Micah Parsons and Why We Pretend NFL Stars Matter More Than They Do

Micah Parsons Was Great. The Packers Got Worse.

I was going to bring this up if the Green Bay Packers staged a Ewing Theory run, following Micah Parsons’ ACL tear in Week 15 last season. They certainly did not do that.

Quoting Packers Guy Peter Bukowski:

Jeff Hafley’s defense took a pretty big step back after adding Micah Parsons. That should be impossible.

Longtime followers of this newsletter know that Parsons became a mini running topic because Ryan Glasspiegel and I supported the Dallas Cowboys trading him ahead of last season. The general NFL media reaction was to trash the Cowboys and tout Micah as Green Bay’s new Reggie White. Dallas dumb for dealing a $46.5 million per year edge rusher. Green Bay brilliant for “only” ceding two first-round picks and Kenny Clark.

Micah’s play appeared to match the hype. Every Packers fan I know (save for Ryan?) says he performed exceptionally and was arguably the team’s best player. But the defense got worse. So what’s with that? And what lessons can be drawn from that?