FRISCO, Texas -- Game 1 with Mike Zimmer as the Dallas Cowboys defensive coordinator can't be labeled as anything but a rousing success thanks to his unit's performance in Dallas' 33-17 shutdown of the Cleveland Browns.
Dallas pressured Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson on 42.9% of his dropbacks (the third-highest rate in the NFL in Week 1) for six sacks, the most for any defense in the league in Week 1, while limiting the Browns ground game to under 100 yards, 93 to be exact. An outstanding effort across the board.
"I thought the guys did a really nice job of basically staying on the reservation, doing what we're asking them to do, being in the right place," Cowboys defensive coordinator Mike ZImmer said on Monday. "They played extremely hard, they always have. I was very impressed."
Cleveland Browns quarterback Deshaun Watson and the Browns offense simply couldn't keep Cowboys three-time All-Pro edge rusher Micah Parsons in check, surrendering a sack and multiple pressures. Parsons deflected a Watson pass that landed right in the hands of Dallas middle linebacker Eric Kendricks for an interception with 1:46 left in the half. Kendricks, who joined the Cowboys as a free agent this offseason, racked up two sacks in addition to the interception. The Browns had just one first-down conversion in the entire first half and finished the game with only two first-down conversions on 15 third downs, a 13.3% conversion rate allowed. That was the second-best in the NFL behind only Dallas' Week 2 opponent, the New Orleans Saints, and their 10% third-down conversion rate allowed in a 47-10 beatdown of the Carolina Panthers.
"Zim is in everybody's head bro," Parsons said postgame on Sunday when told that stat. "He has that type of fear factor. That type of respect. You want to play for that guy man. He's just such a good dude. I have a lot of respect for him."
Dallas capitalized on both of the Browns starting offensive tackles, left tackle Jedrick Wills Jr. and right tackle Jack Conklin, missing Sunday's game with knee injuries as evidenced by the NFL-best six sacks. Parsons finished with a sack and 11 quarterback pressures, tied for the most in the NFL with Lions edge rusher Aidan Hutchinson. Four-time Pro Bowl edge rusher DeMarcus Lawrence finished with seven pressures, two sacks and a forced fumble. Rookie edge rusher Marshawn Kneeled had five quarterback pressures. Second-year inside linebacker DeMarvion Overshown also got in on the action with a sack in addition to a game-high 11 tackles in his first game back after tearing his ACL last preseason.
"Zim was cooking tonight," Lawrence said postgame on Sunday. "The whole defense felt it. We were all on the same page. It was a beautiful thing. Definitely happy we got Zim in our corner, calling the shots out there on the field, seeing what we see. We get after it again next week."
That havoc the Cowboys created led to the Browns settling for seven punts, two turnovers on downs and two interceptions. Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs hauled in his first interception after his ACL injury off a pass bounced off of Browns wideout Elijah Moore's hands and into his own diving hands. Rookie fifth-round pick Caelen Carson played a key role in Browns five-time Pro Bowl receiver Amari Cooper totaling only two catches for 16 yards despite being targeted nine times.
Zimmer's defense "has, like, 50 calls. We only ran probably like three of them," two-time Pro Bowl cornerback Trevon Diggs said postgame Sunday. He hauled in his first interception since tearing his ACL in practice prior to Week 3 last season. "That was just a little sample."
"It was a defense that frustrated me all camp long," Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott said postgame on Sunday. "We had our days against them, but they had some days against us. Their strength is confusing the quarterback. When you can do that for a split-second and you have the pass rush that we have, it's awesome. I played Zim a long time, and you're never going to put up a lot of points on Zim. Now that he is on our side, that feels good. Just knowing that we [the offense] can go in there and do our job and most times than not, it's going to be enough. Excited just to move forward. That's one down."
On Thursday, Parsons revealed he and Zimmer spoke about moving him around the entire formation, including potentially at slot corner and safety. Parsons ended up sticking to various spots along the defensive line and at inside linebacker, which resulted in consistent pressure, but the 2023 quarterback pressures leader feels he can be even more disruptive the more creative Zimmer gets with his positioning.
"We didn't even open up the full bag," Micah Parsons said postgame. "For a lot of us, it was our first game since the playoff loss [in January]. We're just getting back into it, tackling people again, getting to that full contact game plan. I just think the sky is the limit. This is just the beginning."
Micah Parsons' career defensive snap alignment
| 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | 2024 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Defensive Line | 41.3% | 81.1% | 87.2% | 90.5% |
Linebacker | 55.2% | 18.1% | 12.7% | 9.5% |
Defensive Back | 3.5% | 0.8% | 0.1% | 0% |
*Data according to Pro Football Focus
"There was a lot of time I wanted to use him in some other ways, but we didn't get to it, so we'll save it for the next couple weeks," Zimmer said. "He's a dynamic guy. We want to try get him in a lot of different places and do a lot different things with him. They had to figure out where he was. We got a lot more double chip protection [helping an offensive lineman block Parsons with a tight end and/or a running back] in this ball game than we anticipated. We knew they did it, but we need to as coaches, we need to do a better job of helping him out with some other alignments, so he's not getting chipped every single play."
However, Parsons did rotate around to five different defensive line alignments, according to PFF, which certainly played a role in the All-Pro's big Week 1.
Micah Parsons Defensive Line Alignment, Week 1 at Browns
Per PFF
- 3 snaps at left defensive end (LDE, defender lined up on or shading the right tackle in a three-point stance)
- 5 snaps at outside left defensive end (LEO, defender lined up completely outside of the right tackle and in a three-point stance)
- 27 snaps at left outside linebacker (LOLB, defender lined up 1.5 yards or less from the line of scrimmage, lined up on the inside shade of the right tackle or wider and in a two-point stance)
- 12 snaps at outside right defensive end (REO, defender lined up completely outside of the left tackle and in a three-point stance)
- 10 snaps at right outside linebacker (ROLB, defender lined up 1.5 yards or less from the line of scrimmage, lined up on the inside shade of the left tackle or wider and in a two-point stance)
* 57 of 63 defensive snaps along defensive line in Week 1
Parsons still thinks he could have finished a few more plays to further stuff the stat sheet despite the 11 quarterback pressures and the one sack of Watson.
"I think I missed like two or three [sacks], bro," Parsons said. "He [Watson] is tough. ... I'm going to have nightmares tonight, for sure. I'm supposed to start this year off with three [sacks] but it's ok. When it rains, it pours. No excuses. No excuses. I got to be better. I felt like it was the first day of camp again. I was tired. The nerves. Facing another opponent again for the first time. ... To my standard to where I want to be, I don't think I played to my best."
It's only been one regular season game for the Zimmer and Parsons pairing, but Dallas' defensive Swiss Army knife is already banging the table for the defensive coordinator to remain with him on the Cowboys for the foreseeable future.
"Man, I'm hoping Mike Zimmer is here for a longer stay, he gets an extension at the end of this year," Parsons said on "The Edge with Micah Parsons" podcast on Monday.
"I think that's important," Zimmer said of the players buying into his system after Week 1. "You go out there and you stink up the joint then they starting questioning you. I do feel like they have a good grasp on things. Now I've had a couple guys ask me 'coach is that how you are going to call the game?' I said, 'yeah, pretty much.' I said 'was it not not good?' They said 'No, we like it.' I don't why they were asking me that question. I'm just trying to do the best we can to stop the other team."