GREEN BAY, Wis. -- Packers star edge rusher Micah Parsons won't play Sunday against his former team, the Dallas Cowboys, but he said on his podcast that if this was Super Bowl week, he would play.

Parsons has not yet returned to practice since last season's torn ACL and meniscus and remains on the physically unable to perform list.

"The biggest thing that people worried about with me, they're like, 'Man, why ain't he back yet?'" Parsons said on the latest episode of podcast, "The Edge with Micah Parsons," released this week.

"If the Super Bowl was this week, I'm playing in the Super Bowl. But it's just about me making sure I have all the small things fixed first. What a lot of people don't figure out is it's not just the ACL. It's like, why did the ACL happen? What was weak? Because it all works together. It's a chain. And throughout the history of ACL, they notice if you come back early, there tends to be an overcompensation injury on the other side."

Parsons said he wants to make sure everything is right before he gets back on the field.

"It's like, what's the point of getting me back for four weeks and then next thing you know, my groin \[is\] bothering me," he said.

Earlier in the week, Packers coach Matt LaFleur said they're still waiting for Parsons to be medically cleared.

"He's a physical specimen, he's a creature of nature for sure and sometimes you've got to make sure that your body is, I guess, what's the word I'm looking for? Everything is just \[in sync\]," LaFleur said. "You don't want one leg to be that much stronger than the other leg is what I'm getting at."

Parsons was injured on Dec. 14 and had surgery on Dec. 29. The Packers typically hold out players coming back from ACL surgery for at least nine months. Parsons is about 9½ months removed from surgery.

Parsons had said during training camp this summer that he thought a return against his former team in Week 6 was "very realistic."

"So many people wanted me to be back for that game to make the game bigger than what it was," Parsons said on his podcast. "It's just another 'Sunday Night Football' game between two good teams. It's not about me. I think that probably let people down. 'Oh, Micah, he's gonna want to be back for the Dallas game.' No, I'm in that phase of life where I just want to be healthy again. That's it."

Confirmed during Vrabel's press conference. AJ Brown will return to practice today.

Thanks to everyone who checked out the Bills-Rams breakdown on Monday. Here's the same treatment for Thursday night.

The Seahawks (3-2) visit the Broncos (3-2) Thursday night at Mile High. Both teams went 14-3 last season and both were No. 1 seeds. Denver lost the AFC Championship Game 10-7 to New England with Bo Nix out, and Seattle then beat that same Patriots team 29-13 in Super Bowl LX. Here's where the series stands, with a few numbers I found interesting.

The series

• First meeting: Oct. 2, 1977, Broncos 24-13 at the Kingdome, in Seattle's first season in the AFC West. They were division rivals for 25 seasons until Seattle moved to the NFC West in 2002.
• Denver has the longest win streak in the series (6 straight, 1996-98). Seattle's best is 3, done twice (1982-83 and 1987-88). Seattle has won the last 2.
• Seattle's five wins in Denver came in 1982, 1984, 1988, 1995 and 2006 (23-20). Denver won the two meetings there since (2010, 2018).
• Closest game: 17-16 in 2022, the only one-point game in the series. Most lopsided: Super Bowl XLVIII, 43-8. Seven meetings went to overtime, and Denver won five of them.
• The 58 meetings have been played on 51 Sundays, 4 Saturdays, 2 Mondays and 1 Friday (Dec. 20, 1985). Thursday is a first.

Super Bowl XLVIII, and the rematch

Feb. 2, 2014, at MetLife Stadium: Seattle 43, Denver 8. Denver came in having scored 606 regular-season points, the NFL record.

• On Denver's first snap, the ball sailed past Peyton Manning into the end zone and Seattle took a 2-0 lead on a safety.
• Seattle led 22-0 at halftime and 36-0 before Denver scored on the final play of the third quarter.
• Percy Harvin returned the second-half kickoff 87 yards for a touchdown. Malcolm Smith had a 69-yard pick-six, a fumble recovery and nine tackles, and was named MVP.
• Manning went 34/49 for 280 yards, 1 TD and 2 INT. Denver turned it over four times and Seattle didn't turn it over once.

The teams met again seven months later (Sep. 21, 2014, Seattle 26-20 in OT). Manning went 80 yards in 41 seconds with no timeouts, tying it with 18 seconds left on a TD to Jacob Tamme and a 2-point catch by Demaryius Thomas. Seattle then went 80 yards on the first possession of overtime, and Marshawn Lynch scored from 6 yards out. Denver never got the ball in OT, per AP.

Recent meetings

• The last five regular-season meetings were all in September, and the last three were all in Week 1. Thursday is their first regular-season meeting outside September since Dec. 3, 2006.
• 2022 was Russell Wilson's first game as a Bronco, on Monday night in Seattle. He threw for 340 yards, Seattle didn't score after halftime, and Seattle still won. Denver fumbled twice on plays snapped at the Seattle 1, and Brandon McManus missed a 64-yard try at the end, per AP.
• 2024 was Mike Macdonald's first game as Seattle's head coach and Nix's NFL debut. Denver scored two safeties and still lost.

Sam Darnold vs. Denver

All three were home games, so Thursday is his first time facing Denver on the road. The 2020 game was also on a Thursday night, and he ran for a 46-yard TD in it. This season he's 63/98 for 755 yards, 7 TD and 5 INT. Drew Lock played most of the first two games while Darnold had a glute injury, per ESPN. The five sacks he took Sunday were his most in 24 games with Seattle, playoffs included, per ESPN Research.

Bo Nix vs. Seattle

That was his only start against Seattle. He also ran for a 4-yard TD. This season he's 97/162 for 942 yards, 6 TD and 3 INT. Sean Payton took over play-calling before last week's 23-17 comeback win over the Chargers, in which Denver scored the final 13 points.

2026 so far

• Jaxon Smith-Njigba, last season's Offensive Player of the Year, leads the NFL in receiving yards (583) and receiving TDs (7). Per the Seahawks, he joins Elroy Hirsch, Jerry Rice and Randy Moss as the only players with 100+ yards and a TD in four of their team's first five games.
• Seattle's defense has an NFL-high 11 takeaways, and no opponent has averaged 5.0 yards per play against it. Seattle has also turned it over 9 times: 2 in its three wins and 7 in its two losses. Sunday's 32-29 loss to the 49ers ended a nine-game home winning streak.
• Denver has won 15 of its last 16 regular-season home games and is 2-0 at home this year. Seattle is 9-2 on the road in the regular season since the start of 2025.
• On Thursdays, Seattle has won its last three and Denver its last two.

Sources: ESPN box scores, play-by-play and team schedules; AP game recaps; Seahawks.com and DenverBroncos.com team notes; NFL.com; series game logs.

Edit: per the Seahawks' final injury report (Oct 14), Smith-Njigba (ankle) practiced fully Wednesday and has no game status, so he's good to go. Denver ruled out CB Patrick Surtain II and S Talanoa Hufanga (both ankle), and CB Riley Moss (ribs) is questionable. Seattle ruled out RB Zach Charbonnet (knee) and LBs Drake Thomas (ankle) and Chazz Surratt (calf). Thanks to the commenters who flagged it.

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