GREEN BAY, Wis. — After Micah Parsons played 29 snaps in his debut with the Green Bay Packers on Sunday, coach Matt LaFleur said it was more than he had anticipated and joked that he would “investigate.”
Turns out, all he needed to do was ask Parsons himself.
Parsons on Tuesday said he essentially talked his way into a bigger role in Sunday’s 27-13 win over the Detroit Lions — a game played 10 days after he arrived in Green Bay via trade from the Dallas Cowboys.
It’s perhaps why Parsons was still on the field late in the fourth quarter, when he got his first sack as a Packer. In all, he had not only the sack but also three quarterback pressures, one of which led to an interception.
“I told [the defensive coaches] the other day when they were talking to me about the snap counts, it’s like, ‘Man, we could run gassers, we could be in practice and you give me these plays, we can run to the ball, but at the end of the day, you’ve got to let me push through some things,'” Parsons said Tuesday. “‘You’ve got to let me get tired and get wore out out there so that way I can become better and get better.’
“That’s when it was like, ‘OK, your reps can go up.’ Sometimes you’ve got to fight for your own right to play.”
Parsons said he was not sure if that meant his role would increase for Thursday’s quick-turnaround game against the Washington Commanders, but after defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said last week that he drew up all kinds of new plays after the Packers acquired him, Parsons said he wouldn’t be surprised if some of those were introduced this week.
“He threw some in last week, threw some in this week,” Parsons said. “Obviously we don’t get to get into everything because situational football, just where we’re at on the field, things like that, but I think this might be a game where something might come out and things like that.”
