Rex Ryan believes Micah Parsons made an “ass” of himself Sunday.
During Monday’s installment of “Get Up,” both the ex-Jets coach and former offensive lineman Damien Woody ripped the Cowboys’ star linebacker for his comments about Dallas’ coaching staff after Sunday’s 34-6 loss to the Eagles.
Parsons said he felt worse for the Cowboys’ veterans as the team’s season spirals out of control compared to head coach Mike McCarthy, while also taking a perceived dig at McCarthy’s effort.
“You’re giving up family time, you’re giving up all kinds of stuff in your life and you’re gonna get some ass— I don’t care how talented he is, that is absolutely BS. If you would’ve worked half as frickin’ hard as a damn coach does, maybe you’d be able to play every damn game,” said Ryan, referencing Parsons’ recent injury that sidelined him for four games. “Maybe your team wouldn’t just be a bunch of punks and lay down every week like you’re doing. How about being a damn football team? You’re going to sell your damn coach out. It’s a crock of sh… you know what.”
The Cowboys are headed nowhere under McCarthy, and it seems he will be coaching his final games with the franchise with Dallas now 3-6 and Dak Prescott’s season potentially over.
The players surely know this may be it for McCarthy, but Parsons raised eyebrows when commenting on his coach’s future after Sunday’s loss.
McCarthy is in the last year of his contract and the Cowboys retained him in a controversial decision after last season ended at home with a blowout playoff loss to the Packers.
“That’s above my pay grade, about if Mike’s coaching again next year,” Parsons said. “All coaching aside, Mike can leave and go wherever he wants. Guys I kind of feel bad for is guys like [guard] Zack Martin and guys who might be on their last year, on their way out, because that’s who I wanted to hold the trophy for.
“You want to win games and do great things with those type of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. So those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for.”
Ryan, who also coached the Bills following his Jets firing in late 2014, showed he still can dial up his fastball when he needs to and tore into Parsons.
The line about McCarthy’s investment lacking compared to others really did not sit well with Ryan.
“That’s total BS,” Ryan said. “Coaches are there, some days, 20 hours a day, for two or three days at least during the week. The hours they put in — it’s unmatched. Mike McCarthy, he doesn’t deserve this damn comment. He doesn’t. No coach does. There are some horrible coaches out there but none of them deserve this, the kind of work they put in as coaches, like, I’m just telling you.”
Woody, who played for the Patriots, Jets and Lions during his 12-year career, said he had never heard a player ever make similar comments after a game.
He then went after Parsons for having a podcast, “The Edge with Micah Parsons,” suggesting the platform emboldens him to say controversial things.
“Who the hell Micah Parsons think he is talking like that after a game? Bro, you been missing all these games with the injury and last time I checked, the head coach is a Super Bowl-winning coach and I know the season hasn’t gone the way everyone expected it to go and all that, but for you to sit there in the locker room right after your team gets pummeled and to just undress your coaching in that manner — see that’s what’s going on with all these podcast boys out here in the locker room,” Woody said. “They want to spout and say all this type of stuff.
Woody then compared the current generation of players to those of previous generations.
“There used to be a time when there was a little bit of respect and decorum in the locker room because at the end of the day, it was about we. We didn’t do enough. All of y’all got your asses kicked, OK,” he said. “And you going to go out here and talk about your head coach, basically saying your head coach is not working, not doing his thing to try to prepare the team, I just think it’s a bunch of BS man, I really do.
“We can sit here and laugh and all that stuff and be here in shock, but that’s disrespectful what Micah Parsons did to Mike McCarthy in that situation because I know, again, it’s not the results Mike McCarthy wants but I know that man is busting his ass every single day to try to go out there and get a win and here one of your star players come out there and say that, come on, man, I can’t ride with that.”
The Cowboys will try to get back in the win column next Monday night at home against the Texans, a game that fellow ESPN personality Chris Russo wants nothing to do with.