WATCH: 'I Defy Gravity': Cowboys Micah Parsons, Trevon Diggs, CeeDee Lamb Star at Pro Bowl
FRISCO - Two things about Micah Parsons and "confidence.''
One, he doesn't lack for any.
Two, he has a clever way of putting it on display.
It happened again all week and then Sunday at the Pro Bowl, a "game'' his NFC team "lost,'' 41-35.
And it happened for teammate Trevon Diggs as well.
Playing in his first career Pro Bowl, Dallas cornerback Diggs a got his chance to play wide receiver, a way to show off the ball skills that got him his NFL-best 11 interceptions. And he got to do while guarded by his brother, Bills wide receiver Stefon Diggs of the AFC.
Trevon didn't make a catch; in fact Stefon scored a TD in the game and taunted Trevon during the play. But receiver CeeDee Lamb did make four catches for 41 yards. (Bryan Anger didn't punt.)
A latest example from the Dallas Cowboys rookie Parsons, who first took the NFL by storm in the 2021 season as he helped lead his club to a 12-5 regular-season record and has spent the week in Las Vegas doing the same at Pro Bowl festivities?
Asked to explain his ability to do things at 6-3, 250 pounds like win a Pro Bowl sprint competition, Micah replied, "I defy gravity.''
Hey, it ain't braggin' if it's true.
Parsons was at the Pro Bowl in Las Vegas this week saying all the right things, including offering comment on his No. 1 memory of his first NFL season.
“I’m going to remember,'' Micah replied, "that we lost in the first round.”
Ouch.
But a good "ouch.''
And then, in addition to saying the right things - including his pregame remarks on how hard he would play (to the point the Pro Bowl would be "so mad'' at him) as a tribute to the late Washington star Sean Taylor, who did just that at the Pro Bowl - he did all the right things. ...
This is supposed to be a semi-non-tackling game. But Micah pushed that envelope and was credited with eight tackles against the AFC, plus a strip sack of Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
The Cowboys' 2021 sack leader with 13, Micah was used all over the field, just as coordinator Dan Quinn does with him in Dallas.
Parsons is simply too competitive to go anything but "hard.''
The most competitive and most successful NFL players will tell you that losing is supposed to hurt, that it's the pain that drives the athlete to winning.
In Micah's case, he has other options for answers. He could’ve pointed out the excellence he put on display in a first NFL season that will place the Penn State product and first-round NFL Draft pick at the top of his class when he wins NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year, and right up there, too, when he gets votes for NFL Defensive Player of the Year.
He could also lean on his recent do-gooder activity, as Parsons is helping send a military vet to the Super Bowl.
There were positives, lots of them, for this 2021 team and this rookie, who had 84 combined tackles, 30 quarterback hits, 20 tackles for loss, 13 sacks and three forced fumbles. But his most important acquisition in his rookie season?
To listen to Micah Parsons, it's the emotional scar tissue that is being built up from having lost. And he cannot run away from that ... though as a big man able to run a 4.3 40, he can almost run away from it.
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