GREEN BAY, Wis. \u2014 Packers head coach Matt LaFleur called his new defensive superstar on Saturday night, less than 24 hours before Micah Parsons\u2019 debut for his new team.<\/p>\n
Parsons, LaFleur told him, would be the last player announced before running out of the tunnel during pregame introductions.<\/p>\n
During Packers home games, Lambeau Field public address announcer Bill Jartz either announces the offensive or defensive starters one by one \u2014 he alternates games \u2014 with their position, college, jersey number and name, in that order.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re gonna give you that embrace that you deserve,\u201d LaFleur told Parsons, perhaps the NFL\u2019s best defensive player for whom the Packers traded less than a week and a half before their first Week 1 home game in seven years.<\/p>\n
Safety Xavier McKinney, a reigning first-team All-Pro, would normally be last. The Packers, however, had to give the people what they wanted.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe talked about it,\u201d McKinney said. \u201cI understand. He\u2019s a big addition to this team, big addition to this defense and s\u2014, give the fans what they wanna see, so s\u2014, I\u2019m all for it every time.\u201d<\/p>\n
After announcing defensive end Rashan Gary second-to-last, Jartz held his \u201caaaand\u201d a tad longer to build anticipation for the grand finale. The home crowd erupted.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s pretty sick that they put that together for me,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cNow they can go back to their regular order. I kinda got that feeling, and so, whoever the veterans or the captains are, they can get it now.\u201d<\/p>\n
McKinney said it doesn\u2019t matter to him if he\u2019s announced last in two home games.<\/p>\n
\u201cI ain\u2019t trippin,\u201d McKinney said. \u201cAs long as we go out there and win these games and play how we just played today, I\u2019m good.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nMicah Parsons got a POP from the crowd after being announced last pic.twitter.com\/5fk9K29Oam<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Matt Schneidman (@mattschneidman) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
How the Packers played fit the hype preceding their heavyweight tilt with the Lions. Now armed with one of the best defensive players since he entered the league in 2021, the Packers and Parsons did to the Lions what Dan Campbell\u2019s squad has done to them at Lambeau Field in recent years \u2014 emasculated them \u2014 in the form of an emphatic 27-13 win. Not only did the Packers start the season 1-0, but their statement victory signified the gap between Green Bay and Detroit, perhaps even Green Bay and the rest of the NFL\u2019s elite, has closed.<\/p>\n
Parsons only played 29 of 65 defensive snaps, less than 45 percent, as he recovers from a back injury, returns to full fitness after sitting out training camp with the Cowboys and learns the entirety of defensive coordinator Jeff Hafley\u2019s playbook. In those 29 snaps, everyone inside Lambeau Field and watching on TV saw exactly why the Packers took a herculean swing to acquire Parsons and how lethal an already stout defense can be with him leading the charge.<\/p>\n
\u201cHis presence? Just being Micah Parsons,\u201d McKinney said. \u201cWhen you get a guy like that, of that talent, you can put him out there and tell him to just stand there. And before the play is snapped, they\u2019re going to be looking for him because if you\u2019re not prepared for him, it\u2019s not going to be good for you. So I think just his presence out there alone is intimidating for offenses and he didn\u2019t even play the whole game, so once he gets kind of in his groove and he starts getting more reps under his belt, it\u2019s going to be great.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons\u2019 first snap in green and gold came on the Lions\u2019 first third down of the game, a third-and-7 from their 27-yard line with the Packers already leading 7-0. Parsons looked like he was first trying to muscle past right tackle Penei Sewell around the outside, but Parsons maneuvered inside and swatted at Sewell\u2019s inside hand to beat him before pressuring quarterback Jared Goff. Goff scurried to his right and was forced into a short completion for a loss of 2 yards that preceded a punt.<\/p>\n
His second official pressure of three, according to Next Gen Stats, came late in the second quarter with the Lions facing a third-and-7 from Green Bay\u2019s 16-yard line and the Packers leading 17-3 (the Lions were also set to receive the second-half kickoff). Parsons said he didn\u2019t see the Lions slide protection toward him, so he knew he had another one-on-one against Sewell. Parsons told defensive tackle Colby Wooden, aligned to Parsons\u2019 right, to power rush against the right guard. Parsons took a jab step left and juked back right to beat Sewell inside while Wooden occupied his man. With Parsons bearing down, Goff released a quick throw to wideout Amon-Ra St. Brown that safety Evan Williams jumped for an interception.<\/p>\n
\nBIG TIME EVAN!<\/p>\n
\ud83d\udcfa: CBS pic.twitter.com\/EoNesbvg3n<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 Green Bay Packers (@packers) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
\u201cYou get it to a third-and-long, even third-and-short, you understand that the ball\u2019s got to come out,\u201d Williams said. \u201cEspecially against a non-mobile quarterback like (Goff), you can\u2019t run around forever. So yeah, it definitely gave me a little bit of confidence seeing 1 (Parsons) run on the field. You\u2019re like, \u2018OK, here we go!\u2019 Now it\u2019s time to guard for not that long because the ball\u2019s going to come out, so that reassurance definitely helps us as cover players.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons\u2019 lone sack came in garbage time of the fourth quarter, when he fought through traffic on the right side of the line before crossing from outside the far hashmarks to in front of the Packers\u2019 sideline and corralling Goff. NGS clocked Parsons at 18.47 miles per hour (he guessed 21 MPH and said he didn\u2019t even \u201cburst out\u201d). The sideline went nuts and Parsons held his right arm high in the air with his pointer finger extended.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt looked like a speed of light or a shooting star just coming out of the sky and closing ground fast,\u201d LaFleur said. \u201cThat\u2019s why he\u2019s here, right? That was really exciting to see. I definitely know that our crowd reacted the right way, as well. I don\u2019t know if I\u2019ve heard our crowd much louder than when they introduced him, and certainly on that sack.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe definitely has an aura about him.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nWelcome to Green Bay, Micah Parsons \ud83e\udd29<\/p>\n
DETvsGB on CBS\/Paramount+https:\/\/t.co\/HkKw7uXVnt<\/a> pic.twitter.com\/rijPUZ6ELm<\/a><\/p>\n
\u2014 NFL (@NFL) September 7, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Those three plays will be Parsons\u2019 main impact on the box score, but his influence on Green Bay\u2019s defense went beyond three pressures and a sack. Like when he bulldozed Sewell into Goff\u2019s lap, forcing the quarterback to step up and into a Lukas Van Ness\/Rashan Gary shared sack on third-and-6 from Detroit\u2019s 38-yard line after Van Ness bullied left guard Christian Mahogany (Parsons said the Packers call that package with him and Gary on the edge and Van Ness on the interior, \u201cCheetah\u201d). Or when Parsons occupied two blockers with the Lions on the fringe of their own end zone and nobody blocked Wooden, leading to a tackle for loss on third and 16.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt just opened like the Red Sea,\u201d Wooden said. \u201cLike dang, they didn\u2019t block me. I just made the tackle. Coach preaches all the time, don\u2019t get tired making the routine play. A routine play is a tackle. Let\u2019s get off the field.\u201d<\/p>\n
Parsons is phenomenal himself, but he\u2019s going to make everybody on the Packers\u2019 defense better, too. He said he felt like the Lions started the game by just sending Sewell at him before devoting more chips and slides to him, which opens opportunities for others.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat\u2019s the type of respect that is warranted,\u201d Parsons said. \u201cYou gotta earn it out there on the field, so I gotta show them that I can beat their best and that\u2019s what happened.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Packers\u2019 pass rush was inconsistent last season \u2014 that\u2019s how general manager Brian Gutekunst described it \u2014 and LaFleur fired defensive line coach Jason Rebrovich and replaced him with former Patriots defensive coordinator DeMarcus Covington. Even so, the Packers ranked sixth in scoring defense and yards allowed per game and fourth in takeaways. Adding Parsons to this defense? And to a pass rush that needed someone like him?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really going to be a team picking their poison,\u201d Gary said. \u201cYou want to chip me? Cool, he\u2019s going to be free. You want to chip him? Cool, I\u2019m going to be free. We have (Devonte Wyatt). We\u2019ve got Colby. We\u2019ve got (Kingsley Enagbare). We\u2019ve got a lot of inside guys that are able to rush. It\u2019s really just pick your poison throughout the front. Adding a guy like that, it only gives us more confidence. It only frees us up better.\u201d<\/p>\n
Only a couple of things didn\u2019t go to plan in Parsons\u2019 debut. For one, he was lost in warmups. Cowboys defensive linemen go through pregame in the same far-right corner of the end zone that Packers offensive linemen do, so Parsons ran to them and was told to take a hike. The starting defense also mimics a basketball fadeaway jump shot when leaving their pregame 11-on-11 huddle, but Parsons had no idea that was tradition and was rather delayed and half-hearted in his.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things I had to learn,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\nParsons learning on the fly. pic.twitter.com\/uKyaImsfvS<\/a><\/p>\n