Stephen A. Smith says Micah Parsons crossed a line with comments about Mike McCarthy

After the Dallas Cowboys’ 34-6 loss to the Philadelphia Eagles in week 10 of the NFL season star edge rusher Micah Parsons made waves with his comments about head coach Mike McCarthy.

Parsons initially said it was above his pay grade if McCarthy stuck around but his elaboration raised eyebrows.

“You want to win games and do great things with those types of legends who put in more time and work than Mike McCarthy ever did. Those are the kind of guys that I have so much sympathy and hurt for,” said Parsons.

On “First Take,” Stephen A. Smith said the comments crossed a line but still defended Parsons for what he said.

“Micah Parsons should not have said what he said, he was wrong, that’s a line you don’t cross when it comes to your teammates and your teammates include the people you work with as well as the people you work for, okay, no argument,” said Smith.

Smith pointed out that two former Dallas Cowboys assistants, Kellen Moore and Dan Quinn, are spearheading talented teams and that perhaps Parsons’ comments were because of McCarthy’s shortcomings.

“You’re Micah Parson and you’re having to see all of this and it ain’t just what Jerry’s doing it’s also what the coach is doing it’s also how the coach might be acting towards cats because he’s feeling the heat right now okay,” said Smith, “ I know Micah Parsons shouldn’t have done that, I know that, but in the same breath we ain’t gonna ask ourselves why? We just going to sit up there and just look at his words and just take it on face value and just act like this dude that had missed the previous four games just gonna come out of his mouth his first game back and going to really just disrespect the coach like that. Isn’t it an indication something else that’s going on that’s eroding before our very eyes in Big D.”

Smith said that fans should seek to understand why Parsons said what he said amid a difficult season for the Cowboys and said something had to happen to prompt such a comment.