The Dallas Cowboys had been on a nice little run, winning four of five heading into Week 17. However, all those good feelings vanished after an ugly 41-7 loss to a Philadelphia Eagles team playing with their 2nd and 3rd-string QBs. Afterward, Cowboys All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons made a short-sighted comment about the game being closer than it seemed. There was no way Unc and Ocho were going to let that one slide.
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From Parsons’ perspective, the Eagles only had a handful of big plays, which led to the lopsided score. He said that if you “take away the scoreboard, it was about five plays that decided the game.” It’s a pretty strange statement on the face of it, and Shannon Sharpe and Chad “Ochocinco” Johnson had some fun with it on Nightcap.
Ochocinco could barely contain his laughter as Sharpe read out Parsons’ full quote, but did his best to try and comprehend where Parsons was coming from.
“Micah funny. Listen, glass half full… I understand what he’s trying to say. But the delivery, and the context of what he’s trying to say. It don’t fit… It makes no sense, it probably made sense to him, right there in that moment. But I guarantee you, if he goes back, and he listens to it, he’ll be like ‘You know what, I should’ve thought that one through before I said it.'”
Sharpe, on the other hand, was having none of it. He got animated, as he does, explaining why it was a ridiculous statement, stopping himself short by saying “lord have mercy.”
“So, what about your team? You said ‘them’? You only scored seven? So, what happened to that? … Ocho, if the score was 28-27, the score was 28-31, you’ve got a compelling argument. It’s a play here, a play there. Ocho, when you get beat 41-7, they’ve got a whole lot of plays, you’ve got no plays! I could—lord have mercy.”
Ochocinco continued trying to figure out what Parsons was implying, and where he might be coming from. The former six-time Pro Bowler said that Parsons might actually “stand on business” because he believes he’s the only one who can understand what he meant. Once again, the old-school Sharpe was not impressed with the rationalizing.
“Yeah.. that’s what delusion does. A delusional person believes what he sees, what he says, that’s what delusion causes you to do. It’s okay to say ‘Guys, hey, they were just a better team today’. That’s what happens. You play a good team like that, and you don’t take care of your responsibilities, this is what’s possible, 41-7. But to sit there and say, it was just five plays.. I’m confused.”
Earlier in the season, Parsons and the Cowboys received a beatdown from the Jalen Hurts-led Eagles by a score of 34-6. There was no rationalizing then. But after a 41-7 loss to the Kenny Pickett and Tanner McKee-led Eagles, that type of comment came out.
It was peculiar. Especially considering the Cowboys had four turnovers, were out-gained by over 100 yards on offense, didn’t record one sack, allowed 10 plays of 10+ yards on defense, and committed eight penalties. Clearly, it was a lot more than “five plays”.
Dallas will wrap up their season on Sunday against another playoff-bound NFC East opponent, the Washington Commanders. They will hope to finish a disappointing season on a positive note because this is going to be a tough offseason for Jerry Jones and company.
