The Green Bay Packers and their bitter NFC North rival, the Detroit Lions, are set to face off in a highly anticipated Week 1 matchup.
And ahead of that matchup, new Packers star Micah Parsons added some fuel to the fire of the incredibly bitter rivalry between the two teams.
All eyes will be on Parsons in the Week 1 matchup coming off a fourth consecutive Pro Bowl season with the Dallas Cowboys in 2024. And despite his availability for Week 1 being in question due to a lingering back injury, Parsons sure seems quite eager to get onto the field as soon as possible.
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Speaking about the upcoming matchup against the Lions with reporters on Friday, Parsons threw a dig at the Lions' high-powered offense which featured a lot of trick plays in 2024.
In particular, Parsons claimed that all of the trick plays the Lions call is a "scare tactic" that teams employ when they "can't beat you straight up."
"Trick plays are for people who can't beat you straight-up," Parsons said in a video posted on X by Ari Meirov. "It's like a guy running around a ring all day trying to jab. Meet me in the middle. Let's line it up.
"That's what guys who try and do trick plays do. They can't meet you head up. They don't want to out-physical you. They don't want to be dominant. It's a scared tactic. But I can beat you any which way."
Some would certainly argue that trick plays are just working smart and not harder for an offense, but as a defensive player, it's perhaps not surprising to see Parsons share this opinion.
It will certainly be interesting to see whether the Lions do have a similar number of trick plays in their playbook after losing former offensive coordinator Ben Johnson, who took the Chicago Bears vacant head-coaching job this offseason.
Johnson was widely regarded as the man who provided the Lions offense with as much innovation as it had in past years.
Either way, it is quite clear that Parsons has fully taken on the mindset of a Packers player early on in his tenure with the team by not shying away from jabs at their divisional rival.
So if Parsons is able to suit up for Sunday's game, expect for him to be bringing the physicality that he seems to believe that the Lions lack.
For more on the Packers, head to Newsweek Sports.
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