Dallas Cowboys 2022 NFL preseason round-up: Parsons on Brady, Turpin, Elliott…

Micah Parsons: “We got to get Tom Brady out of the NFL”

I agree! It was rude of him to get our hopes up. Though Micah Parsons said those words, he is still looking forward to playing against Tom Brady this Sunday to open up the regular season for the Cowboys. And I am looking forward to seeing him sack Brady.

Last year, the Cowboys opened the regular season against the Bucs just as they will this year, and Parsons, a rookie at the time, was impressed with Brady.

Heading into year 2 of his NFL career, Parsons is ranked number 16 on the NFL’s list of Top 100 Players (hint, Brady is number one on that list) after being named NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year and second in NFL Defensive Player of the Year.

“We got to get him out of this league. He’s been dominating this league too long. He keeps coming back,” Parsons said.

Parsons admires Brady for his mental strength and competitive nature. Parsons said, “he looks to kill you. He wants to step on your throat like you’re a roach.” He admitted to being impressed with his durability too, seeing how long he’s been in the league and at his age, still playing at such a high level. But Parsons said he has no intention of playing that long himself.

“I want to have my toes on the beach somewhere at 45. Going back to watch my son’s football games. That’s what I aspire at 45. So we’ve definitely got different passions in that aspect. I’ll probably get a hit little bit more than he does, too. I don’t think I could last to 45.”

Turpin can have the “Devin Hester effect”

KaVontae Turpin was no longer a question mark to make the Cowboys’ 53-man roster after his preseason game against the Los Angeles Chargers, scoring two touchdowns on returns. It was incredible to watch and got everyone excited to have a special teams weapon like that. The downside though? The cat’s out of the bag.

Special teams coordinator John Fassel was a little upset that Turpin will no longer be able to be a “secret” weapon for unsuspecting opponents in the regular season. “He broke it and I was like, ‘Yeah, great for him!’” Fassel said. But then, immediately, I thought, ‘Ugh, teams are going to be on him now.’”

Fassel compared Turpin to Devin Hester, one of the greatest punt returners in NFL history.

“We’ve talked about the ‘Devin Hester effect’ quite a few times that Chicago had,” Fassel said. “Their blockers knew they had somebody that could score every time they touched the ball. The guys that were blocking for Hester - we’ve watched a ton of the tape, we’ve watched all of his touchdown returns - you could just see the relentless approach that those blockers had. It’s quite a relationship between returner and blocker when they each feed off each other and have confidence in one another.”

Turpin will get his chance to show if he can keep up those crazy returns in the Cowboys season opener against the Bucs this Sunday.

McCarthy won’t name a RB1

Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy refuses to name Ezekiel Elliott as the Cowboys RB1 over Tony Pollard, insisting that it’s a tandem when it comes to those two. Although Jerry Jones has been insistent on Zeke as the Cowboys main weapon, McCarthy has other opinions.

“Oh I think they both hold their own,” McCarthy said. “I look at both those guys as No. 1 runners, or however you want to categorize it. Tony can play. I think when you look at running backs - I know how I define them - [it’s about] their ability to play on all three downs, and Zeke and Tony both have that ability. Zeke’s done it his whole career. So I think they’re definitely a tandem and that’s obviously a focal point for us.”

It’s still likely that Zeke is going to be the real RB1, but I think what McCarthy means here is that Pollard is just as capable as Zeke. In 2021, Zeke started every single game and just barely rushed for over 1,000 yards and 10 touchdowns. Much of that is blamed on his coming back from injury, but it’s also known he’s been on a steady decline for a while. Pollard had more limited playing time, but was able to maximize on it, rushing for 719 yards on the ground and 339 in the air.