Packer Central

Micah Parsons Sacks Colin Cowherd With Perfect Four-Letter Response

Colin Cowherd took a shot at Packers star Micah Parsons over his lack of impact on Monday night against the Eagles. Parsons had the perfect – and accurate – rebuttal.
Bill Huber|
Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons had zero sacks but seven pressures against the Eagles.
Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons had zero sacks but seven pressures against the Eagles. | Jeff Hanisch-Imagn Images

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Green Bay Packers

GREEN BAY, Wis. – Green Bay Packers star Micah Parsons told Colin Cowherd to “stfu” after the sports-radio personality criticized Parsons for his limited impact in Monday’s loss to the Philadelphia Eagles.

Cowherd did some box-score scouting and noticed Parsons had zero sacks and zero quarterback hits. What Cowherd missed:

  • The Packers held the Eagles to 10 points and 294 yards.
  • The Packers held Saquon Barkley, the NFL’s reigning rushing champion, to 60 yards on 22 carries, or 2.7 yards per carry.
  • Parsons had seven pressures, according to Pro Football Focus, the fifth-most in the league in Week 10. A total of 63 edge defenders had at least 15 pass-rushing opportunities. Parsons was 10th in pass-rush win rate.
  • The power of the Parsons-led pass rush had the Eagles playing conservatively. Four times on third-and-10-plus, the Eagles handed the ball or threw swing passes to backup running back Will Shipley.
  • Most importantly, on a night when Green Bay’s offense looked like a Division III team playing a road game against Georgia, the Parsons-fueled defense gave the Packers a fighting chance for the full 60 minutes.

“We just held Saquon Barkley to 60 rushing yards, and our only losses have been holding teams to 13 points!” Parsons wrote. “Man, … please stfu and enjoy great defense! … Please stop giving people’s mics or listening to trash!”

Here’s Parsons’ full response to clip.

For the season, 69 edge rushers have played 150 pass-rushing snaps. Parsons is third with 50 pressures and fifth with a pass-rush win rate of 23.3 percent.

All Cowherd saw were the zeroes.

“I don’t know if you noticed this last night with Micah Parsons,” Cowherd said. “He didn’t have a sack. He didn’t have a quarterback hit. Let me check the stats. Oh, it’s the second straight game. No sacks, no quarterback hits.”

Cowherd also pointed to the standings. Last year, the Packers were 6-3. This year, they’re 5-3-1. Green Bay’s defense was very good last season, finishing sixth with 19.9 points allowed per game. They were fifth in total defense, fifth in yards allowed per play, third in yards allowed per rushing attempt, 11th in yards allowed per passing plays and 12th on third down.

This year, the defense is even better. It’s seventh with 19.6 points allowed per game. They are fifth in total defense – same as last year but about 25 yards per game better this year – along with third in yards allowed per play, sixth in yards allowed per rushing attempt, first in yards allowed per passing attempt and 10th on third down.

“I’ve seen Micah get engulfed by good left tackles. What are his playoff numbers? There’s a way to go at Micah,” Cowherd said.

While Cowherd is right to note that Cleveland’s Myles Garrett is a better run defender, to say Parsons is bad against the run would be inaccurate. The Packers are allowing 3.84 yards per carry. Only once since the Super Bowl championship season of 1996 has Green Bay been better.

“This is not the NBA, where an amazing dunk – a windmill dunk – can supersede production,” Cowherd said. “Dunks will define you. This is the NFL. And Micah’s rep has always been, he is a splash player. A remarkable, athletic splash player. He’s not good against the run. …

“Micah is a great athlete and a heat-seeking missile. He is great to have in Green Bay when they lead games in the fourth quarter. But when they don’t and the offense dries up, he’s not very good at the run, so Philadelphia at the end of the game can try to run the clock down and just run at Micah.”

On the final series with a chance to run out the clock, Barkley carried three times for 4 yards. So much for running it at Parsons.

“It’s November football,” Parsons said after the game. “We’re trying to find a way to win games because it’s almost that time of year where it’s November, December football and playoffs are going to be around the corner. It’s time to re-lock in and dial in, because we got three games left this month and it’s about to get real.”

The Packers lost back-to-back home games but Parsons saw no reason for fans to be in “despair.”

“I wouldn’t panic at all,” he said. “We’re going to win a lot of football (games). The way we just played, we’re going to win a lot of football games. This is considered one of the best offenses in the National Football League, so I would not panic, I wouldn’t stress. We’re going to win football games, I promise you.”

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Bill Huber
BILL HUBER

Bill Huber, who has covered the Green Bay Packers since 2008, is the publisher of Packers On SI, a Sports Illustrated channel. E-mail: packwriter2002@yahoo.com History: Huber took over Packer Central in August 2019. Twitter: https://twitter.com/BillHuberNFL Background: Huber graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, where he played on the football team, in 1995. He worked in newspapers in Reedsburg, Wisconsin Dells and Shawano before working at The Green Bay News-Chronicle and Green Bay Press-Gazette from 1998 through 2008. With The News-Chronicle, he won several awards for his commentaries and page design. In 2008, he took over as editor of Packer Report Magazine, which was founded by Hall of Fame linebacker Ray Nitschke, and PackerReport.com. In 2019, he took over the new Sports Illustrated site Packer Central, which he has grown into one of the largest sites in the Sports Illustrated Media Group.