When the Dallas Cowboys secondary took the field in recent years, they waited for the signal.
How quickly should they expect their opponent to get the ball out?
Al Harris, Dallas’ defensive backs coach from 2021-24, would give them a clue.
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“I used to say, ‘Instant grits,’” Harris told Yahoo Sports recently from Chicago, where he’s now the Bears’ defensive backs coach and defensive pass game coordinator. “When you boil water, you just put the grits in there. So it’s funny because [the defensive backs] would be like, ‘Hey, how the grits?’”
In other words: How effective was the Cowboys’ pass rush at pressuring and hurrying the quarterback?
Harris’ metaphor came in handy most when edge rusher Micah Parsons was healthy. Harris, also the Cowboys’ assistant coach last year, knew which play calls gave the two-time All-Pro edge rusher the green light to pressure and when his defensive backs should be ready accordingly.
Injuries limited Parsons to 13 games in 2024, but Parsons nonetheless finished with the fifth-most quarterback pressures in the league. With 75 total pressures, his 5.77 per game led the league among defenders who played at least a third of the season, per NFL Next Gen Stats.
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Next Gen Stats credits a defender with a quarterback pressure when the defender tallies a sack; gets within 2 yards of a quarterback at a forward pass; or within 1.5 yards of the quarterback at any point in the play.
Parsons has met those criteria 335 times in four regular seasons with Dallas. He’s raced to 52.5 sacks in that period.
Harris learned to tee off his secondary to takeaway opportunities Parsons’ pressure would create.
“It’d be like second quarter [and I’d say,] ‘Hey, grits hot,’” Harris said. “They’ll give me a chance to watch Micah rush a couple of times to where I say, ‘OK, he’s going to beat these guys all day. And I just say, ‘Hey man, grits hot, so let’s get to the ball.
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“‘Let’s get to the ball.’”
The Cowboys’ success in head coach Brian Schottenheimer’s first season leading the team will hinge heavily on Parsons’ dominance. Dallas’ 2021 first-round pick is a game-wrecker. And the Cowboys are currently negotiating an extension with Parsons.
Closing the deal hasn’t gone as quickly as cooking instant grits. But will Dallas and Parsons find a middle ground soon?
Parsons attended minicamp practices this month as he enters the final year of his contract, the fifth-year option of his rookie deal that Dallas picked up.
Schottenheimer praised Parsons’ attendance.
“I think it just shows you he’s serious about what we’ve talked about, which is developing that leadership mentality, the mindset to be a guy that we can count on —and not just the fourth quarter when he’s got to make a big sack or get pressure on the quarterback, but just in general throughout the course of a week,” Schottenheimer told reporters. “He’s doing the things he’s supposed to do in terms of he’s training, he’s prepping, he’s been in, he’s been out.
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“Nobody’s more excited than Micah about what we’re building here.”
Quarterback Dak Prescott said the locker room is “very confident that Micah’s going to get this deal done,” with Prescott understanding the business considerations after negotiating two extensions with the Cowboys himself.
Will Dallas close the deal before the Cowboys’ charter is scheduled to arrive in Oxnard, Calif. on July 20 for training camp?
“I’m pretty hopeful,” Parsons said of that timeline. “I’m still hanging tight. I understand it’s up to [Jerry Jones] and he gives the green light on everything. So hopefully something’s done by next month.”
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Until then, Parsons said he’ll continue to learn the Cowboys’ new defensive system under coordinator Matt Eberflus, as Parsons gives pointers to teammates while at the facility and training with cornerback Trevon Diggs while away from it.
“The simple things,” he said of his guidance. “It’s not always the major things that make football great. It’s always the small details, the footwork, the positioning, the angles.
“We’ll watch film together and I can tell guys what I see from a vetted experience.”
Parsons plans to attend training camp with or without a deal, he said, already reserving a house for his family in California during the Cowboys’ nearly four weeks there.
Would he practice without a deal?
“We’ll see,” Parsons said. “Time will tell.”
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