Before Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys were viewed widely as an NFL playoff team. Maybe even a Super Bowl competitor. Surely, they were at least in the picture as an NFC threat.
After a 42-10 loss to the San Francisco 49ers? Pfft, are we even sure this squad is getting out of the Wild Card round?
Micah Parsons still thinks so...
Micah Parsons postgame comments appear to shift plenty of blame on coaching staff
After the game, dynamic defensive star Micah Parsons had a surprising statement. Here's the Tweet as told by Michael Gehlken, but the rub is that Parsons thinks the Cowboys are still more talented than the Niners.
Was he... at the same game we all watched on television?
The Cowboys are clearly still a good team with strong bones, Parsons is not wrong about that. But they are ultimately in another stratosphere than the 49ers entirely, which is why they looked so outmatched on Sunday night. The Niners had more than triple the amount of first downs the Cowboys had. If anything other than the score says it all, that stat should.
We'll learn a lot more in a few weeks when the Cowboys take on the still-undefeated Philadelphia Eagles as far as where Dallas truly sits in its conference and division.
Dissecting that quote a bit further, though, if Parsons truly believes the Cowboys are more talented than San Francisco, he must implicitly be saying it came down to execution. In his media scrum postgame, he did make it clear there were some execution issues that came down to how players played on the field, but so much of this has to do with the preparation and game-planning as well.
Parsons may not have meant it this way, but his comments shift plenty of the burden to the coaching staff, whether that be Mike McCarthy, who is calling plays on offense this year, or Dan Quinn coordinating the defense.
Ultimately, after a 32-point loss to a team you're supposed to be running lock-step with, everyone needs to take some blame.
