Micah Parsons is off to a great start in green and gold. Through two games, he has 10 pressures, 1.5 sacks, a 25% pass-rush win rate, and a 90.2 PFF pass-rush grade. His eight pressures against the Washington Commanders on Thursday night were the most in a single game by any Green Bay Packers player since Rashan Gary in Week 17 of 2023.
The stat sheet and tape reveal how dominant Parsons has been. His first sack in Green Bay was a perfect example. He started on the edge, attacked the B-gap, then chased Jared Goff to the sideline for the takedown.
According to Next Gen Stats, Parsons hit 18.47 mph on that play. Meanwhile, no other player on the field even reached 16 mph. It felt like watching Animal Planet — Goff was the unsuspecting gazelle, Parsons was the lion, and everyone in the stadium knew how that play was going to end. The only thing missing was David Attenborough narrating as Parsons finally got his prey.
Parsons was responsible for the pressure that led to Evan Williams’ interception. His rush forced Goff to throw before he was ready, and Williams stepped in to make the pick.
After the game, Matt LaFleur raved about the play.
“It looked like a speed of light, a shooting star coming out of the sky and closing ground fast,” he said.
It does not matter if an offense tries to double-team him because Parsons still finds a way to get to the quarterback. Against the Commanders, he battled the center and left guard, still managing to pressure Jayden Daniels, forcing him to reset his feet and throw an incompletion.
Parsons’s ability to disrupt a play in a split second is tremendous. Daniels dropped back to pass, but Parsons was in his face almost instantly. Daniels had no choice but to turn into a runner. That was a pass play dead from the start.
There are also some things that don’t show up on the stat sheet. Parsons exploded off the edge, split the right tackle and right guard, and steamrolled the running back as if he was barely in the way.
Parsons added half a sack on the day on a play where he forced the right tackle to commit a hold. He was instantly in Daniels’ face, forcing him to step up in the pocket, only to run right into Edgerrin Cooper, who shared the sack with him.
His impact has gone beyond his own production. Gary is already up to nine pressures this season, matching his total through nine weeks of 2024. Lukas Van Ness has five pressures, equaling his total from the first two months of last season. Meanwhile, Devonte Wyatt has 11 pressures, just one shy of the total he posted in his first seven games of 2024.
Defensive line coach DeMarcus Covington deserves a lot of credit for the resurgence of Green Bay’s pass rush. These guys are winning their one-on-one matchups far more often than they did last year. However, part of the credit belongs to Micah Parsons and his ability to command constant attention as the offense’s No. 1 threat, which creates more opportunities for everyone else to make plays.
Meanwhile, Parsons has been on a snap count while dealing with a back injury. Just imagine what he and the defense could do if he were fully healthy and taking a heavier workload. Even so, he has been nothing short of an exceptional pickup by Brian Gutekunst.
While the early results have been incredible, Parsons’ greatest value is how he can maximize the defense over the long run. Still, Packers fans have every reason to believe things are only going to improve as the season progresses.
