Most of the viewing public considers the San Francisco 49ers as decidedly the team to beat after it positively humiliated the Dallas Cowboys 42-10 in prime time on Sunday, but transcendent Dallas superstar defender Micah Parsons isn't quite as convinced. Between postgame interviews and his Bleacher Report show, "The Edge with Micah Parsons," he's expressed both his belief that this battle isn't over and a distaste for the Niners' reaction to the resounding victory.
Cowboys DE Micah Parsons: "I don't think [the 49ers] are at a higher level than us. I think we're the same caliber playoff team. Same talent. Same standards. I just feel like we need to reconsider ...and fix some things. ...The score doesn't really show what happened out there."
— Michael Gehlken (@GehlkenNFL) October 9, 2023
It's always good to express belief in your team, but it's very hard to lose by 32 and get outplayed in every single facet of the game and then fail to give credit to your opponent for being on a different level. Parsons vocalized the notion that the final score didn't reflect the actual flow of the game, a curious concept after the Cowboys' vaunted defense was gashed for over 400 yards while the offense could not generate 200 yards of its own.
Micah Parsons won't forget
(via @BleacherReport)#NFL #MicahParsons #GeorgeKittle #Cowboys #Niners pic.twitter.com/ZhQI4IDUsb— Sportskeeda Pro Football (@SKProFootball) October 10, 2023
Parsons also reacted to a T-shirt worn by superstar Niners tight end George Kittle, who scored three times in the completely uncompetitive blowout. The Iowa alum's under-pads shirt for the game was adorned with a profanity-based anti-Cowboys statement, a fashion choice that Parsons viewed as unnecessarily personal. It's a strange stance to take, given the inherently personal nature of decades-long rivalries; but as always, this could be a motivational tactic to keep his teammates locked in for a potential postseason rematch.
The Cowboys are now 3-2, after the blowout in San Francisco and a puzzling loss to the openly tanking Cardinals. Conversely, the Niners are one of two remaining undefeated teams in the NFL, along with Dallas' other mortal rivals, the Philadelphia Eagles. Those two squads will meet in December for a contest that could be a game-of-the-year contender, while Dallas will of course get two cracks at Philly in divisional play — so this story is far from over. The NFC's best will have several more shots to fire at one another on and off the field as the season goes on, so perhaps Parsons is right to keep stoking the flame; it's a long season, and the outcome is far from set in stone.
