Mike McCarthy Sends Warning to Micah Parsons Over Dak Prescott Hit
Dallas Cowboys training camp has been chippy so far, and it's great to see that intensity. But Micah Parsons went way over the line between "intense" and "reckless" earlier this week when he risked seriously injuring Dak Prescott.
Cowboys head coach Mike McCarthy sent out a stern message to Parsons for his blunder, making it publicly clear that it was unacceptable.
Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said the team has addressed no contact allowed with quarterback in practice after Micah Parssons contact Tuesday. “Oh yeah, we’ve talked about that a number of times. That’s all part of the practice ethic plan. He is a No. 1 violator right now.” https://t.co/4SdHhVcJOA
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) August 3, 2023
Cowboys Training Camp News
"You don't touch the quarterback" is Day 1 stuff at a high school training camp, and there's absolutely no excuse for a pro defender to make contact with the quarterback (especially on the lower body) during training camp. Whether he slipped or not doesn't matter — you don't even put yourself in a situation where you could accidentally hit your quarterback like that.
It's also obvious that Dallas makes this message loud and clear. I'm not sure what the team's "practice ethics plan" entails, but you have to imagine "don't risk injuring your teammates" is up there. And even if it's not expressly laid out, "don't risk injuring the franchise quarterback" is the Golden Rule in football.
Of course, I don't believe Parsons was trying to hurt Dak, or that he was even trying to make contact with Dak at all. But that doesn't matter. If Prescott tore his ACL, Parsons' good intentions wouldn't make Cooper Rush any more capable of carrying this team to a Super Bowl.
We've had to tolerate a full 17 Prescott-less games since he was drafted in 2016. While it hasn't been an abject disaster (9-8), this team is one of the favorites to win the NFC and scraping by with a near-.500 record would be unacceptable, especially with our roster's window for contention clearly being focused around the next season or two.
I'm sure Parsons knows the full extent of his error, and Cowboys fans should be happy to see McCarthy taking such a firm stance.
Bonehead move or not, Parson remains the favorite to win Defensive Player of the Year this season, with a big edge over anyone else.
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