Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons made some comments about head coach Mike McCarthy after Sunday’s game that generated a lot of attention.
With Dak Prescott sidelined due to a hamstring injury, the Cowboys suffered a 34-6 blowout loss to the Philadelphia Eagles at AT&T Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Dallas fell to 3-6 in what is looking more and more like a wasted season.
Parsons, who returned on Sunday from an ankle injury, was asked after the game about McCarthy being in the final year of his contract with the Cowboys. The All-Pro pass-rusher said he feels more badly for veterans on the team who are running out of opportunities to contend for a championship than he does for the head coach.
“You know, that’s above my pay grade if Mike is coaching again (in Dallas) next year. All coaching aside, you know, coaching, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants,” Parsons said. “Guys I kinda feel bad for is guys like Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year on their way out. Because that’s who I wanna hold the trophy for. You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and more work than Mike McCarthy ever did. Those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.”
Here’s Micah Parsons speaking about #DallasCowboys coach Mike McCarthy’s future in Dallas: pic.twitter.com/syOFiDj9f6
— Pat Doney (@PatDoneyNBC5) November 11, 2024
The first part of the quote was fine. Parsons was clearly making the point that McCarthy is young by coaching standards at age 61. McCarthy could, in theory, coach for 10 or 15 more years. Martin is 33, so the nine-time Pro Bowl guard is a lot closer to the end of his playing career than McCarthy is to the end of his coaching career.
What Parsons will probably regret saying is that certain players have “put in more time and more work than Mike McCarthy ever did.” That seemed like an unnecessary shot at McCarthy’s work ethic, even if Parsons did not intend for it to be.
On Monday morning, Parsons expressed frustration with the media for twisting his words:
“Loll damm yeah ima just eat the fine for now on! Because the way yall twist words and flip them around for content is nasty work!” Parsons wrote on X. “You would think guys who played and coached the sport would have better journalism!! But I was very wrong!! They trying to use my name image and likeness with dallas cowboys to continue to tear the beautiful organization with drama and bad media attentions! Be better @GetUpESPN.”
Loll damm yeah ima just eat the fine for now on! Because the way yall twist words and flip them around for content is nasty work!
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) November 11, 2024
You would think guys who played and coached the sport would have better journalism!! But I was very wrong!! They trying to use my name image and likeness with dallas cowboys to continue to tear the beautiful organization with drama and bad media attentions! Be better @GetUpESPN
— Micah Parsons (@MicahhParsons11) November 11, 2024
McCarthy will probably be fired after the season. It was known that he was coaching for his job after the Cowboys chose to let him enter 2024 as a lame duck, and the results have been poor. Prescott’s injury has sounded more serious by the day and could not have come at a worse time, but Dallas was already underperforming before the quarterback got hurt.
Even if Parsons did not intend to criticize McCarthy, the comments were not exactly an endorsement of the coach.
