Micah Parsons is usually a nightmare for quarterbacks. But he showed a soft side Wednesday by defending embattled New York Jets QB Zach Wilson.
On Bleacher Report’s The Edge podcast, Parsons went after Wilson’s critics with the same relentlessness the Dallas Cowboys star shows when he’s rushing quarterbacks.
“A lot of you said you wanted to get rid of Zach Wilson, ya’ll shamed him, he got blamed by the media, he got blamed by everyone,” Parsons said. “Coach [Robert Saleh] said that was their best option at quarterback. And you thought, anybody can just play quarterback in the NFL, cause ya’ll think that quarterback is just the easiest job, which it’s not.”
Wilson has obviously struggled this season. He got unexpectedly pressed into action after starter Aaron Rodgers was injured a few plays into the season. The Jets offense has sputtered and Wilson took the blame, with fans and media alike demanding he be benched.
Saleh benched Wilson before the Black Friday game against the Buffalo Bills. But the Jets have been even worse under quarterbacks Tim Boyle (who they just released) and Trevor Siemian.
Saleh announced Wednesday Wilson will start the remainder of the season.
“Zach Wilson’s execution hasn’t been great,” Parsons said. “But in reality, he’s a good enough player to win games.”
Parsons blamed the media, and the New York media in particular, for the Jets quarterback fiasco.
“He’s in New York … New York media, you guys deliberately killed this man’s confidence,” Parsons said. “Ya’ll single-handedly broke him down.”
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Parsons pointed out Wilson’s story can have a happy ending, with a chance to prove the critics wrong.
“If I’m Zach, and you know this team may move on from me, you have this narrative that is painted against you, and you have this opportunity to fix it, that’s the beautiful thing about life,” Parsons said. “And if I were you, I don’t care what no one says, I’m going to go out here and just play my brand of football. And that’s the best thing you can do.”
So Parsons, who’s made a name for himself knocking quarterbacks down, propped one up. Who saw that coming?
