The Eagles didn’t pour on the points, but they frustrated Micah Parsons
Parsons, who is from Harrisburg and starred at Penn State, led a strong defensive effort for the Packers but could not lead Green Bay to victory.
GREEN BAY, Wis. — Zero sacks.
No tackles for loss.
One solo tackle.
Micah Parsons, the man the Dallas Cowboys were terrified might one day become an Eagle, was rendered null and void against those same Eagles on Monday.
Parsons, who was traded from Dallas to Green Bay on Aug. 28, was held in check as the Eagles defeated the Packers at Lambeau Field, 10-7, in a midseason NFC showdown.
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Philadelphia improved to 7-2 and remained tied for the best record in the conference. The Packers, who were the No. 1 seed in the NFC just two weeks ago, suffered their second straight home loss, fell to 5-3-1, and are now in third place in their own division.
“I mean, honestly, it’s just super frustrating,” Parsons said. “But it’s just one of them things, like we’re going to win together, we’re going to lose together, regardless of the outcome, and just being there for our teammates, regardless of who’s playing better or which side is playing better. It’s just important that we hold each other up, until they get rolling … when everyone gets rolling, we’ll be a really good team.”
Parsons had been a game-wrecker since arriving in Green Bay just 10 weeks ago.
His 44 quarterback pressures entering Week 10 led the NFL. Parsons ranked 13th in the league with 6½ sacks. And his seven tackles for loss were tied for first on the Packers.
Green Bay played a game of ‘Where’s Micah?’ with Parsons, lining him up over both tackles, and also hiding him behind a defensive tackle, then sending him through the “A” gap, at times.
Parsons never could get home, though, and the Packers didn’t register a single sack of quarterback Jalen Hurts.
Making that even more impressive, the Eagles operated much of the night without two starters on the offensive line. Brett Toth filled in admirably for center Cam Jurgens (knee), and right tackle Lane Johnson missed more than a quarter with an ankle injury and was replaced by Fred Johnson.
“They’re doing a good job in moving him around, putting him in different spots,” Eagles coach Nick Sirianni said of Parsons last week. “So you have to account for where he is, but it’s hard to account for where he is because he’s moving around so much.”
There’s no question Parsons would have loved to wreak havoc on the Eagles more than perhaps any team in football.
Parsons was born in Harrisburg, two hours west of Philadelphia. He was a standout at Harrisburg High School, before playing for Penn State and getting drafted by Dallas with the No. 12 pick in 2021.
In seven career games against the Eagles prior to Monday, Parsons had five sacks, three stuffs, and two passes defensed. When Dallas decided to trade Parsons to Green Bay this summer, it included a “poison pill” condition in the deal.
The clause prohibited the Packers from trading Parsons to anyone in the NFC East before 2027, or they’d owe the Cowboys their 2028 first-round draft pick. According to ESPN, that clause was put in place to prevent Parsons from winding up in Philadelphia, a place he’s always wanted to play and a team that tried acquiring him from Dallas last summer.
“Micah Parsons is a phenomenal football player that can hurt you in many different ways,” Sirianni said. “Just creates a lot of disruption. I think sometimes you only think about it in the pass game. He creates a lot of disruption in the run game. So much respect to the player and who he is. I can’t say enough good things about him.”
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While Parsons didn’t register a sack, he did attract double teams much of the night, which allowed others on Green Bay’s defense to roam free. The Packers held the Eagles to their lowest point total since a 32-9 loss to Tampa Bay in the 2023 wild-card round, just 13 first downs, and 294 yards of total offense.
In the end, though, Green Bay acquired Parsons to wreck games like the one Monday — and that didn’t happen.
“I mean … it’s hard to say shoulda, coulda, wouldas in this league because if you say you should’ve won, then like, ‘Ah, you lost,’” Parsons said. “But you would like to win games like that. Even in the possession they scored, I just feel like we wish we had that third down back. So that’s tough. But, yeah, I think we should win these type of games, for sure.”