The Cowboys and Dolphins will meet on Sunday for what’s one of the marquee matchups of Week 16.
This will be the first time McDaniel coaches against Parsons with the Dolphins. But McDaniel was San Francisco’s offensive coordinator in 2021 when the 49ers beat the Cowboys in the playoffs.
In his Wednesday press conference, McDaniel was asked about the challenge of facing Parsons.
“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 sth the 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.”
In 14 games this season, Parsons has 46 total tackles with 12.5 sacks, 14 tackles for loss, and 27 quarterback hits. He’s also recorded a pair of passes defensed, a forced fumble, and a fumble recovery.
With Dallas coming off a bad loss in Buffalo last weekend, we’ll have to see if McDaniel and the Dolphins can keep Parsons from wrecking the game in Miami on Sunday.