First Call: Micah Parsons suffers injury in advance of Steelers game; how previous quests of 4-0 went for Mike Tomlin

Friday’s “First Call” has news about Dallas Cowboys star Micah Parsons suffering an injury Thursday night as his team now prepares to visit Pittsburgh next week.

We look back at some hot starts in the Mike Tomlin era for the Steelers. Paul Skenes has an interesting showdown slated for the final start of his rookie year.

And we tip our cap to a former Pirate wrapping up an impressive 2024 campaign.

Parsons’ problem

The Dallas Cowboys (2-2) got a 20-15 win over the New York Giants (1-3) on Thursday Night Football. Now they have a long layoff before visiting the Steelers (3-0) next Sunday night in Week 5.

One question is if they will have defensive star Micah Parsons in uniform for that game. The former Penn State linebacker left the sidelines in New York on a cart with a leg injury.

Cowboys All-Pro Edge Rusher Micah Parsons is being carted to the locker room

Here is the play where the injury happened pic.twitter.com/ODjV5SpVPj

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) September 27, 2024

Via Mike Garafolo of the NFL Network, Parsons “knows ‘very little’ about the severity of his ankle injury. Has an MRI (Friday) but will try to be back for next week at the Steelers.”

Parsons is a two-time All-Pro and a three-time Pro Bowler. He has one sack and 14 total tackles this year over four games.

Past experience

The Steelers are favored by 1½ points to win in Indianapolis on Sunday. If that happens, they’d be 4-0 for the second time under Mike Tomlin.

The Steelers also started 3-0 and won their fourth game under Tomlin during the 2020 season. That contest was a 38-29 victory over the Philadelphia Eagles. Chase Claypool had four touchdowns that day for the Steelers, three through the air and one on the ground.

YOU CANNOT STOP CHASE CLAYPOOL. FOUR TOUCHDOWNS.

????: #PHIvsPIT on FOX
????: NFL app // Yahoo Sports app: https://t.co/BGCKhfX8uY pic.twitter.com/RhFzFu2IMA

— NFL (@NFL) October 11, 2020

However, the other two times the Steelers began the year 3-0, they dropped Game No. 4. That included a 17-14 defeat at home to the Baltimore Ravens in the last game of Ben Roethlisberger’s suspension.

The other time was Tomlin’s rookie season as head coach. After winning his first three outings the Steelers dropped a 21-14 contest in Arizona.

Sizzling September

Former Pirate Jameson Taillon will make his final start of a solid year in Chicago. The Cubs right-hander takes to the mound Friday against the Cincinnati Reds in search of his 12th win.

Taillon is 11-8 with a 3.41 ERA. He has 123 strikeouts against just 31 walks over 158 1/3 innings pitched. Twelve wins would be the second most in a season for Taillon since he broke into Major League Baseball in 2016. He posted 14 victories as a Pirate in 2018 and 14 as a Yankee in 2022.

Jameson Taillon, 92mph Paint. ????️???? pic.twitter.com/Iv2oIrPYvj

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) September 20, 2024

The 32-year-old has been particularly sharp in September. Over 25 innings, Taillon owns a skinny 1.08 ERA, a .178 batting average against and has racked up 19 strikeouts.

The Cubs have been eliminated from playoff contention at 81-78. They are tied with the St. Louis Cardinals for second place in the National League Central with three games left. The Reds are in fourth place at 76-83, two games ahead of the last-place Pirates (74-85).

Milwaukee has won the division at 91-68. Their final regular-season series is at home against the New York Mets.

More sports

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• Football Footnotes: Key matchups that will dictate the outcome of Steelers-Colts game
• Tim Benz: Looking forward to Paul Skenes nailing down Rookie of the Year on baseball's biggest stage

Bucs vs. Bronx Bombers

As the Pirates head to New York to face the Yankees this weekend, they do so with Jared Jones (6-8, 4.14 ERA) taking the hill in the series-opening game Friday night. His last outing was Sept. 21, a 7-1 loss to the Reds in which he gave up six earned runs in five innings.

The Pirates had won Jones’ previous three starts. The rookie will be opposed by Carlos Rodon (16-9, 3.98). The lefty has 190 strikeouts, sixth-most in the American League.

Saturday in the Bronx features two Rookie of the Year candidates. Pittsburgh’s Paul Skenes is currently the National League betting favorite to win the award (11-3, 1.99) at minus-230 on DraftKings. He’s scheduled to face Luis Gil who is 15-6 with an ERA of 3.27. Skenes has 167 strikeouts, Gil has 166.

Paul Skenes Annihilating Shohei Ohtani. ???? pic.twitter.com/ZCEum3SPGx

— Rob Friedman (@PitchingNinja) June 5, 2024

Luis Gill throwing some HEAT

(via @TalkinYanks) pic.twitter.com/95OvBeWPGN

— Yankees Videos (@snyyankees) April 2, 2024

DraftKings has Gil as a minus-190 favorite to win the AL R.O.Y award.

Sunday’s game is set to feature the Pirates’ Bailey Falter (8-9, 4.26 ERA) and New York’s Clarke Schmidt (5-5, 2.55).

At 93-66, the Yankees have already clinched the American League East. They have a one-game lead on the Cleveland Guardians (92-67) for the best overall record in the American League.