The Buccaneers’ offensive line usually tries to keep opposing defenders out of their side of the field. On Monday, they wouldn’t let Micah Parsons get back to Dallas territory, and the Cowboys EDGE appeared to embrace that.
After chasing Tom Brady in the backfield during the first quarter of Monday’s wild-card playoff game, Parsons started to slowly walk back to his team’s side of the line of scrimmage. He tried to walk through Tampa Bay’s offensive line to get there. When he couldn’t get through, he decided to hang around as the Buccaneers started to huddle.
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Bucs center Ryan Jensen, who was activated off injured reserve Monday to appear in his first game this season, wasn’t having it and shoved Parsons, who pleaded to the officials for a penalty.
It appeared Parsons might have been trying to draw an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Buccaneers by getting shoved. Parsons never tried to get physical with the linemen, but by staying in the backfield or trying to push his way through the linemen, Tampa Bay certainly wasn’t going to respond positively.
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Few players spend as much time in the opposing backfield as Parsons. According to PFF, he was tied with Nick Bosa for most total pressures this season (90). He was tied for 13th in the NFL in 2022 with 14 tackles for loss.
But if there was ever a time to not be in the team’s backfield, it was probably before the teams had a chance to get the play off.
