CeeDee Lamb, Micah Parsons marvel at Cowboys hate

The Dallas Cowboys’ first round draft picks, Ceedee Lamb (2020) and Micah Parsons (2021) over the last two seasons are starting to feel the hate that comes with playing on America’s team. The fact that Lamb and Parsons are two of the Cowboys’ biggest budding stars makes them easy targets for other fans throughout the NFL.

“I knew but I didn’t really know,” Parsons said. “But I didn’t know like Dallas was like Dallas. I didn’t know we had that much hate … I didn’t know all that came with it.”

Lamb echoed Parsons’ sentiment. Plenty of Americans hate America’s team. He said playing in Dallas has its pros and its cons.

“Everyone loves to see you lose,” Lamb said. “It’s crazy. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

You have that one school in every sport that, if you’re not a fan of, you’re always rooting against. The Yankees, the Lakers or Celtics (nowadays it’s the Warriors or Nets), the college basketball blue bloods (Duke, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas), Alabama and Ohio State (college football).

Despite the hate, the young stars aren’t letting the noise cloud their head and affect their play on the field.

he’s currently well on his way to being one of the NFL’s premier linebackers after his breakout rookie season. Not only has the Rookie of the Year frontrunner made countless all-rookie lists, he’s also cracking all-pro lists along with 2022 Pro Bowl honors.

The rookie appeared in 17 games during the Cowboys regular season, Parsons finished second on the Cowboys behind Jayron Kearse with 84 tackles (64 solo, 20 assists). Notching 13 sacks in his first season in the league, Parsons finished sixth in the NFL behind league-leader T.J. Watt of Pittsburgh, who had 22.5. Parsons was also credited with three passes defended and three forced fumbles playing in 16 games. 

For the effort, Parsons was twice awarded the league’s Rookie of the Month honors both in November and December as the Cowboys climbed to first place in the NFC East and a No. 3 seed in the playoffs — Parsons was the first Cowboy to ever do so. 

For Lamb, he led the strong Cowboys receiving room in yards with 1,102, adding six touchdowns. Dallas finished the season as the number one offense in the NFL.

The Cowboys drafted Lamb with the 17th overall pick in the 2020 NFL Draft out of the University of Oklahoma. He out-performed his rookie stats this season, catching 79 passes on 120 targets.