Starting with Air Ball, Micah Parsons’ Packers Debut Was Slam Dunk

Micah Parsons’ Green Bay Packers debut lived up to the hype.

Even if it started with an air ball.

The Packers, like every other team, have a pregame routine. Apparently, the coaches and players were too busy filling Parsons in on the playbook to give him the details. So, Parsons came out of the tunnel for warmups to thunderous cheers but ran to the wrong spot. So, he was late to the opening segment, when the defensive linemen get in a three-point stance and sprint upfield.

“I didn’t know nothing,” Parsons said after the Packers routed the Detroit Lions 27-13 on Sunday. “Usually in camp, they tell you how they’re going to warm up and everything. But they told me, we don’t do no warmups here [on the field], we kind of do it in the indoor [facility]. 

So, when I got out there, I went over to where the Cowboys used to go, the far right end zone, that’s where the D-line went, and they were just like, ‘You’re on the wrong side.’ So, I had to run to the other side. I definitely was lost; no one told me.”

After some position drills to get the blood moving, the pregame warmups end with a series of plays in 11-on-11. For years, the starting defense has huddled behind the ball before breaking it with everyone simulating a fadeaway jump shot.

Parsons had no idea; he quickly did something that looked like a basketball shot after seeing everyone else do it.