Inside The Star
The Green Bay Packers lost to the Denver Broncos this past weekend to close the gap between themselves and hopeful Wildcard teams in the chase for the postseason.
Green Bay currently sits with a 9-4-1 record, and is clinging to that final Wildcard spot headed into Week 16.
Despite the loss to the Broncos, that wasn’t the Packers’ biggest loss that day.
Superstar EDGE Micah Parsons, who was having an All-Pro season, was lost to a non-contact injury to his left knee that results have since shown is a torn ACL.
Parsons’ season is over, and on the same day as fellow superstar Patrick Mahomes to the very same injury.
While Parsons’ has a long road to recovery ahead of him, analysis by ESPN’s Ryan Clark regarding the reason for the injury has raised some eyebrows.
Clark did not cite the field or Parsons cleats for the injury. He also didn’t blame another player who might have been engaged in a block with Parsons.
At the end of Clark’s reasoning, he ended up blaming Broncos’ QB Bo Nix. What?
For context, Clark didn’t directly blame Bo Nix for Parsons’ injury, but he might as well have.
Clark attributed Parsons’ unfortunate injury to the physical toll of constantly chasing Nix around the football field in pass rush.
He believes the repeated chasing, redirecting, and change of direction put extra strain on Parsons’ knee, leading to his eventual injury.
Nix has been an elusive quarterback in his short time in the NFL, running for 684 yards and eight touchdowns in less than two full seasons.
Despite this elusiveness, Parsons has had to chase far more elusive quarterbacks in his career.
Players like Patrick Mahomes, Jalen Hurts, Russell Wilson, Lamar Jackson, and Josh Allen, just to name a few.
Ryan Clark has been one of the most outspoken and opinionated analysts ESPN has had on the air in recent seasons.
Not only does Clark work for ESPN, but he also hosts a podcast with former NFL players called The Pivot.
The Pivot tackles the NFL and it’s players from a different angle, focusing more on the personal side of being a professional player, and taking listeners deeper into the side of the NFL that we don’t see.
This podcast is ripe with opinions and sometimes wild takes, but essentially blaming Nix for Parsons’ ACL injury is one of the strangest takes to date.
Parsons rushes the passer with so much speed and violence, an injury of this magnitude was always possible, regardless of who the pass rush target is.
The loss of Parsons puts pressure on the Green Bay defense that they didn’t have at the start of the season.
Having already lost DT Devonte Wyatt to a lower leg injury, the Packers’ defensive line now needs bench players to step up and fill the void.
Without Parsons’ effective pass rush, the Packers’ secondary will have to hold in coverage...
