The Green Bay Packers confirmed on Monday that star edge rusher Micah Parsons tore his ACL on Sunday against the Denver Broncos and will miss the remainder of the season. That doesn’t just take his talent off the field, but it also takes the Packers’ defensive leader off the field.
Now the challenge is staying focused and everyone picking up their game a bit to try to fill the irreplaceable gap left to achieve the goals set before the season began.
How Did Green Bay Packers’ Players React To Micah Parsons’ Injury?
Parsons left Sunday’s game near the end of the third quarter as the Packers led 23-21. After Parsons’ injury, Green Bay was outscored 15-3 and lost the game.
Postgame, reporters talked with edge rusher Rashan Gary about Parsons’ injury, and he took nearly 15 seconds of silence before answering.
“It hurt to see. He will be missed on this defense,” Gary said. “Y’all all know his impact. I told him to keep his head up, and we’re going to finish strong for him.”
Gary added that this means other guys will need to step up and make the most of the opportunities by rushing and causing havoc just as Parsons did. But that’s obviously easier said than done.
“The season ain’t over,” team captain and safety Xavier McKinney said. “So, s–t, we’ve still got work to do. … It’s a big loss, but we’ve got good players. So that would just (be) saying everybody else, all the other D-linemen that we have, aren’t worth a s–t, but they are. They’re really good players.”
McKinney said the other guys have learned a lot from playing with Parsons, and they fully expect the Packers’ star to continue to be involved, helping them continue to grow and evolve down the stretch.
A fellow pass rusher, Kingley Enagbare, who will see more time on the field due to Parsons’ injury, shared a similar sentiment and spoke to Parsons’ character off the field.
“Everyone’s going to have to do their job and just continue to be relentless and attack. Just besides his impact on the field, which was amazing, his impact outside of football is even more,” Enagbare said. “Honestly, he’s probably the most giving, caring person on our team. He loves to give back, loves to care, loves to see people smile, loves to be the bright spot in the room.”
“So, just losing him on the field definitely sucks, especially for a good person like him,” he added.
Parsons is ranked No. 5 among all edge rushers in the NFL, according to PFSN’s EDGE Impact, and ranks third in the NFL with his 12.5 sacks. The Packers’ star was having another sensational year, with more than 20 quarterback hits, and became the first player in NFL history to have at least 12 sacks in each of his first five years in the NFL.
“We all know what type of player he is and the impact he’s had on our football team,” Packers’ coach Matt LaFleur said. “To lose somebody like that, it’s tough.”
Packers defensive lineman Karl Brooks added that everyone has to step up and be on top of their game.
Replacing a player like Parsons isn’t easy, and it doesn’t come from an individual; it comes from everyone on the team improving their game to try to fill that void.
“This what I (will) say,” Gary said. “For the rest of the season, what we got? Three more opportunities? Watch how the front play … there’s gonna be a lot of opportunities the next three weeks, and we gotta take advantage of it, so you gon’ see how we play.”
That’s the challenge for Green Bay. With Parsons out, everyone’s going to count the Packers out. How do they respond?
There is talent on the Packers’ defense, but now it’s more important than ever to put it all together. The Packers had Super Bowl aspirations coming into the season, and going into Denver, those aspirations seemed very much in sight.
Now, a rock has been thrown at them. Will other guys step up and fill the void to help the Packers make a late-season push?
