How 'Bout Micah Parsons?

The Packers have the perfect marriage of a once-in-a-lifetime player and a creative scheme

What can you even do with this guy anymore?

It’s telling that the comparisons have mostly stopped. When Micah Parsons came into the league, armed with a ridiculous speed-to-power rush, refined counter moves, and instincts honed playing off the ball in college, everyone rushed to find his NFL analogue. Was he Jason Taylor? TJ Watt? DeMarcus Ware? Holy hell, could this guy be LT?

Parsons has murdered the parlor game. He is a one-of-one, a league-altering monster who can toggle between pass-rushing personas on any given rep. Need him to swoop up the arc like Watt, Parsons has you covered. Want him to crash through someone’s chest like Myles Garrett, he’ll do that too. Looking for a base end to eat up blocks, keep his linebackers clean, and let them hunt, give Parsons a call. How about having someone serve as a jigsaw piece, tilting protections, dropping out into coverage, or sacrificing himself to the needs of a coach’s precious pressure package? Parsons is That Guy™.

You can pick apart any individual player. But looking for flaws in Parsons’ game is chasing ghosts. Sure, certain tier-one rushers are a percentage point or two better at specific things. Garrett has almost 30lbs on Parsons. No one plays with the same force at the line of scrimmage as the Cleveland star. And can you quibble about some hand-placement stuff or Parsons’ over-eagerness in the run-game? I guess. Do those degrees matter? No. It’s the whole of Parsons that makes him a one-of-a-kind; there is no defensive player as well-rounded, who is capable of slotting into any alignment, in any system, winning in so many different ways.

The mix of force, speed, and intellect is stunning.

Ten days after being traded by the Cowboys, Parsons was on the field for the Packers, terrorizing the Lions from his first rep. Dealing with a back injury, Parsons played fewer than 50% of Green Bay’s defensive snaps. But, GOOD GAWD, was his impact immediate and profound. On his very first snap, Parsons bulldozed Penei Sewell. Penei Sewell!

And he never stopped. For 29 snaps on Sunday, we got to see the ideal marriage of player and scheme. Parsons was at his relentless best. Everywhere he went – and he did more everywhere – the Lions made sure they had two (or three) hats on Parsons. He was dominant on his own and created easier matchups for everyone around him.

With Parsons on the field, the Packers conceded minus-two rushing yards in seven plays – compared to 48 yards on 15 plays without Parsons. As a pass-rusher, Parsons chalked up three pressures, all of them meaningful. He helped force a third-and-seven checkdown, an interception, and split a double-team for his first sack as a Packer. The Lions’ offense was poor, their offensive line woeful. But the mere presence of Parsons corrupted a lot of Detroit’s traditional work.

Goff got rid of the ball more than half a second quicker when Parsons was on the field (2.80 seconds) compared to when he was off it (3.36 seconds), despite Parsons being confined largely to third downs — downs where Goff needed to hang onto the ball. On Parsons’s snaps, the Packers sacked Jared Goff three times and coughed up just 2.4 yards a play, the longest gain going for 16 yards.

Betting on Parsons to transform Jeff Hafley’s defense was like getting in on water before the first day. But believing it and seeing it are different things. In a flash, Parsons turned the Packers’ defense from a fun, creative group with upside into a championship-caliber force.