FRISCO, Texas — As it stands, Brian Schottenheimer is batting 1.000 in his offseason predictions regarding Micah Parsons, having correctly predicted the all-world pass rusher would attend the start of voluntary workouts and, eventually, training camp — the next swing at the plate arriving when the Dallas Cowboys take on the Philadelphia Eagles on Sept. 4.
Schottenheimer continues to echo his statement of confidence made two weeks ago when he noted he "feels like Micah is going to be out there against Philadelphia" when the regular season gets underway on Thursday Night Football.
"I haven't changed my tune on the way I feel," said Schottenheimer just nine days ahead of the opener at Lincoln Financial Field.
The sentiment is shared by leaders within the locker room, including fellow All-Pros Dak Prescott and Trevon Diggs, the latter clearing the air regarding Parsons’ mindset recently.
As the contractual stalemate rolls along, new controversy was sparked when Parsons was seen briefly and casually laying on the training table during the Cowboys' preseason finale against the Atlanta Falcons. Though it was only for a short time, it stole headlines, with many outside the building questioning the optics of his body language.
Schottenheimer addressed this as well, though.
"Micah and I had a long conversation," he said. "We probably talked for about an hour about a lot of different things, and addressed a number of different issues. At this point, I'm going to keep that between him and I, but we had a very, very good conversation."
With that, the compass turns back to Parsons' availability to start the season, the four-time Pro Bowler having cited his reason for sitting out of practice as back tightness; Schottenheimer detailing the "mostly clean" results of the latest MRI that should allow Parsons to begin practicing.
And the Cowboys' head coach would like to see that occur sooner than later, the next practice scheduled for Friday. While it's unknown how many practices Parsons would need to knock off any potential rust, and to guarantee he's in football shape, Schottenheimer pointed at the willingness to be present with the team at every step in training camp does help the situation.
"That's always the story — it's different for everybody," he said of Parsons. "The fact he's been here gives him a little bit of a leg up in the fact he knows the defense. That could be a completely different story if he wasn't. At the end of the day, we want him out there as soon as possible.
"When he's feeling up to it, and all those things, is a big factor into it. Every day he could get out there and get reps would be great, but I do think strongly that him being around — doing the walkthroughs and things like that — does help. There's communication. There's signals that come from the sidelines and communication from player to player that he's getting.
"But the best way to get good at football is to play football. So I would say 'as soon as possible' would be the desired effect."
Additionally, it's key to note that should Parsons return to practice and/or be on the field come early September, any plan that would see him playing a maximum amount of snaps won't be accepted by Schottenheimer and the Cowboys.
It simply wouldn't be wise, all things considered.
"As soon as he can get out there will be great, but there will be a ramp up plan for him," Schotteheimer said. "When he lines up out there to play, do I think he'll play 75 plays, every play, probably not. I don't think that's real. I do think he can be very disruptive [though], as we all know."
In other famous words of Karrion Kross: tick tock.
