where Parsons lined up standing over Rams center Coleman Shelton and beat him with a swift one-on-one move before attacking Stafford.
"It's special," Parsons said about the alignment helping him win the sack. "It takes me away from the chip [blocks] and it's about finding ways to create one-on-ones. When I'm freed up one-on-one, I can win that matchup. I definitely know that's not what [opponents] want to see when they look up."
The momentum built with the win on Sunday coming out of the bye will help carry the Cowboys into a big divisional matchup against the Eagles next Sunday. It's a similar script to how the Cowboys blew out New England before going to San Francisco, but this time Parsons feels confident in the team's ability to travel.
"We just can't beat ourselves," he said. "A lot of people said that [San Francisco] was so much better than us, I didn't think so. I thought we beat ourselves and put ourselves in bad opportunities. We didn't get off the field, we gave up big plays that we usually wouldn't give up."
"We gotta do better in away games. Obviously, everyone knows that home-field advantage is a real thing. We gotta keep winning and we gotta keep being consistent. We can't do it one week and not the next. It's gotta be consistent."
Consistency will have the opportunity to be seen in Philadelphia with a good showing against the Eagles. And after Sunday's performance against the Rams, only positivity can be taken from Parsons and the locker room.
"Every week, we're trying to go get a win," Parsons said. "But when you win like we did today, you feel good about it."
