The Green Bay Packers seem to have righted the ship. After an abysmal start to the season, they are now 3-2 following their dominating 31-7 victory over the Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Indeed, the attitude of fans towards the team has drastically improved over the last couple of weeks, and there is plenty of optimism that the Packers will continue this upward trend when they face the Dallas Cowboys this weekend.
There is, however, one shadow that still hangs over the team: injuries. Javon Hargrave became the latest Green Bay player to suffer a season-ending injury as he tore his Achilles against Chicago. As the Dallas game looms, many fans recall that this was the week that Micah Parsons was initially predicted to return from his own major injury, but he has not returned to practice.
Micah Parsons explains why he has not yet begun practicing for the Green Bay Packers
While Green Bay did struggle as a whole at the start of the season, very few of their issues were on the defensive side of the ball. In Parsons’ absence, multiple young players have emerged as true forces in the NFL, which is even more positive given the fact that star linebacker Edgerrin Cooper is out for the season too.
Indeed, Jonathan Gannon has done a fantastic job in his first season as the Packers defensive coordinator (thus far). Still, many are anxious to see Parsons back on the field and are concerned as to why it has not happened yet.
On his podcast, “The Edge,” Parsons himself gave the following explanation:
“The biggest thing that people worried about with me, they’re like, ‘Man, why ain’t he back yet?’ If the Super Bowl was this week, I’m playing in the Super Bowl. But it’s just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first. What a lot of people don’t figure out is it’s not just the ACL. It’s like, why did the ACL happen? What was weak?
“Because it all works together. It’s a chain. And throughout the history of ACL, they notice if you come back early, there tends to be an overcompensation injury on the other side … we just gon’ make sure everything is right before. Because everyone knows, it’s like, what’s the point of getting me back for four weeks and then next thing you know, my groin bothering me.”
Fans may recall that wide receiver Christian Watson suffered injury after injury when he first arrived in the NFL. After a couple of years, the Packers sent him to a specialist in Madison. It was discovered that one of his legs was significantly stronger than the other, and this discrepancy caused the weaker one to overcompensate, which led to his injuries.
Obviously, Green Bay does not want that to happen with any of their players, but especially their All-Pro pass rusher who is under contract for the next few years. Making sure that he is 100% healthy before having him return is clearly the right move for both him and the organization.
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