A 'Sigh Of Relief' For Eagles With No Micah Parsons

PHILADELPHIA - Make no mistake, there was a significant sea change for the Eagles when it comes to game-planning for the Dallas Cowboys.

Ever since Micah Parsons arrived in Dallas as the No. 12 overall pick in the 2021 NFL Draft and quickly developed into a whirling dervish of a pass-rusher, any time the Cowboys showed up on the schedule, mission No. 1 for the Eagles became dealing with No. 11.

In theory, the post-cutdown practices the Eagles had last week in advance of Thursday night's NFL season opener against the Cowboys gave Nick Sirianni, Kevin Patullo, and Co. a head start on that mission.

By Thursday of last week, those plans changed when mercurial Dallas owner Jerry Jones waived the white flag on his relationship with his best player, sending Parsons to the Green Bay Packers for two first-round picks and veteran defensive tackle Kenny Clark.

“You don’t get too wrapped up in that except for some of the things you’re doing with the game plan,” Sirianni said Sunday when asked about the Parsons trade. “But also understanding that they have a lot of good players over there and getting ready for those guys and shifting your attention to that.”

While there was never a guarantee that Parsons would play in Week 1 without a new deal from Jones, the Eagles had to prepare like the superstar was playing, and throwing those plans in the circular file surely wasn't met with disappointment.

In fact, star left tackle Jordan Mailata called Parsons filing a change of address form a “sigh of relief” after practice Sunday.

A Sigh Of Relief

“It changes a lot,” Mailata admitted. “[No.] 11 is a pretty good ... player. We always have protection plans built in for great players, and so now [we] just got to figure out, with the players they have on defense, how can we stop them?

"... The last four or five years that we've played the Dallas Cowboys, we've come up with a game plan because Micah's a gamer. It is a sigh of relief that you don't have to plan like that anymore.

Baked into those words, even though the Eagles are smart enough to not say it, is that the protection plan gets easier.

The Cowboys will now go about things differently on defense with new coordinator Matt Eberflus, who was a member of Frank Reich's coaching staff in Indianapolis, along with Sirianni.

“He’s evolved, and we’ve evolved, so it’s been a while since we’ve been in the same building every single day,” Sirianni said . “I know that he is always going to have those guys playing hard. He is always going to have those guys coming after the football. Those are things that I see on tape in the preseason and things that I know that he’ll really focus on.

“But there are differences with the schemes on both sides of the ball. Some of those conversations that we would have a lot of in the offseasons, asking him questions about a team that we might be playing, you don’t look too much into that, especially after the time away that we’ve had from each other. But I do think he’s a really good football coach.”

Mailata emphasized how good Clark has been in the NFL as a run-stopper, adding to a pass-rushing group that will still feature double-digit sack artist Dante Fowler and talented DT Osa Odighizuwa.

“That is a talented D-line and a challenging defense," Mailata said. "You've got to treat them with the same respect, with or without Micah Parsons. They've got Kenny Clark there. He's been in the league a long time. He's a great bloody player. So, now we've got to figure out how he affects our game plan and how we control that."

“... It’s uncharted waters almost. You can only go off the DNA [Eberflus' defenses] had in the league, and that’s what you have to make your game plan off.”

MORE NFL: Eagles-Cowboys Sunday Practice Report: Good News On Dickerson, Mukuba