Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke bluntly following Sunday night's 40-40 tie with the Green Bay Packers when asked why he decided to pay Dak Prescott and not Micah Parsons.
"It's very simple: Dak was indispensable, in my mind ... and Micah wasn't," Jones said, via the team’s official website. "It's just numbers, it's that easy. And that's not personal at all. ... The numbers just weren't there with Micah."
Last September, Prescott signed a four-year extension worth $60 million per season, which remains the highest in the NFL.
This offseason, the Cowboys faced a contract standoff with Parsons. Just a month before the season, Dallas traded the star pass rusher to Green Bay for two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark. The Packers promptly gave Parsons a four-year, $186 million extension, making him the league's highest-paid non-quarterback at $46.5 million per year.
The reality is that it wasn't a Prescott or Parsons situation. Dallas could have kept both if they'd wanted. Jones decided to move on from the pass rusher. How it works out for both sides will be closely tracked in the coming years.
The Cowboys were able to keep Parsons at bay for much of Sunday night's contest. The edge rusher generated a 0-yard sack in overtime -- the Packers' only QB takedown of the game -- and led Green Bay with seven QB pressures, six of which came in the fourth quarter and overtime.
Meanwhile, Prescott diced up the heretofore stingy Packers defense. The Cowboys QB went 31-of-40 passing for 319 passing yards, three pass touchdowns, zero interceptions and 124.9 passer rating with a rushing TD. He became the first Cowboys QB to generate 300-plus passing yards, three-plus passing TDs, zero INTs and a rushing score in a single game.
Jones said he appreciated how his team, even with all of their offensive line injuries, handled Parsons.
"I knew that (Parsons) is the great player that he is. I like the way that we got ready to play him. We played him, we ran at him, but we knew he was there and he made a difference, but that's the way it goes," Jones said. "Whether we like (the tie) or not, I'll take my side of it, and Green Bay can have their side of it."