OXNARD, California — Throughout his three seasons with the Dallas Cowboys, Micah Parsons has seen a range of usage. Is he able to increase the number of duties he has to perform? Mike Zimmer looks like he will give it a shot.
During this year’s training camp, Dallas’ most crucial defender has been doing more than just pressure the passer. His workload as a conventional off-the-ball linebacker has risen. That does not imply that he now holds a new principal role. The majority of his effort will still be on the defensive end. However, it will be harder for opposition offenses to find him ahead of every play.
“If you got a guy like that, you’d be foolish not to do special stuff to allow him to help our football team,” noted Cowboys assistant defensive line coach Greg Ellis, pointing out Parsons’ speed similar to that of a wide receiver. “His superiority stems solely from divine aptitude. And with any luck, some of the things we will provide to him will help elevate that even further.
“I call him a wizard, because (he) can really work magic because of (his) ability. He can be in a situation that normally a guy is supposed to get blocked in but because he’s so fast and moves so quickly he finds a way to make that (play) successful. That’s why I call him a wizard.”
Micah Parsons sack pic.twitter.com/OuvO06uBiR
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 3, 2024
Parsons, who is not expected to play in the preseason, has made plays in camp rushing as a defensive lineman, blitzing as an off-the-ball linebacker and stopping run plays and short passes in space.
The defense will probably have to shoulder more of the load if the Cowboys are to be on par with or even better than they were the previous year. More disguises seem to be Zimmer’s largest change from Dan Quinn’s prior defense, starting with Parsons’ usage.
“Their disguise now is insane,” Cowboys WR Jalen Brooks said. “It’s insane. (Quinn) had some disguises, but (Zimmer’s) are pretty good. I gotta give him full credit for that. It’s really good. … It’s a lot of little things.”
The most obvious disguise is moving about Parsons, but it is occurring on the defensive line, linebacker, and secondary levels as well.
“The disguise is real,” Cowboys offensive coordinator Brian Schottenheimer said. “It really is. They mask things well. There are defensive fronts where they show you something to draw your attention and then the pressure is coming from someplace else. And then they’ll do the same thing and you think the pressure is coming from one side and it’s coming from the other side or they’re dropping. He knows how to stress protections.”
In previous coaching jobs, Schottenheimer said facing Zimmer’s defenses in Cincinnati and Minnesota meant the offense had to be excellent at its “trouble series,” which is handling blitzes and different front variations. After practicing against the Cowboys last week, Los Angeles Rams coach Sean McVay mentioned the “great job” Zimmer does mixing things up and how he saw similarities to what Zimmer was doing when he was the Minnesota Vikings’ head coach for eight seasons.
Rams QB Matthew Stafford on practicing against Cowboys DE/LB Micah Parsons pic.twitter.com/Oce7qtvpZg
— Jon Machota (@jonmachota) August 9, 2024
“There’s a lot,” Schottenheimer said. “He does a lot of stuff. You have a solution and he’s got an answer. It’s been great work for us, because last year it was blocking up all of the five down speed rushers. This year, it’s been more of a challenge for us to block up all the different overload blitzes that they have.”
All of it sounds fantastic, but for the improvements to be effective, everyone needs to be in agreement. Prior to adding more on anyone’s plate, Zimmer said he deliberately uses the first week or two of scheduled team activities to lay the groundwork.
“Once I start feeling comfortable about where I think they understand where they’re going to be, then I’ll start a little bit with some of the (disguises),” he said. “We’re just trying to get the offense to have to make some post-snap decisions. Did the protections turn the way we want? Make the quarterback hold the ball just a little bit longer if you can. When the receivers are coming to block, (making it) so they’re not sure if they’re blocking the safety or the corner or whatever it may be.”
Second-year linebacker DeMarvion Overshown was thrilled with what he experienced in his first preseason game playing for Zimmer. He referenced watching the coach with 28 years of NFL experience call the defense in Sunday’s preseason opener without looking at his call sheet.
“Sometimes he was just sitting back, he would see the offense come out, wouldn’t even look at his script and just call a defense,” Overshown said. “And the defense worked. … That’s one of the things I like about Coach Zim, as we’re warming up preseason, he’s doing the same thing. You can just tell how dialed-in he is with everything.”
Under Quinn, the Cowboys possessed a strong defense. They continued to progress from his first season in an even more stunning manner for the next two. They could not ignore a team that led the league in takeaways in 2021 and 2022 and went from allowing 386 yards and 30 points per game in 2020 to 300 yards and 18.5 points in 2023, even though they did not play well in their wild-card defeat to the Green Bay Packers last season.
There is still room for improvement. Eric Kendricks, Trevon Diggs, DaRon Bland, Parsons, and DeMarcus Lawrence are just a few of the standout starters that provide Zimmer with a solid foundation. The gang appears to be fully on board with the modifications. In the following months, it will be intriguing to observe how the new defensive coordinator’s curveballs and changeups affect things.
“I think Zim is very creative,” Parsons said. “Every time in the meeting room he’s being creative, teaching me something new. I think he’s going to create a lot of opportunities for everyone, not just me, the safeties, the linebackers. He’s so inventive on how he wants to use everyone and how he thinks it can work. You can tell his knowledge of being around the game so long is really extraordinary.”
(Photo of Micah Parsons: Ric Tapia / Getty Images)
