Micah Parsons Suffers Knee Injury That Could Derail Packers

Moments later, the Broncos had turned a 23-14 deficit into a 27-23 lead.

Oh, what might have been.

On second-and-13, Parsons applied the pressure and Xavier McKinney couldn’t corral an interception at the sideline. On third-and-13, Parsons rushed up the middle and was held but there was no call, which allowed the Broncos to extend the drive on fourth-and-1.

On the next play, Nix went deep to Marvin Mims. McKinney had another chance for an interception but couldn’t make the play.

Had McKinney made either of the interceptions or if holding would have been called, the Packers would have been off the field and Parsons would have been healthy.

The Packers traded two first-round picks and Kenny Clark to the Cowboys before the season, then signed Parsons to a record-breaking four-year contract. The trade seemingly was made to push the Packers into Super Bowl contenders.

With four consecutive wins, were they?

“Well, it’s to be determined,” Parsons said this week. “Usually the best teams win in December. We won one in December, and this is another big one in December. We’ve got one next week. Just one week at a time. To look forward, you could say, yeah, we have a hell of a chance to do some great things but I’m looking across the league and I see a lot of other teams playing some really good football, especially in this NFC division.

“It’s just about who plays the best because everyone knows football’s all about matchups. Look how the Falcons just upset (Tampa Bay). Football’s a very unpredictable sport and the only thing we can control, like I told you guys last week, is our own fate. Right now, we’re the No. 2 seed. How can we stay there or even get to No. 1? We’ve got to win the rest of these games to even decide or even look forward to the playoffs and playoff success.”

Without Parsons, the Packers’ championship chances could be zero.

While he had only two tackles against Denver, Parsons was on fire, starting with a forced fumble to start the game, which set up an opening field goal by Brandon McManus. He even drew a holding penalty.

Parsons entered the game tied for third in the NFL with 12.5 sacks and leading the NFL in pressures.

“Micah Parsons didn’t have a sack in the game last week,” defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley said this week. “Micah Parsons had an unbelievable game last week. I mean, he had totally affected the game, but he didn’t have a sack.

“So, if you’re going to be results based, then you can call it what you want. But if you want to look deep and look at the whole process and how he truly affected every play, he had a really good game. Hopefully we’ll get a chance to get in the game where the ball is going up in the air and there’s a lot more dropback passes and a lot more opportunities to rush.”

Parsons and Reggie White are the only players with five consecutive 10-sack seasons to start his career, and he’s the only player to start his career with five consecutive 12-sack seasons.

“It’s honestly a blessing,” Parsons said on Friday. “I’ve been compared to Reggie, the LT’s (Lawrence Taylors), the Derrick Brooks – pretty much any of the greatest players you can think of – and it’s just always a reminder that I got to find a way to keep creating my own name, my own dynasty and making my own path.

“Obviously, you take the blessings, the good with the good and the bad with the bad, but, at some point, you want to separate and be like, ‘OK, he made his stamp, his legacy here, too,’ so that way the next person that maybe gets traded or come here, they’ll be the next Micah and that’ll be the comparison, so I think that’s always the goal.”

Before the game, Broncos coach Sean Payton marveled at Parsons’ ability to play snap after snap after snap and at any position on the line.

“He has a unique bend and power,” Payton said. “He’s strong. His flexibility and his strength, and how he plays with balance, he’s elite. In every game you watch, there are pocket issues and [No.] 52 [Rashan Gary] is the same. As a group, they rush the passer extremely well. Our early downs have to be good. He’s up 85, 88 percent [of the snaps]. He’s up there quite a bit.”