Exclusive on Browns: Micah Parsons Takes Out T.J. Watt After He Undercuts Myles Garrett’s DPOY Win
The NFL’s regular-season awards have often been controversial, but the winner wasn’t as hotly contested as Myles Garrett of the Cleveland Browns, who won Defensive Player of the Year last week.
Garrett was one of the league’s elite players for several seasons, making five Pro Bowls and five All-Pro selections during his seven-year NFL career. On February 8, Garrett added the DPOY trophy to his proverbial cap. That linebacker T.J. Watt of the Pittsburgh Steelers and Micah Parsons of the Dallas Cowboys were second and third. Controversy erupted in the ever-toxic world of social media as Pittsburgh fans claimed voters gave Watt 11 votes to Garrett’s 23. Watt also posted a five-word response to the claims online. . “There’s nothing I haven’t learned,” Watt said.
But Parsons, 24, is having none of that. The point of contention about Garrett is that he finished the season with 14 sacks (7th in the NFL), while Watt led the league with 19 sacks. But Parsons said traditional stats don’t tell the whole story and urged fans to watch the tape instead of just reading the tape score. And the Dallas quarterback doubled down on that sentiment during an interview with CBS Sports’ Zach Gelb on Friday.
“I’m not a loser,” Parsons said. “I thought I was going to have to go to Miles or myself and they said that publicly and it’s simple. Miles – Watch a Titans game. No offense, but T.J. He played with the Titans. T. J. Have you seen two tight ends since then? watt? Do you think you’re following him [like you did with Garrett]?
Micah Parsons says Myles Garrett is more dominant than TJ Watt.
And Parsons didn’t stop there.
“People can say what they want, but movies don’t lie,” the Cowboys quarterback told Gelb. “His presence is much more dominant than T.J. Watt, it’s true.”
Parsons pointed to advanced analytics that factor in teams’ pass rush rate and double-double rate. This shows the impact the player has on the offense in a game where he does not record a sack or a tackle for loss. .
Garrett ranks second in the NFL with a 30.5 percent winning percentage. He also has more doubles than all but two players this season and has faced multiple blocks 28.8 percent of the time, according to ESPN. The Browns also had the league’s best defense in yards allowed per game at 267, and Garrett was the best player in that department. “I know the focus is on the number of sacks,” Browns general manager Andrew Berry told ESPN’s Jake Trotter. “That doesn’t really tell the whole story. … He played at a very high level for us.
Micah Parsons is concerned about the culture of professional sports that undermines the achievements of great players like Myles Garrett.
Parsons said he had no problems with Garrett or even Watt. For him, the problem lies in a sporting culture in which greatness is not sufficiently valued in the context of competitiveness. No beef at all. One of the things I hate about the NFL community and the NBA community is that they hate to see other people win. When he lost to T.J., he “rebutted” and did not participate. I just said, “I’m going to work.” Even when we lost to Nick Bosa the next year, I didn’t say, “I got rejected.” I just said, “I’m working.”
The biggest mistake people make is telling someone they don’t deserve it. Who are you to say that someone doesn’t deserve such an award?
