The Dallas Cowboys' offense scored its first opening-drive touchdown of the season against the Cincinnati Bengals. The Bengals' offense then caught caught fire and took a 17-10 lead into halftime before Dallas countered in the form of a Brandin Cooks TD and Brandon Aubrey field goal.
Micah Parsons and others have gotten close to sacking Joe Burrow on multiple occasions, but Burrow's pocket awareness has been exceptional. While failing to record a sack (as of this writing), Parsons accumulated a whopping seven pressures in the first half.
Parsons has utterly dominated Bengals rookie right tackle Amarius Mims. He got one holding call against Mims and he probably could have gotten a couple more on the same drive.
Parsons will likely eventually break through with a QB takedown, but it wouldn't hurt if Mike Zimmer started moving No. 11 around the defensive line. One former Cowboy is tuned in to the game and threw Zimmer under the bus in pointing out Parsons' sack output, or lack thereof.
Stephon Gilmore calls out Cowboys' DC Mike Zimmer over Micah Parsons usage
If Flores had Micah he would have 17 sacks already this season. They need to move him around.
— The Gilly Lock (@BumpNrunGilm0re) December 10, 2024
Gilly from the top rope on Monday Night Football. Didn't see that coming.
Gilmore, who signed a one-year contract with the Vikings, brings up a great point. We're not so sure Parsons would have 17 sacks if Brian Flores was his defensive coordinator, but it seems criminal that Parsons is playing arguably the best ball of his young career and only has 6.5 sacks (in eight games) to show for it.
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Of course, sacks don't come close to telling the story of Parsons' impact. In four games since returning from injury (pre MNF) he's tallied 23 pressures, seven defensive stops, four QB hits, and 11 hurries. For the season, he ranks fifth among edge defenders with a 22% pass-rush win rate, per ESPN analytics.
We have seen Zimmer get creative with Parsons this season, including Monday night. Short of one rep where Parsons was lined up over the Bengals backup left tackle, though, it hasn't happened nearly enough.
Again, Cincinnati's starting left tackle Orlando Brown Jr. is not playing. While Parsons has Mims seeing ghosts on the right side of the line, it is hard to understand why he hasn't lined up more frequent on the left side and as a stand-up defensive tackle.
It's hard to come down too hard on Zimmer being that Parsons is dominating. However, it might take getting to Burrow for Dallas to win this game. Despite tight coverage by the secondary, the Burrow-Ja'Marr Chase connection has been unstoppable.
It's time for Zimmer to bring the kitchen sink at Burrow.