'Nerves & Pressure': Micah Parsons Admits to Dallas Cowboys Playoff Problem

“You could definitely feel the nerves. A lot of pressure,” Parsons says.

FRISCO - After the Dallas Cowboys fell well shy of expectations - their own and everyone else's - with a disappointing first-round home playoff loss to the San Francisco 49ers, coach Mike McCarthy admitted that he could sense a "nervous'' feeling among his players.

McCarthy got blasted for that revelation.

But now along comes superstar rookie Micah Parsons to echo the same sentiment.

Tim Heitman/USA Today Sports

Micah Parsons

Dak Prescott, Micah Parsons and Mike McCarthy

“You could definitely feel the nerves. A lot of pressure,” Parsons said during an appearance on The Rich Eisen Show. “You gotta win that game.”

The Cowboys feel - as expressed by quarterback Dak Prescott - that "we had everything'' as a team able to compete for a Super Bowl. Nothing wrong with that feeling. And "nervousness'' and "pressure''? That's normal, too.

The issue is that McCarthy, Prescott and Parsons - team leaders all, even though Micah is but a rookie - were not able to somehow funnel all that "nervous energy'' into "positive energy.''

McCarthy has noted that this was this team's first go-around at postseason play, but that's not entirely true. It's this team, coached by him, that made its first playoff appearance and experienced its first playoff failure. And it's Micah's "first,'' too. But it's not a "first'' for a large number of Cowboys players who have failed with some frequency when it comes to advancing toward and/or in the playoffs.

“I don’t think we came out to play championship football,'' said Parsons, who otherwise had a brilliant season as he won NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year  with 13 sacks, 30 QB hits, a Pro Bowl selection and first-team All-Pro honors. "We gave up too much free stuff and in a game like that you have to work for every yard.''

Micah Parsons and Deebo Samuel

And before the game? You have to funnel your nervousness, leaving Cowboys Nation hoping that the fact that McCarthy and Parsons recognize the problem is a step toward fixing it.

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