FRISCO, Texas — Stop me if you've heard this before: Micah Parsons and the Dallas Cowboys will face each other this weekend when the Green Bay Packers come to town for Sunday Night Football. Now that you've officially heard that headline 1,000,001 times, let's get one more player's perspective on it — namely Dak Prescott.
The former longtime teammates will, for the first time in their NFL careers, line up against each other in a regular season contest and that means Prescott won't have the benefit of a red practice jersey to force Parsons into pulling his punches.
So when Parsons said this week that sacking Prescott "will be painful", Prescott's response was a rightfully awkward humor.
"I hope not for me," he said with a laugh. "And I hope he doesn't get to me for one."
That's the thing, though: Parsons will find himself getting the kitchen sink thrown at him by head coach Brian Schottenheimer and offensive coordinator Klayton Adams to try and slow him down and/or throw him off of his game entirely.
"I'm just excited to go and have that match up, but he's got five guys up front, plus tight ends, and running backs that he's got to get through," said the All-Pro quarterback. "Then we'll worry about if he can get to me. It takes all of us to protect, myself included. We all know that. Nothing changes this week.
"He's a hell of a player. We respect that. And he'll have some attention."
Also, don't ask Prescott about closure regarding the blockbuster trade that followed an offseason filled with contentious back-and-forth between Parsons and the team's front office, because he doesn't need any.
"You gotta ask Jerry and Micah," said the three-time Pro Bowler. "To me, the closure happened when the trade happened. As I said, to me, now, it'll just be fun to play against a friend and a great competitor — somebody who I know wants to sack me, so it'll be fun. That [closure] is up to those guys."
National headlines were made when owner and Jerry Jones stated the Cowboys didn't deem it "appropriate" to pay tribute to Parsons, though one would think it a no-brainer that, regardless of how elite Parsons was in a Cowboys' uniform, he played for the organization for just four seasons, regardless of individual accolades earned over that short span of time.
The team doesn't view Parsons in the same air as Emmitt Smith or Ezekiel Elliott, and that's not intended as a slight to the All-Pro pass rusher, but rather a reality check for those asking for a tribute.
Besides, none of that is remotely as important as the Cowboys trying to figure out how to somehow evade a 1-3 start to the season and an 0-6 record against the Packers in Arlington.
That means, for Prescott, the primetime matchup should not be viewed as a one-on-one.
"At the end of the day, it's not Dak versus Micah," he said. "... That's never the headline and never can be. This is the Dallas Cowboys versus the Green Bay Packers, and we've got to go and get a win."
