GREEN BAY – On the eve of his Packers debut, Micah Parsons received a call Saturday night from Matt LaFleur with a little update.
Green Bay’s defense was going to be introduced for Sunday’s home opener against the rival Detroit Lions…and Parsons was gonna come out last.
As expected, the Lambeau Field crowd greeted the All-Pro pass rusher with deafening enthusiasm as Parsons’ No. 1 jersey emerged from the home tunnel.
That memorable start to the Parsons era in Green Bay underscored an all-around dominant day for the defense, which paved the way to a 27-13 Packers win over the defending NFC North champions in front of 77,219 in attendance.
“It gave you chills, for sure,” receiver Jayden Reed said. “Just seeing Micah run out the tunnel and the crowd erupting – just to know that was real life, that was crazy.”
The Packers used Parsons mostly in late-down passing situations out of the gate since he’d only arrived in Green Bay nine days ago and was playing his first game since a back injury sidelined him during his training camp in Dallas.
Even then, a sampling of Parsons did wonders for the Packers’ defense. On his first snap, the 6-foot-3, 250-pound pass rusher bullied his way through Detroit’s line to pressure Lions quarterback Jared Goff on a short third-down throw to running back Jahmyr Gibbs that lost two yards.
It was the first of three pressures Parsons had in the game. The second came when Detroit was driving before halftime and looking to eat into Green Bay’s 17-3 lead at the time.
Parsons put a stop to it, beating All-Pro right tackle Penei Sewell with an inside move to pressure Goff into a pass that Packers safety Evan Williams intercepted at the Green Bay 13.
Parsons said after the game he has a deep respect for Sewell and even told the Lions’ tackle that he’s gonna be his new rival, expecting a similar twice-a-year challenge to the one he faced with the Cowboys against Philadelphia’s Lane Johnson.
“I just feel like start the game off, it was just like ‘Penei, Penei, Penei,'” Parsons said. “I embraced the matchup and you gotta win those matchups and then during the game, they gained my respect.
“You gotta earn it out there on the field, so I gotta show them that I can beat their best and that’s what happened.”
The presence of Parsons had several beneficiaries, too. Defensive lineman Colby Wooden credited him for helping clear a lane to a tackle for a loss near Detroit’s goal line at the start of the fourth quarter.
Defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley also quickly built a “Cheetah” package that saw Lukas Van Ness move inside with Parsons and Rashan Gary rushing off the edges.
Gary finished with seven tackles, three quarterback hits and 1½ sacks while Van Ness recorded four tackles and shared a third-down sack with Gary in the third quarter. Devonte Wyatt also added three QB hits and a sack from the interior defensive line.
“Just ‘1’ being on the field, how he freed up just not me, but how he freed up D-Wyatt, (Karl Brooks), our D-tackles to let them get some 1-on-1s … ,” Gary said of the overall impact. “Whenever Micah’s on the field, it’s really pick your poison. We just have to stay consistent and just keep proving ourselves through the season. But having a guy like that definitely makes a lot of things easier.”
A Detroit offense that had been a juggernaut for most of last season looked mortal on Sunday. Goff averaged just 5.8 yards on 39 passing attempts while Detroit gained just 46 yards on the ground.
Individually, Parsons was rewarded for his hustle and complementary efforts late when he chased down Goff for a sack and 4-yard loss with a little more than four minutes left in regulation.
Gary, Van Ness and Wooden lit up on the sideline, as the Lambeau Field crowd roared in approval. It’s enough to make you wonder what Parsons might be capable of once he gets the defense down and can play a more sizeable number of snaps.
“That’s the scary part,” Parsons said. “I’m not going to tell you what I need to fix, I just know mentally I can be more dominant, I can turn things around and just create more havoc. Obviously with the limited play count coming in, that has an impact, too, but it’s going to come. So, I’m excited about that.”
Parsons said his back responded well to the steroid pack the Cowboys’ training staff gave him prior to his departure and praised the efforts of Green Bay’s training staff for helping him get on the field Sunday.
While excited for Thursday night’s matchup with the Washington Commanders, Parsons took a few extra minutes after the game to soak in his first Lambeau Field experience.
One of the last to leave the field, Parsons ran to the locker room amidst an appreciative slew of Packers fans still in attendance. It was an appropriate end to a perfect introduction and created a moment Parsons will never forget.
With that first Packers game under his belt, Parsons is fine giving the spotlight back to his new teammates.
“That’s pretty sick that they put that together for me,” Parsons said. “Now they can go back to their regular order. I kinda got that feeling and so you know, whoever the veterans or the captains are, they can get it now.”
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