A few weeks ago, Lane Johnson had to deal with T.J. Watt for a full game and now he’ll have to block Micah Parsons.
Life is tough for an offensive tackle in the NFL.
“Both unique edge rushers,” Johnson said this week. “Micah is so quick and fast. Does a good job of really getting upfield and getting guys turned and making inside moves. Like T.J., one of the best out there.”
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Parsons is playing as well as any defensive player in the league for a team that has won four of its last five games in an otherwise lost season. After missing time earlier this season with injury, Parsons is making up for lost time.
In 11 games this season, Parsons has 9 1/2 sacks and 67 pressures in just 346 pass rushing snaps. His pressure rate of 19.4% is second in the league behind just Danielle Hunter at 19.6%.
To put that pressure rate in perspective, Watt is at 10.2% this season. The Eagles’ leading rusher, Josh Sweat, is at 11.1%.
“Micah looks healthy,” left tackle Jordan Mailata said. “Yeah, man, looking like he’s back to his old self again, wrecking games. Gonna have to have a good plan for him this week.”
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While Mailata will have to be ready for the Pro Bowler, Parsons mostly rushes on the other side of the line, setting up a great matchup against Johnson.
Here’s a look at Parsons’ snaps by side of the line, per PFF:
Left: 390 (65.7%)
Right: 173 (29.1%)
Box: 31 (6.2%)
“You just gotta make sure that he’s not a factor in the game,” Mailata said. “So whatever game plan we come up with this week as a team and whether it’s to limit his capability in the game, that’s what we’ll do. In terms of where he lines up, that is out of our control. It doesn’t matter what they put on tape.”
While Parsons hasn’t played enough to seriously be in contention, he is playing at a Defensive Player of the Year level.
In his last seven games, Parsons has 8 1/2 sacks. That’s the most of any player in that span and 2 ahead of the next closest player in the league.
In general, the Cowboys have been playing well recently. They have won 4 of their last 5 games and their defense has 12 takeaways in that span. When the Eagles crushed the Cowboys 34-6 back in Week 10, it looked like this would be an easy win in the rematch.
That isn’t the case anymore.
“I think they’re playing really well together, really the past two weeks defensively,” Johnson said. “Maybe some hiccups earlier in the year but they’re probably playing their best ball now.”
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