The Cowboys hung with the Eagles for a full 60 minutes in their season opener but ultimately walked away empty after squandering many opportunities in a 24–20 loss. In their first game since dealing Micah Parsons to the Packers, the retooled Dallas defense played pretty well against an explosive Eagles offense once they made the decision to prevent Jalen Hurts from extending plays with his legs.

Jerry Jones, the person who made the decision to move on from Parsons and one who does post-game interviews, was asked the obvious question in the bowels of Lincoln Financial Field. Did his team miss their former star?

His answer wasn't exactly direct.

"Well, any time you have a great player and don't have him out there on the field," Jones said. "But I was specifically watching some of the guys who could pick up the slack. (No.) 54 had some really significant impact."

That's the jersey worn by Sam Williams, a defensive end expected to help replace Parsons in the aggregate. The former second-round pick had a nice night with five tackles.

“All in all, this group adjusted, made the adjustments, we stepped up in the second half on defense, we didn’t quite get it done despite a strong performance in the first half,” Jones added.

That is a fair assessment. But if you're a Cowboys fan you might wonder whether Parsons could have made just one game-changing play that would have led to the upset.

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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Here's Jerry Jones's Response to Being Asked Whether Cowboys Missed Micah Parsons in Loss.