Will Micah Parsons play for the Cowboys vs Lions in Week 6?

The Cowboys’ injury bug has continued to plague them since before the season started. With a mess of injuries on the defensive side of the ball and a late game with terrible weather conditions, Dallas was still able to come away with a win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in Week 5.

Perhaps one of the biggest losses for the Cowboys was in their star edge rusher Micah Parsons, who’d played in 50 consecutive games until a high-ankle sprain he suffered during their Week 4 win over the New York Giants caused him to miss the game against the Steelers.

Parsons’ potential return

Parsons did not practice all week leading up to the Steelers game and didn’t even travel with the team. This week, the Cowboys face the Detroit Lions on Sunday afternoon and against Jared Goff, Amon-Ra St. Brown, and Sam LaPorta, they could use all the help they can get on defense. Parsons’ return for that game seems highly unlikely as it’s still quite soon, but Cowboys owner Jerry Jones did not rule out the possibility, calling him “iffy” to start.

That response doesn’t sound too promising, but also isn’t a hard no. Whether it’s a smart decision to start Parsons on Sunday is another story. If they rest him this week, he’ll have a full three weeks to recover as next week is Dallas’ bye week. Then, he’d be ready to go for the Cowboys’ Week 8 primetime game against the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday, October 27.

The Cowboys found a way to beat the Steelers without Parsons, and though the Lions will be a much tougher opponent, it’s still not worth the risk of Parsons re-aggravating the injury and missing more time down the line. Better to play it safe and make sure he’s healthy for the even tougher still opponents to come after Week 7. Kickoff between the Cowboys and Lions will be this Sunday, October 13 at 4:25 p.m. ET from AT&T Stadium and you can follow along with all the action with our live text coverage and commentary right here on AS USA (brought to you by yours truly).