‘Mismatch’ – No limits to Green Bay ambition as Micah Parsons trade blasts Packers into Super Bowl conversation

Rashan Gary is confident that the Green Bay Packers have all the necessary pieces to be true Super Bowl contenders.

“I heard it from the crowd and we felt it as a defense,” the Packers star tells talkSPORT after a dominant display on both sides of the ball saw Green Bay knock the Detroit Lions‘ pride down a step or two with a 27-13 victory in their NFL season opener.

The youngest roster in the NFL is coming of age, and Gary sat down for an exclusive chat with talkSPORT play-by-play announcer Will Gavin.

Against a Lions team that went 15-2 last season, the Packers made not just an NFC North statement, not even an NFC statement, but a Super Bowl statement.

The youngest roster in the league are not here to make up numbers, one year on from their own playoff disappointment, Gary had the utmost confidence that the Packers’ defense would be, and will be, so relentless

“Absolutely,” the 2024 Pro Bowler said. “Especially for our defensive unit, everybody feel like the sky’s the limit.

“Going out there and putting those performances out there, that’s something that we expect of ourselves. And we just gotta keep holding the standard and go 1-0 every week.”

The Packers held Jared Goff and co to just 246 total yards, with their run defense particularly impressive.

Last year’s dynamic backfield of Jahmyr Gibbs and David Montgomery – known as Sonic and Knuckles – combined for just 44 rushing yards from 20 carries.

And their all-star defense, led by DC Jeff Hafley, sacked Goff four times for 25 yards.

Already touted to be one of the leading candidates to come out of the NFC in the postseason, and coming out the blocks of the 2025 season with all cylinders firing, the Wisconsin outfit’s Super Bowl chances have skyrocketed.

Those chances were boosted further when the front-office swung a blockbuster trade to land three-time All-Pro pass rusher Micah Parsons, who, according to Gary, has already made his presence felt in the locker room.

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What does Micah Parsons bring to the Packers?

“Number one thing just energy,” Gary exclusively told talkSPORT on what Parsons has brought to the team.

“Energy and confidence. Having a guy of that stature coming into this team, and basically beef up our defense, help us on pass rush and basically create mismatches across the board. You can’t beat it.

“It’s bittersweet [losing Kenny Clark but gaining Parsons]. But, as I started to understand the player that we was getting, how he could help me open up my game, how I could help him open up his game, communicating, it’s gonna be hard for tacklers and other offenses to come up with blocking schemes to try to slow us down.”

Parsons’ journey to the Packers came after his public fallout with Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones amid contract extension negotiations, or lack thereof.

After it was clear that Jones didn’t want to pay the 26-year-old and make him the highest paid non-quarterback in the league, Parsons forced his way out by submitting a trade request away from America’s Team.

In a stunning turn of events and much to the surprise of many, especially Cowboys legend Michael Irvin, Parsons got his wish and Dallas’ loss was their NFC rivals’ gain, as the Packers immediately penned their new star to a historic four-year, $188 million contract.

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Now, with the four-time Pro-Bowler on the Green and Gold, and having already recorded his first sack for the team in jaw-dropping fashion against the Lions, Gary’s excitement level for what is to come from the team as they build their chemistry is unmatched.

“It’s only going to get better,” he said. “The more we play together – that was week one – we’re still getting into the schemes, still understanding things he likes to do, things that, vice versa, what I like to do, communicating our rush plans, things like that, what we’ve seen from the tackles.

“But man, first third down, I heard it from the crowd and we felt it as a defense. So we just know we just got to keep it rolling.”

Along with three pressures in just 29 of the Packers’ 65 defensive snaps, what a kick in the teeth it must have felt for Jerry Jones when Parson got his sack.

Especially after the Cowboys suffered a brutal defeat to division rivals Philadelphia Eagles to leave them 0-1 to start their regular season campaign.

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The 26-year-old’s emphatic sack certainly ignited the Packers crowd at a packed-out Lambeau Field, though Gary insists that the team’s defensive display has set the tone for what they should be achieving across an entire 18-week season.

“That’s the standard man,” Gary exclusively told talkSPORT’s Will Gavin.

“That’s what we expect from everybody. No one should have to give you some juice to wake up to play this great game that God blesses to play. 

“There’s only a few people that’s able to play it. So us being in a small percentage of people that’s playing it, man, you got to cherish it because football is not for long. So you got to stay locked in and you got to really focus on the moment of time that you have at hand.”

Can the Packers win the Super Bowl?

With the addition of Parsons to an already stacked defense, and Jordan Love – a potential MVP candidate – at the helm for the offense, the Packers might just have the best team in the NFC, if not the entire league.

So, could Green Bay really be Super Bowl LX bound? They might just well be, but its impossible to predict this early on in the season, as a lot of things can happen and change over the course of the next 17 weeks.

At least internally the Packers will march on with full confidence that this is finally the year that they can put an end their 15-year Lombardi Trophy drought and go the distance to glory.

Their next test, though, comes in the form of the Washington Commanders, who come to town on Thursday Night Football, with coverage available on talkSPORT.

Led by standout quarterback Jayden Daniels there is just one thing on the opposition’s mind – to win the game and silence the 81,000-strong Lambeau crowd.

But with their Super Bowl window having now been blown wide open, the sky is the limit for the Packers, indeed.

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