Micah Parsons Leads Packers’ Four-Headed Pass-Rushing Monster Into Dallas

GREEN BAY, Wis. – The United States Postal Service delivers the mail through rain and snow. Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons delivers the pressure through double- and triple-teams.

Parsons, who will return to Dallas to face the Cowboys on Sunday night, has been dominant. In turn, the Packers’ defense has been dominant, too. Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness and Devonte Wyatt are off to the best starts of their careers. Determining why might be a bit of a chicken-or-egg proposition.

Are Gary, Van Ness and Wyatt spending half of their Sundays in the opponent backfield because of the influence of Parsons? Or are they getting up close and personal with opposing quarterbacks because they have improved as players, are feeling more comfortable in Jeff Hafley’s scheme and are thriving under new position coach DeMarcus Covington?

While Parsons is a nonstop menace even with a constant barrage of double- and even triple-team blocks, Gary has rather quietly grabbed the NFL lead with 4.5 sacks.

“I think you’ve got to give credit to Rashan,” Hafley said on Thursday. “I saw it during OTAs. I saw the way he worked in the offseason. He came back in great shape. Worked on his get-off, worked on his pass rush. It’s what he does every day, and it’s what he did in training camp, and that’s what we’re hoping we’re going to see, and we have.”

It’s been a massive start for Gary, who in Year 7 in the NFL is still looking for his first 10-sack season.

At this rate, he might get there before November.

“Really something that I didn’t think about,” Gary said of his sacks lead after practice on Friday. “It’s early in the season. I got bigger goals to accomplish, we’ve got bigger goals to accomplish as a team, so it’s not something I’m focused on. I guess it’s a good accolade to have but I’m focused on the Cowboys. It’s still early in the season.”

Even without the career sack numbers of players like Parsons and Myles Garrett, Gary has been a high-impact rusher at times. In 2021, he ranked among the league leaders with 81 pressures, according to Pro Football Focus. He suffered a torn ACL in 2022 and had 60 pressures in 2023. Last year, he fell back to 47, though he earned Pro Bowl honors as one of the leaders of one of the league’s top run defenses.

“He’s finishing on the quarterback. I think he’s playing really good in the run game,” Hafley said. “He’s playing more snaps because he’s in better shape. He knows the defense. He has a better understanding of it.

“I think he’s had a really good start, and we just need to continue, because it’s just a start, right? And he’s got to get better and better, and we got to coach him better and better. I give a lot of credit to those D-line coaches. I think they’re doing an incredible job. … Being DeMarcus’ first year, I think it’s a great combination right now. But I’m really proud of RG and where he’s at, and we got to push him to continue to get better.”

That’s Gary’s intention.

“Just being consistent to who I am,” he said. “Shoot, Haf been putting together a great game plan, even with the chips me and Micah been seeing this year. So, it’s just me being consistent and the player that I am and just trying to dominate first to fourth down.”

While the arrival of Parsons knocked Lukas Van Ness out of the starting lineup, the 2023 first-round pick has been one of the prime beneficiaries of the trade. According to PFF, he has 11 pressures, which puts him on pace for 62. He had 20 pressures in 2024 and 18 as a rookie.

According to Next Gen Stats, Parsons, Gary and Van Ness have played together on 22 of the 187 defensive snaps, including 16 on third down. With that trio together, Green Bay is allowing 1.5 yards per play and produced pressure on 36.3 percent of dropbacks.

“Right now, everybody’s hungry [and playing with an] unproven mindset,” Gary said. “Football’s an imperfect game but we all strive to have that perfect game. I feel that’s our defensive mindset, so I feel like that’s howe everybody’s feeling right now and trying to put together that perfect game and how great we can be.”

While Gary, Van Ness and Wyatt, who ranks second among defensive tackles in pressures, might have been a terrific trio, anyway, it’s impossible to underestimate the impact that Parsons has made. He’s the rising tide that lifts all boats.

According to PFF, Parsons has been double-teamed on 67.0 percent of his pass rushes. That trails only Cleveland’s Myles Garrett (69.6 percent). Parsons is in a league of his own dealing with triple-team blocks at 11.3 percent. And yet he’s No. 2 in the league with 19 pressures, according to Next Gen.

With so much attention being paid to Parsons, and Gary, Van Ness and Wyatt taking advantage, the Packers entered Week 4 ranked No. 1 in points allowed, No. 1 in yards allowed per play and No. 1 in passing yards allowed per play.

On Sunday night, all eyes will be on Parsons as he goes against his former team. While the Cowboys are searching desperately for pass rush help – they turned to retread Jadeveon Clowney this week – the Packers will bring a four-headed pass rush that’s the envy of the NFL as the only team with four players with 10-plus pressures.

“I got a great challenge in front of me,” Parsons said this week. “I know they’re not going to make it easy for me. I know they got a plan for me, but it’s not about me. If they worry about me, I got other guys. I got D-Wy, I got Karl (Brooks), I got Rashan, who’s dominating this year, so we got a group of guys that they need to focus on, so I have that to my advantage.”

Packers Applying Pressure

With the addition of Micah Parsons, Rashan Gary, Lukas Van Ness and Devonte Wyatt are flourishing.

Rashan Gary: 4.5 sacks. Pace: 25.5. Career: 7.5 last year, career-high 9.5 in 2021.

Devonote Wyatt: 13 pressures. Pace: 73.7. Career: Total of 77 the past two seasons.

Lukas Van Ness: 11 pressures. Pace: 62.3. Career: 38 his first two seasons.

Packers Applying Pressure

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