Dolphins HC Mike McDaniel on Micah Parsons: One of the best in NFL at any position

It’s no secret that the Miami Dolphins (10-4) will need to have a plan in place to contain Dallas Cowboys (10-4) linebacker Micah Parsons in Sunday’s Week 16 home matchup.

And though Dolphins head coach Mike McDaniel has coached against Parsons just once — the 2021 playoffs when he served as offensive coordinator for the San Francisco 49ers (11-3) — he knows exactly the caliber of player he’s dealing with come Sunday at Hard Rock Stadium.

“He is one of the best players in the National Football League at any position. And it’s — yeah, I don’t think it’s really debatable,” McDaniel said. “This dude is different. And the orchestration that he has with his teammates, the stuff that coach [Dan] Quinn does with the multiplicity of his alignments, and you can tell that not only is he unique in skillset, but you don’t play all the way across the line, and in the stack, and do all the thing that he does without having a true love for the game.

“He’s more fun to watch when you’re not going to play him. But that being said, I like the challenge of facing elite players like our players do. And it’s really cool to watch because you combine talent with strength, that’s rarefied air in general with the level of talent and the level of strength that he exhibits. He is a real dude, for sure.”

Micah Parsons on Cowboys’ road woes: ‘Unacceptable’

Parsons, 24, is one of the frontrunners for the AP Defensive Player of the Year Award. In 14 games, he’s tallied 46 tackles (25 solo), 14 tackles for loss, 12.5 sacks and 27 quarterback hits. He’s added a pair of passes defensed, one forced fumble and a fumble recovery.

Parsons was silenced in this past Sunday’s 31-10 Week 15 defeat to the Buffalo Bills, recording just two tackles on the day and zero sacks. All four of Dallas’ defeats this season have come on the road — a troubling trend for Parsons and co.

“Honestly, it’s unacceptable at this point,” Parsons said after the game. “There’s no excuse for it. It’s mind-boggling and I don’t understand why we’re not playing well, and why we’re not coming together on the road. We’ve something we need to look at and get better at, because we’re back on the road next week.”