Cowboys studs and duds Week 5: Micah Parsons closes out the Rams

Stud: Micah Parsons, LB

Micah Parsons continues to be the leader of this Dallas defense. Even when he wasn’t on the field for every play this weekend as he dealt with an injury, he was able to impact the game. His first splash play — which we have all come to expect from him — came with just under three minutes to go in the third quarter.

With Los Angeles facing a third-and-11, Parsons ripped past Rob Havenstein to get after Matthew Stafford. The Rams quarterback had just escaped pressure from Lawrence only to find No. 11 flying at him. The sack forced a punt and the Cowboys got the ball back with a 19-10 lead.

Parsons also helped during a late drive when the Rams were down 12 and trying to get back in it. Moving down the field, no one was stopping Los Angeles, until Parsons drew a flag on Havenstein for holding, setting them back 10 yards, making it a second-and-14. He then closed the game out by sacking Stafford at the end of the game, forcing another fumble and allowing his team to walk off with their fourth win in a row.

The second-year player admitted he was a huge fan of Aaron Donald before the game and did his best to emulate the Rams’ talented defensive lineman.

Dud: CeeDee Lamb, WR

For all the good things CeeDee Lamb does, he has to clean up the drops. He had a couple against the Giants earlier in the season and it was an issue again in Week 5.

With the Cowboys up 19-10, they were looking to seal the game with another score. Cooper Rush hit Lamb on a third-and-five but Lamb couldn’t hold onto the ball, forcing a punt. Los Angeles should have pulled within six points but a missed field goal from Matt Gay ended up being their saving grace.

Dallas didn’t move the ball exceptionally well through the air so they needed to capitalize on the opportunities when they were there, and Lamb didn’t do that in this one.