FRISCO, Texas – The Dallas Cowboys drafted 11 rookies, and all are on the active 53-man roster to start the 2021 regular season. With the Cowboys facing seven-time Super Bowl champion quarterback Tom Brady, the main headline is focused on the prolific player under center for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Cowboys’ defensive first-year players Micah Parsons and Osa Odighizuwa will stare across the line of scrimmage at Brady on Thursday at Raymond James Stadium. The matchup will serve as a true test for the young pair.
With Neville Gallimore’s injury (elbow dislocation), Odighizuwa will be the starting three-technique. He has taken first-team defensive reps in Gallimore’s absence and will play a pivotal role against the Buccaneers in containing Brady in the pocket. His swim move has caused fits for blockers throughout camp and will be instrumental in gaining leverage on Tampa Bay’s interior offensive linemen.
“Get him off the spot and his passer rating goes down by a lot, so our role is super important this week as far as getting after him and rushing our butts off,” Odighizuwa described.
In his first game action, going up against the greatest quarterback of all time can be daunting but this is the premier meeting that players have worked the entirety of their careers for. Thursday will serve as the first comprehensive look at first-year defensive coordinator Dan Quinn’s scheme. Game planning for the offense that came out victorious in Super Bowl LV seven months ago is no simple task. Both Odighizuwa and Parsons will be critical in shutting down Tampa Bay’s explosive vertical attack featuring Mike Evans and Chris Godwin.
Parsons, the Cowboys 12th overall selection in April’s draft, is the team’s swiss army knife. At Penn State, he primarily lined up as a weakside linebacker in Brent Pry’s 4-3 base scheme. Parsons exclusively played on the ball, dominating near the line of scrimmage with his athleticism and burst through gaps. He terrorized quarterbacks and limited ball carriers from breaking past the second level with instinctive tackles. There was minimal off-the-ball coverage displayed on film from his days in blue and white, but the Cowboys had a vision for Parsons and took a shot.
Now, the staff is forming the defense around his versatile skillset. Parsons is lining up everywhere: from over the center to on the edge as a 3-4 outside linebacker. He has taken snaps at the Sam (strongside), Mike (middle), and Will (weakside) linebacker spots on and off the ball. Parsons has been effective in rushing the passer and dropping back to cover tight ends, receivers, and running backs out of the flat.
Given his heavy workload, Parsons has been meeting one-on-one with Dan Quinn to accelerate his acclimation to the speed of the NFL.
“Coach Quinn brings me in, and we just go through some calls, what would I do right here, how we’re going to line up and things like that,” Parsons said. “So that way I’m just getting a head start on just thinking a little bit better and playing faster and I can get everybody lined up and knowing what I’m doing out there. We’re just working on muscle memory and word play, that’s all.”
The additional instruction will come into play in facing the defending Super Bowl Champs. Parsons opted out of the 2020 season at Penn State and Thursday will be his first debut in two years on the gridiron. This week, a focused in mindset has been Parsons’ priority as he gears up to don the Star.
“Right now, my mindset, everything is just going up one,” Parsons noted. “I got to be locked in just a little bit more. I just got to play a little bit better out here at practice. I’ve got to do everything right so I’m going in Week 1 feeling my best and I’m not thinking. I’m just gonna play fast.”
