Part of the package that comes with being on America's Favorite Team is that you're also America's Most-Talked About Team. Cowboys star Micah Parsons gets that, but he doesn't like what he's hearing.
Following Dallas' Week 6 win over the Chargers on Monday night, Parsons went on his podcast and railed against the mass media, a la Aaron Rodgers.
Parsons admitted he had "nothing to say to the media" this week since he was "tired of people trashing my quarterback" and the Cowboys team as a whole.
Parsons noted that there's a double standard when it comes to talking about the Cowboys, using this past week's Eagles and 49ers losses as examples.
He said on Tuesday, "I just don't condone the bashing of Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys, and [not] have the same energy for the Eagles... We want the same energy for everybody, because there's a whole bunch of bashing when it's Dak Prescott, but not the same when it's the Eagles."
Cowboys star Micah Parsons slams critics for unfair Dak Prescott hate
When the Eagles and 49ers suffered their first losses last week, neither Jalen Hurts nor Brock Purdy were criticized all that much. Hurts threw three picks, but the media hailed the Jets' elite defense. Purdy arguably played the worst game of his career, but the media excused his performance due to Christian McCaffrey's and Deebo Samuel's in-game injuries.
In those topsy-turvy games, Parsons said he wanted critics to "keep the same energy for everybody" and bash the Cowboys' NFC rivals just as much as the Cowboys themselves.
"So why is it that we are just scrubs and we're nobodies that don't deserve to be on the field, and we're just all talk, but there's 100 excuses for these other teams. If y'all just going to hate Cowboys Nation, just say y'all hate Cowboys Nation. But don't sit here and throw shade on us."
Parsons has a point, But respectfully, the "Dak Prescott narrative" is one that has been going on for many years now. The reason it hasn't gone away is largely because Prescott has done nothing to make it go away; he's coming off a 15-pick campaign in 2022 and has four on the year. In the last postseasons, Prescott and the offense struggled against the 49ers twice and continued to fall short of expectations.
Every year, the Cowboys boast a stacked team. Every year, they get knocked out of the playoffs early.
Whereas Hurts (who faced his share of criticism prior to 2022) made it to the Super Bowl last year and Purdy (as a rookie!) helped his team reach the NFC Championship on an unlikely run, Prescott has little more than a few Pro Bowls, a rookie prize, and a compilation of nice throws to his name.
If Parsons wants the media to hold other teams to a similar standard, that's fine. It doesn't change the fact that the Cowboys still have a ways to go to become a legitimate Super Bowl contender.