Jerry Jones reacts to Brian Schottenheimer Dallas Cowboys debut after loss to Eagles

After a tumultuous offseason, which came to a head with last week’s seismic trade that sent 26-year-old superstar Micah Parsons to the Green Bay Packers, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones had every reason to be frustrated following Thursday’s season-opening loss to the rival Philadelphia Eagles. Instead, the 82-year-old Jones sounded more like a doting father.

Thursday night’s 24-20 loss was Dallas’ third-straight to the Eagles, spoiling the debut for first-year Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer, who was promoted from offensive coordinator after Jones opted to part ways with former head coach Mike McCarthy in mid-January.

“I’m so proud of this team, I really am proud,” Jones said after the game, according to NBC Sports. “I’m so impressed with (Schottenheimer). It just makes me sick that he didn’t win this game and I know what it meant to him. We were all riding with him. We all feel it, he had them ready to play. He had them ready to play.”

As the score would indicate, it was a closer game than many expected, with veteran Cowboys QB Dak Prescott matching Eagles QB Jalen Hurts throw-for-throw with 188 yards on 21-of-34 passing compared to 152 yards on 19-of-23 passing from Hurts. The difference came on the ground, where Hurts and running back Saquon Barkley combined for 122 yards and three rushing touchdowns Thursday, with Hurts adding 62 yards and a pair of scores on the ground.

Jones was also quite effusive about Prescott’s play in his first game back after missing the final nine games of the 2024 season with a significant hamstring injury.

“I thought Dak may have played one of the best games I’ve ever seen him play. We had the ball in the hands of our key guys,” Jones said, per NBC Sports. “I just can’t say enough about this effort and I give Brian and I give his staff all the credit in the world.”

Jerry Jones responds to whether Cowboys missed Micah Parsons in loss to Eagles

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.”

— On3’s Steve Samra contributed to this report.