FRISCO, Texas – When Micah Parsons watches the film of his upcoming opponent, he doesn't exactly see a 4-8 team.
Instead, he sees a team led by a quarterback "who should be the MVP."
Obviously, Joe Burrow is going to get many votes for the NFL MVP considering his Bengals are a game worse than the Cowboys this year.
But according to Parsons, there won't be a better challenge for this Cowboys defense all year. And with that, the pass rusher knows he must be at his very best.
"I've got to do my job at extremely high level. I got to be the best player on the field," Parsons said on Thursday. "If Joe Burrow's record was opposite (8-4 instead of 4-8), he'll be the leading running for MVP. I still think he should be the MVP. I mean he's leading in passing yards, passing touchdowns this year."
Parsons said Burrow is playing like he did at LSU when he won the Heisman Trophy in 2019. Ironically enough, Burrow is the first five straight former Heisman Trophy winners the Cowboys will face to end the regular season.
But Burrow was arguably the best of all of them, and he's playing like that this year. The only difference is he's not getting the same defensive help, which has led to the Bengals' struggles.
Cincinnati is still averaging over 27 points per game, good for fifth in the NFL this year.
"You give me someone who's better than JaMarr Chase and Tee Higgins right now," Parsons said of the Bengals' two receivers. "That duo right there is none other than the best in the NFL. So I'm excited for the challenge."
In the last three games, the Bengals have scored 99 points against the likes of the Ravens, Steelers and Chargers, and have still lost all three games.
Speaking of recent performances, the Cowboys are on a two-game winning streak and the big reason has been the defense, specifically the play of Parsons, who has 5.5 sacks in the four games back from an ankle injury.
Parsons certainly isn't satisfied with a 6.5 sack total right now. In fact, he not only expects to finish with at least 10, he's not ruling out the 17-sack mark, which would not only be a career-high, but means he'd have to average at least two sacks in the next five games.
But that should be at least doable for Parsons, especially if he's striving "to be the best on the field Monday night."
