The Cowboys won’t honor their former All-Pro pass rusher with any tribute before his return to AT&T Stadium. Micah Parsons was the Cowboys’ best player for four seasons before they traded him to Green Bay, but he was in Dallas only four seasons.
Parsons gets it, and he’s not offended.
“There’s a lot of things I can consider disrespectful, like this process, but I wouldn’t say the tribute is one of them,” Parsons said, via Matt Schneidman of TheAthletic.com. “I would say I just think hard feelings there maybe for them. For me, I’m happy where I’m at, and we’ve got a really good football team, so I guess I can [receive] my tribute in a win. I hope.”
Parsons expects Cowboys fans to give him pregame applause.
“I think Dallas loves me,” Parsons said. “I think they are going to give me a good round of applause. There are no hard feelings there, at least for me, and I think it’s going to be a great atmosphere.”
Parsons said he has not talked to Jerry Jones since organized team activities, and he never heard from the Cowboys owner during the trade process or after the trade was completed.
Jones believed he and Parsons had a handshake deal and would not negotiate with Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta. Instead, the Cowboys traded Parsons to the Packers on Aug. 28 for nose guard Kenny Clark and two first-round picks.
Now, Parsons faces his former team in his fourth game with his new team.
“Once the game starts, who is going to be worried about any trade?” Parsons said. “It’s just me against them five men in front of me, and we’ve got one common goal and that’s to win the football game. And how we win the football game is by winning the line of scrimmage and affecting Dak [Prescott] and how good he’s been playing this year.
Parsons made 52.5 sacks for Dallas while becoming one of the top defensive players in the league. He has 1.5 sacks in three games with the Packers.
The Cowboys need all the help they can get on a defense that ranks 32nd in passing and 30th overall.
The Cowboys could see the return of cornerback DaRon Bland. He returned to practice on a limited basis on Wednesday.
Bland had not practiced or played since injuring his foot in a Sept. 8 practice, missing two weeks.
“I think he’s trending towards playing, hopefully,” Cowboys coach Brian Schottenheimer said, via Schuyler Dixon of the Associated Press.
Right guard Tyler Booker (ankle), cornerback Trevon Diggs (knee) and wide receiver CeeDee Lamb (ankle) did not practice Wednesday. Booker and Lamb are expected to miss multiple games after both were diagnosed with a high-ankle sprain.
Cornerback Trikweze Bridges (knee) was limited.
Much of the conversation around Sunday night’s Packers-Cowboys game centers on defensive end Micah Parsons returning to Dallas for the first time since being traded, but head coach Brian Schottenheimer offered a slightly wider view of things on Wednesday.
Schottenheimer admitted that the prospect of facing Parsons “keeps you up even more at night” because he’s seen so much of him over the years and knows he’s capable of doing more than he’s done in three games as a Packer. Schottenheimer said that the Cowboys aren’t just thinking about Parsons as they put together their plan for this weekend.
“Micah is a great player. Micah is going to make plays, I’ll just put that out there,” Schottenheimer said, via the team’s website. “Does he get a sack? I hope not. He might, he’s pretty good . . . let’s not forget, Rashan Gary is a hell of a rusher too. This is a defense that’s got incredible speed . . . they’re deep and they’re fast. Our ability to have success against the Packers defense will be about a whole lot more than just Micah.”
Complicating things for the Cowboys offense is the fact that they’re set to be without wide receiver CeeDee Lamb, center Cooper Beebe, and right guard Tyler Booker. Schottenheimer expressed confidence that his team can win without them, but “the only way you do that is if you play well and you’re executing” against everyone in a Packers uniform.
The Packers are unlikely to have one of their starting right tackle for Sunday’s game against the Cowboys.
ESPN’s Adam Schefter reports Zach Tom is not expected to play Week 4 after aggravating his oblique injury against Cleveland last week.
Tom was on the field for just one offensive snap before he had to exit the contest. He had been a limited participant in practice all week and was listed as questionable.
“If a guy plays one play … we got to have some discussions about how we can’t allow that to happen,” head coach Matt LaFleur said in his postgame press conference on Sunday. “It’s disappointing when he plays one play.”
Tom did not play in Week 2 after initially suffering the injury Week 1.
The Packers’ first injury report of the week is set to be released later on Wednesday.
The Texans will have a new defensive back at practice on Wednesday.
According to multiple reports, they have signed Zion Childress to their 53-man roster. Childress was on the Cowboys’ practice squad.
Childress signed with the Cowboys as an undrafted free agent this offseason and returned to the practice squad after being one of the team’s final cuts this summer. He was elevated for two of the team’s first three games and made a tackle on special teams.
The Texans had an opening in their secondary after releasing safety C.J. Gardner-Johnson on Tuesday, so they do not need to make a corresponding move to get Childress on their active roster.
