ARLINGTON, Texas -- Cowboys two-time First Team All-Pro linebacker Micah Parsons has been at or near the top of the 2023 NFL Defensive Player of the Year odds list all season, but he conceded he would be OK if teammate DaRon Bland won the award over him since Bland broke the NFL record for pick-sixes in a season with five.
His reason was simple: witnessing greatness trumps everything.
"I think there's a lot of greatness on this team," Parsons said Monday. "When you get to witness greatness and things that haven't been done before [Bland setting the NFL single-season pick-six record], I think that kind of triumphs any type of personal or small goals that you have in mind, because this is stuff that has never been done before, so I'm still amazed by the greatness. I'm just taking it in. I always say, 'I love greatness in any and every sport.' So right now I'm amazed about DB, and I'm kind of in awe of DB right now."
However, Parsons joined an exclusive club of greatness himself Sunday against the Philadelphia Eagles after recording sack number 12.5 of 2023 in the second quarter. He now has over 12 sacks in each of his first three seasons played, joining Pro Football Hall of Famer Reggie White (1985-1987) as the only players to do so since sacks have been officially tracked, since 1982. Parsons led the NFL with 78 quarterback pressures entering Week 14, and one of his key areas of focus in Year 3 has been not getting annoyed by not drawing a holding penalty every time he feels he is held.
"Yeah, AD [defensive line coach Aden Durde] always brings this up, he's like, 'you got to remember you're Micah f-----g Parsons this shit is going to happen,'" Parsons said last week. "'I was like you right. He's like, 'you got to keep going, f--k all the other stuff.' Stuff like that, I'm just like 'yeah, you're right. I just got to keep going. That's kind of why I've been getting these late game sacks and just trying to survive in here and things like that. I'm going to keep hunting."
