The Dallas Cowboys’ 27-20 loss to the Cincinnati Bengals on Monday night produced its fair share of legitimate talking points. The special teams gaffe at the end was jarring. The brutal injury to DeMarvion Overshown was gut-wrenching. The loss itself was demoralizing.
But one topic that gained traction was laughable. Apparently, there was some controversy about Micah Parsons leaving the field early.
To be honest, I didn’t even realize this was a thing until the next morning. As soon as Cooper Rush’s pass on fourth-and-7 fell incomplete, I — along with a horde of other reporters — quickly left my seat in the press box and made my way to the elevators to get to field level for postgame interviews. As a result, we missed Joe Burrow’s kneeldown to run out the final 19 seconds.
I don’t think missing that last formality of a snap is egregious for anybody but the reason I’m outlining this is because some of the discourse regarding when Parsons left the field was just weird. On social media, it made it sound like Parsons walked off the field when there were meaningful snaps to be played.
I’m sure the “SportsCenter” post on X, captioned “Micah Parsons left the field before time expired at the end of Bengals-Cowboys” didn’t help in the matters of clarity. Parsons was still on the field, walking toward the tunnel, as the final seconds went off the clock. He didn’t leave the game “early.”
Micah Parsons left the field before time expired at the end of Bengals-Cowboys. pic.twitter.com/UoIOsHTz46
— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) December 10, 2024
Of course, this means that Parsons did not go to midfield after the game to make nice with the team that just handed him a loss that he said after the game hurt him “even worse than the playoff loss.”
Was it his best moment of sportsmanship? Maybe not, but it was an emotional loss that materialized in an unimaginable way. If Parsons wasn’t in the mood to exchange pleasantries and swap jerseys, it’s understandable. I thought he explained it well on his podcast Tuesday.
“I just feel like it’s ‘damned if I do, damned if I don’t,” Parsons said. “Plenty of fans, if I went over there and I was laughing with the competition after we lost like that, a lot of people would be mad. I walk off the field because the game is over and people are mad. You can’t make everyone happy.”
“The fact that we lost and I felt like we could have won that game, that killed me, man. … It just kind of sucked the life out of me,” he added.
Micah’s approach to podcasting
Let’s stick with Parsons’ podcast for a moment. As a Cowboys beat writer, I feel it’s part of my job to listen to Parsons on his weekly podcast on Bleacher Report. Parsons doesn’t typically step out of line much but some of his thoughts can be interesting to hear.
But sometimes, there will be stuff Parsons does, or says, on the podcast that I find amusing. One example is when Parsons had Philadelphia cornerback Darius Slay as a guest on his podcast a couple of months ago. Again, nothing wild, but it was a little weird seeing Parsons have a player from the Cowboys’ fiercest division rival on his podcast in the middle of the season.
His Tuesday episode had a similar moment. When Parsons switched from talking about the Cowboys’ game, he decided to go around the NFL. In doing so, he spent more than three minutes talking about the drama in Philadelphia and giving his thoughts on the usage of wide receiver A.J. Brown and wondering aloud about what’s going on between Brown and quarterback Jalen Hurts.
It was nothing inflammatory or headline-worthy, but listening to Parsons weigh in on things unprompted that many players try to dodge when asked about was sort of amusing.
Rico Dowdle ran for a career-high 131 yards against the Bengals. (Tim Heitman / Imagn Images)
Many people, myself included, questioned the Cowboys’ play calling on offense late in the fourth quarter. On the Cowboys’ second-to-last drive, game tied 20-20, Rico Dowdle sat on 131 rushing yards on 18 carries and just had a 14-yard run. The Cowboys then had three consecutive incomplete passes before punting the ball. They got the ball back with 61 seconds left, down 27-20. Dowdle didn’t see the ball again the rest of the game.
Head coach Mike McCarthy was asked Tuesday about that sequence and he explained why things happened the way they did. He specifically said he’d like to have the second-down call back on that series.
“The first down run was actually set up by CeeDee (Lamb) on the jet sweep before,” McCarthy said. “It was a great counter play and Rico hit it, almost had him one-on-one with the safety. Almost came out of there totally clean. Then, we were on the right hash and I was trying to get to the left hash. I had a couple runs that I had sequenced.
“The way I do it, when the defense is up, I’m sequencing the next series. So, when I ran the keep to the left and we missed it, I went to the next right hash call preference. That was second-and-10 and then now I’m in third-and-10. I wish I would have got the — the keep is a good call, and the keeps were for us. We had a lot of production on keeps. But when you do the hashmark game plan-heavy, that’s what happens to you sometimes.”
Dowdle’s day vs. Bengals
| QTR | ATT | DOWN | YARDS | TOTAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
1st |
1 |
First-and-10 |
2 |
2 |
|
1st |
2 |
Second-and-8 |
7 |
9 |
|
1st |
3 |
Second-and-10 |
8 |
17 |
|
1st |
4 |
Third-and-2 |
1 |
18 |
|
1st |
5 |
First-and-10 |
3 |
21 |
|
1st |
6 |
Second-and-10 |
12 |
33 |
|
1st |
7 |
First-and-10 |
0 |
33 |
|
2nd |
8 |
First-and-10 |
5 |
38 |
|
2nd |
9 |
First-and-10 |
19 |
57 |
|
2nd |
10 |
Second-and-10 |
3 |
60 |
|
3rd |
11 |
First-and-10 |
3 |
63 |
|
3rd |
12 |
Second-and-2 |
27 |
90 |
|
3rd |
13 |
First-and-10 |
7 |
97 |
|
3rd |
14 |
First-and-10 |
0 |
97 |
|
3rd |
15 |
Third-and-3 |
7 |
104 |
|
3rd |
16 |
Third-and-24 |
14 |
118 |
|
4th |
17 |
First-and-10 |
-1 |
117 |
|
4th |
18 |
First-and-10 |
14 |
131 |
In summary: Dowdle’s 14-yard run on the first play of the drive got the ball to the right hashmark. McCarthy wanted to run Dowdle again, but from the left hashmark, so he called a seemingly easy completion to Jake Ferguson in the left flat. Ferguson was open but Rush missed the throw, so the Cowboys remained on the right hashmark on second down, which led to another incompletion that set up third-and-long.
According to McCarthy, that’s why Dowdle’s involvement dissipated on that drive.
Required reading
• Saad on the Cowboys’ disastrous fourth quarter
• Jon on Troy Aikman’s comments about Mike McCarthy potentially returning in 2025
• DeMarvion Overshown’s devastating injury and long-term recovery
• What do the Cowboys do now? Jon on how coaches, players are approaching final four games
(Top photo of Parsons: Sam Hodde / Getty Images)