<\/p>\n
GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2014 Micah Parsons has pressured quarterbacks at a rate to rival any player in the NFL throughout his first season with the\u00a0Green Bay Packers.<\/p>\n
Now his sack totals are starting to reflect that.<\/p>\n
Parsons enters Green Bay’s Sunday showdown against the NFC North-leading Chicago Bears (9-3) with six sacks during the Packers\u2019 three-game win streak, bringing his season total to 12 \u00bd.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s the first player with at least 12 sacks in each of his first five seasons since at least 1982, when the NFL made sacks an official stat. Parsons remains focused on reaching his next milestone.<\/p>\n
\u201cHow I can get to six?\u201d Parsons said. “That\u2019s the mindset. Once you do six, how do you get to seven? How do we keep improving? How do I continue to get better? Understanding how teams are going to come out and attack me and how do I say, \u2018It don\u2019t matter.\u2019 \u201c<\/p>\n
That approach has Parsons doing everything the Packers (8-3-1) could have imagined when they landed him from Dallas for two first-round picks and three-time Pro Bowl defensive lineman\u00a0Kenny Clark.\u00a0The Packers gave Parsons a\u00a0four-year, $188 million\u00a0contract with $136 million guaranteed, making him the highest-paid non-quarterback in league history.<\/p>\n
Parsons has responded by bothering quarterbacks no matter how opponents try to contain him. He leads the league with 70 quarterback pressures, according to NFL Next Gen Stats.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a special, special football player,\u201d Packers coach Matt LaFleur said. \u201cI haven\u2019t seen too many guys like him.”<\/p>\n
While Parsons has been bothering quarterbacks consistently all season, it wasn’t necessarily apparent from his sack totals early on.<\/p>\n
Parsons had 2 \u00bd sacks through his first five games. He had a career-high three sacks in a\u00a027-23 victory\u00a0at Arizona on Oct. 19, then had just one over Green Bay\u2019s next three games.<\/p>\n
Sacks have come in bunches lately. He had 1 \u00bd against the\u00a0New York Giants,\u00a0two\u00a0against Minnesota\u00a0and 2 \u00bd\u00a0at Detroit.<\/p>\n
Parsons ranks third in the league in sacks, behind\u00a0Cleveland\u2019s Myles Garrett\u00a0(19) and the New York Giants\u2019 Brian Burns (13). He already has the highest single-season sack total for any Packer since Za\u2019Darius Smith also had 12 \u00bd in 2020. Tim Harris has the Packers\u2019 single-season record with 19 \u00bd sacks in 1989.<\/p>\n
Measuring himself against the greatest players drives Parsons, who hates losing.<\/p>\n
\u201cI used to wrestle and I used to always break down crying when I lost these wrestling matches,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cMy dad\u2019s like, \u2018It\u2019s OK. You\u2019re going to get another match.\u2019 And I was like, \u2018No, it\u2019s not, Dad! You don\u2019t understand.\u2019 We work so hard. We have goals and dreams. If I\u2019m going into this wrestling tournament, I want to be No. 1. I don\u2019t want to be third place on the podium. I want to smile and look down at the rest.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons maintains that competitiveness even when he’s off the field. Parsons says the only time he’s a prima donna is when it comes to board games.<\/p>\n
“I\u2019ve got certain family members that don\u2019t even want to play unless they\u2019re on my team because they either might get kicked out or excluded from the rest of the activities for the week if they go against me,\u201d Parsons said.<\/p>\n
Parsons’ favorite board games include Scattergories, Codenames, Connect 4 and Taboo.<\/p>\n
\u201cI probably haven\u2019t lost in Connect 4 in like five years,\u201d Parsons said.<\/p>\n
Parsons draws inspiration from athletes in other sports such as basketball players Michael Jordan, Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett and boxer Andre Ward. At least one sport apparently remains a mystery to him.<\/p>\n
Packers defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley brought up the idea of Lambeau Field playing Metallica\u2019s \u201cEnter Sandman\u201d when Green Bay\u2019s defense takes the field late in games, just as the\u00a0New York Yankees did\u00a0for Hall of Fame reliever\u00a0Mariano Rivera.<\/p>\n
Hafley said the parallel works because both Parsons and Rivera are outstanding closers. Parsons has eight sacks in the fourth quarter or overtime, the most of any NFL player this season.<\/p>\n
\u201c(Rivera) walked out of the bullpen, and everybody started screaming and going crazy, and you knew the game was over,\u201d Hafley said. \u201cWhether it was three outs or one out or whatever it was, he was going to put them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
When Hafley brought up the idea to Parsons, the star pass rusher needed a history lesson on Rivera.<\/p>\n
\u201cHonestly, the only person I knew was the greatest closer was Iron Mike (Tyson),\u201d Parsons said. \u201cBaseball was never really my thing.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons has warmed up to the idea. He likes being seen as an elite closer because he prides himself on staying strong and being ready to make one more play at the end of games.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got to trick yourself to like, \u2018I\u2019ve got one more,\u2019” Parsons said. \u201cAnd I think that\u2019s kind of what life\u2019s about, the consistent growth to like, \u2018I got one more in me. I can keep going one more.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Parsons has pressured quarterbacks at a rate to rival any player in the NFL.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":38930,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[419,754,421,108,138,758,1312],"class_list":["post-38929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-green-bay-packers","tag-app-sports","tag-app-top-stories","tag-associated-press","tag-news","tag-sports","tag-top-stories","tag-wisconsin"],"yoast_head":"\n