The Cowboys had their first taste of life without Micah Parsons on Thursday against the Philadelphia Eagles. Dallas’ team owner, Jerry Jones, was encouraged by what he saw.
While there were some hiccups, Jones believes the Cowboys can handle the storm and the difficulties of not having their star player on the team any longer. While he refrained from saying that his talent is missed, he gave some love to Parsons’ replacements and the Dallas defense as a whole.
“Anytime you have a great player, (you miss) when you don’t have him on the field. I was watching a lot of the guys that were picking up the slack. Might’ve been No. 54 (Sam Williams). No. 54 had a really significant impact on their offense.
“All in all, this group adjusted. Made the adjustments. We stepped up in the second half on defense. Didn’t quite get it done in the first half. But that type of performance was encouraging. I’m sorry, though, that we lost the game. … I’m pretty proud of this team.”
There were certain plays where Parsons would’ve come in handy, especially in the first half, but the Cowboys defense showed some promise throughout the game. Perhaps they’ll be able to compete without Parsons after all.
The Cowboys are 0-1 at the moment, with the New York Giants coming to town in Week 2. Jones will be hoping the added time off helps Dallas get its first win of the season and avoid two division losses to start the 2025 season.
More on Micah Parsons, new home in Green Bay
In an alternative universe, Parsons could’ve actually been a Philadelphia Eagle. ESPN‘s Adam Schefter said on Get Up that the Cowboys’ rival was aggressive in their pursuit of Parsons. However, Dallas didn’t want to make a trade with a rival it sees twice per season.
“It’s certainly interesting because when the Dallas Cowboys were looking to trade Micah Parsons,” Schefter said. “One of the teams that showed the most interest in trading for Micah Parsons was the Philadelphia Eagles. They were fairly aggressive in trying to trade for Parsons, but the Dallas Cowboys, obviously, were not interested in trading Micah Parsons back to Pennsylvania, back in the division. They wanted him out of the division.”
Instead, Parsons is a Packer. The NFL world awaits to see if he will make his debut this Sunday against the Detroit Lions. Parsons, who has been dealing with a back injury, was listed as a limited participant on Thursday’s injury report. His status for Sunday is still up in the air: “It’s completely up to the coaches.”
Parsons added, “I’m still ramping up. It’s a process of getting ready for football being out for six months. Obviously going through the tightness, the soreness.”
— On3’s Nick Geddes contributed to this article.
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