FRISCO, TX — There's no need to state the obvious, but let's do it one more time anyway: the rematch between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles is a high-stakes game that has the potential to send shockwaves throughout the playoff picture atop the NFC East and NFC. It's something linebacker Micah Parsons understands very well, and he's geared up for the fight.
"It's always one of the biggest games in football, if not the biggest," said the First-Team All-Pro. "The intensity is always high, the emotions high, and everyone wants to win. It's a brawl. It's always one where you've got to get the ice bags ready."
As Parsons explained, it's yet another "ice bag" game for the Cowboys, but also for the Eagles, who were roundly beaten into their own dirt at Lincoln Financial Field by the San Francisco 49ers. With that loss, the Cowboys can take the lead in the division by virtue of having one more win in the NFC East than do the Eagles, and draw a very clear line to the top seed in the conference.
FRISCO, TX — There's no need to state the obvious, but let's do it one more time anyway: the rematch between the Dallas Cowboys and the Philadelphia Eagles is a high-stakes game that has the potential to send shockwaves throughout the playoff picture atop the NFC East and NFC. It's something linebacker Micah Parsons understands very well, and he's geared up for the fight.
"It's always one of the biggest games in football, if not the biggest," said the First-Team All-Pro. "The intensity is always high, the emotions high, and everyone wants to win. It's a brawl. It's always one where you've got to get the ice bags ready."
As Parsons explained, it's yet another "ice bag" game for the Cowboys, but also for the Eagles, who were roundly beaten into their own dirt at Lincoln Financial Field by the San Francisco 49ers. With that loss, the Cowboys can take the lead in the division by virtue of having one more win in the NFC East than do the Eagles, and draw a very clear line to the top seed in the conference.
That can only happen if they don't allow the Eagles to sweep them this weekend.
Parsons and the Cowboys understand the assignment, but they won't make the same mistake they made in Week 5 against the 49ers — overhyping the contest while the 49ers played loose and confident en route to a blowout victory.
All that matters right now is this game and, even with everything that's at stake, it's still just another game on the regular season schedule, which is to say it's just another obstacle to overcome on the road to their ultimate goal.
"I feel like it's the same thing, at the end of the day," said Parsons. "Each week you've got to win or it affects your long-term goals. The key is just to win and that's the only thing that matters."
The first matchup ended in a narrow five-point loss to the Eagles in hostile territory that ultimately boiled down to a game of inches, which should invoke confidence in Dallas' ability to get the job done in Week 14; and especially a defense that held Jalen Hurts to little more than 200 passing yards and an A.J. Brown and DeVonta Smith-led receiving corps that, individually, came nowhere near 100 yards receiving — abruptly ending Brown's streak of 125+ yard games.
And after seeing what the 49ers' defense was able to do in Philly, Parsons doesn't see any reason the Cowboys can't replicate that effort in Dallas.
"I watched the whole [49ers vs. Eagles game]," Parsons said. "One thing they did was they kept the ball in front of them. They made the Eagles earn everything. They didn't give up [any] big plays. That's always the key when you've got an explosive team like the Eagles.
"They are very explosive. They did a great job containing Hurts, and things like that. It didn't show up in the stats, but we got some real good rushers over here, too, that [can] get after them pretty well."
After all, it's not as if the Cowboys' defense doesn't practice against an MVP frontrunner and his stable of weapons on a daily basis.
"It's always important — I think I kinda get the best of both worlds anywhere I go," he said of practicing against the Cowboys' offense. "Whether I'm covering and I've got to deal with a guy like [Tony Pollard], and then I've got to deal with CeeDee [Lamb]. I think CeeDee is a Tier-1 caliber receiver. So you obviously got to deal with that, and with [Brandin] Cooks, he's a speed guy and what he's able to bring to the table.
"It's always good-on-good work that's extremely important, and obviously with Tyron [Smith], I think he's the best offensive tackle in the game of football. And you've got Zack [Martin] and Terence [Steele] who do a really good job. Tyler Smith is coming along and playing at an All-Pro level.
"The work that I see and the looks that I get is second to none."
It all lends to Parsons being an inhuman outlier in nearly every category of note this season (and in his prior two as well), and the Cowboys will need him to be every bit of elite against the Eagles; and that includes his presence allowing others to eat as well.
So whether it is sacks, quarterback hurries or both, Parsons feels he's ready to contribute.
"For me, it's all about the progression of the mentality," he said. "Sometimes, you're not going to get sacks. Sometimes, they're going to get it out. It just may not fall into your lap. But just the effort, the motor, can you keep going? Can you not let this faze you??
"For me, that was one of the biggest things: Can I keep going? Can I not be fazed? Can I be unstoppable — un-f*ck-with-able — throughout the whole four quarters??"
It sounds as if he's ready to, again, answer that question when Hurts lands in Dallas.
