As offseason hope blooms among all 32 NFL teams, Cowboys edge rusher Micah Parsons spoke recently about why the 2023 campaign could finally be the year for Dallas to break through.
“You just feel it in the room. Everybody is like, ‘This gotta be the year,'” Parsons said, via Jon Machota of The Athletic. “Each year I’ve been here, we’ve gone a little bit further. Now, I’m hoping we ain’t gotta make no small jump to the NFC (title game) and then go home. I’m hoping we go all the way.”
Parsons’ confidence is due to the defense returning from last year as well as the additions of veteran cornerback Stephon Gilmore, and first-round pick Mazi Smith.
“Just like anything in a relationship, whether you’re starting from ground zero, you got to learn how to build the base of how each other works,” Parson said. “That history is going to be great. And I think that was the difference with that Ray Lewis (Ravens team in 2000). They all came back and we’re like, ‘If (the opponent) can’t score, they can’t win.’ I’m hoping that we have one of those special teams this year.”
“We all know how each other plays, we know how to communicate with each other. Just like in a relationship: you start from ground zero, you’ve got to learn how to build the basis of how each other works. That history is going to be great. That was the difference for that Ray Lewis team: they all came back and were like, ‘If they can’t score, they can’t win.’ I’m hoping we’ve got one of those special teams this year.”
As Parsons mentioned, the 2000 Ravens entered their title season with nine defensive starters who had been in Baltimore for two-plus seasons.
After cruising through the regular season with a 12-4 record, the team went through the playoffs and then demolished the Giants, 34–7, in Super Bowl XXXV.
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Talking about winning a Super Bowl has been happening in Dallas since the mid-90s. It remains to be seen if the team can even get to the NFC Championship game, let alone the Super Bowl.
Since Parsons’s arrival in 2021, Dallas has earned back-to-back playoff berths after 12–5 seasons, with the first ending in the wild-card round and the second ending in the divisional round after a wild-card win.
The team has finished the last two seasons ranked seventh and fifth in scoring defense.
