It's hard to tell where Prescott-led Cowboys are headed after 40-40 tie against Parsons, Packers

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Dak Prescott is indispensable. Micah Parsons wasn't.

That's as simply as Cowboys owner Jerry Jones could put it after a crazy 40-40 tie against the Green Bay Packers in Parsons' highly anticipated return to Dallas a month after he was traded.

Jones paid his quarterback, the first $60 million man in the NFL. He wouldn't do the same for one of the league's best pass rushers, who did have a disputed sack of Prescott (it was for 0 yards) to help keep the Cowboys out of the end zone in overtime, when the teams traded field goals.

A defense now missing its best player has given up 37, 31 and 40 points in three games since an anemic first half was followed by a solid final two quarters in a 24-20 loss to defending champion Philadelphia in the NFL opener.

It's just hard to see where the Cowboys (1-2-1), who visit the New York Jets on Sunday, go from here. It's been a year since Jones decided who was the most important player to lead them where they want to go — and haven't been in 30 years.

Hours before the 2024 opener, Prescott agreed to the $240 million, four-year extension that kicked in this season. Jones offered Parsons slightly more than $40 million a year this past offseason — he would have been the first defensive player to hit that number — but without his agent involved. The deal never got close to done.

“It’s very simple,” Jones said. “Dak was indispensable in my mind. And Micah wasn’t. It’s that easy. And that’s not personal at all.”

Plenty of critics think Jones was wrong, and has been about many personnel issues since the most recent time the Cowboys won a Super Bowl, the 1995 season. Dallas is the only team not to reach an NFC championship game since then.

Brian Schottenheimer's first year as a head coach after a quarter-century as an NFL assistant began with the trade of Parsons exactly a week before that Eagles opener.

The Cowboys were a touchdown underdog at home against the Packers, and appeared on their way to a lopsided loss after a quarter before producing a second overtime thriller in two home games. Dallas beat the New York Giants 40-37 two weeks ago.

First-year defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus, a year removed from getting fired as the head coach in Chicago, is facing criticism as the big plays pile up. Prescott has belief after the defense did show some improvement in handling assignments against the Packers.

“I mean, they’re playing good defense,” Prescott said after throwing for three touchdowns and running for a score. “It's just the big plays here and there that put them behind and now their backs are against the wall and they’re in the red zone. I’ve got faith in Eberflus and the rest of those guys over there stopping big plays.”

Prescott has found his form of 2023, when he was runner-up in MVP voting. He entered Monday leading the NFL in yards passing at 1,119. The connection with new receiver George Pickens was the best yet even without top option CeeDee Lamb, who figures to miss at least one more game with a high ankle sprain. Pickens had 134 yards, the second most of his career, and two touchdowns. He had one two-score game in his three seasons with Pittsburgh.

Critical penalties sabotaged a defense that's already having enough trouble getting off the field. Trevon Diggs had an interception nullified when the Packers rushed a snap and got a Dallas defender running off the field for a too-many-man flag. Sam Williams sacked Jordan Love on third down, but grabbed his facemask while doing it. Second-year linebacker Marist Liufau crushed running back Emanuel Wilson well after a pass had fallen incomplete.

DE James Houston had the only sack for one of the league's worst pass rushes. But it was a big one. He forced and recovered a fumble on the same play, and Dallas scored its second touchdown in the final 41 seconds of the first half on the next play.

The Cowboys are last in the NFL in third down efficiency on defense, allowing a conversion rate of 58.2%. The Packers were 10 of 14 on third down.

S Malik Hooker pulled up lame with a toe injury in the middle of a play against the Packers, and Schottenheimer said he could be out multiple weeks. ... LT Tyler Guyton is in concussion protocol but could play this week. ... It sounds as if Lamb and rookie RG Tyler Booker, who also is out with a high ankle sprain, could avoid injured reserve. That would mean the Cowboys think their absences could be fewer than four games. Both missed their first against the Packers.

10 — The Cowboys have played the entire 10-minute overtime in both home games. They ended the first one with Brandon Aubrey's winning 46-yard field goal against the Giants. Green Bay ended the second OT with Brandon McManus' tying 34-yarder.

While the Cowboys are 11-4 against the NFC East rival Giants at 15-year-old MetLife Stadium, they've lost both meetings with the Jets there.

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Dallas Cowboys defensive end James Houston (53), Osa Odighizuwa, and Kenny Clark (95) celebrate with others after Houston recovered a Green Bay Packers fumble in the first half of an NFL football game Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Dallas Cowboys head coach Brian Schottenheimer responds to questions during a news conference after an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones speaks to reporters following an NFL football game against the Green Bay Packers Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Jeffrey McWhorter)

Green Bay Packers defensive end Micah Parsons, left, and Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott (4) greet each other after their team's overtime NFL football game which ended in a tie Sunday, Sept. 28, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. forces in the Caribbean Sea have seized another sanctioned oil tanker that the Trump administration says has ties to Venezuela, part of a broader U.S. effort to take control of the South American country’s oil.

The U.S. Coast Guard boarded the tanker, named Veronica, early Thursday, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem wrote on social media. The ship had previously passed through Venezuelan waters and was operating in defiance of President Donald Trump’s "established quarantine of sanctioned vessels in the Caribbean,” she said.

U.S. Southern Command said Marines and sailors launched from the aircraft carrier USS Gerald R. Ford to take part in the operation alongside a Coast Guard tactical team, which Noem said conducted the boarding as in previous raids. The military said the ship was seized “without incident.”

Several U.S. government social media accounts posted brief videos that appeared to show various parts of the ship’s capture. Black-and-white footage showed at least four helicopters approaching the ship before hovering over the deck while armed troops dropped down by rope. At least nine people could be seen on the deck of the ship.

The Veronica is the sixth sanctioned tanker seized by U.S. forces as part of the effort by Trump’s administration to control the production, refining and global distribution of Venezuela’s oil products and the fourth since the U.S. ouster of Venezuela President Nicolás Maduro in a surprise nighttime raid almost two weeks ago.

The Veronica last transmitted its location on Jan. 3 as being at anchor off the coast of Aruba, just north of Venezuela’s main oil terminal. According to the data it transmitted at the time, the ship was partially filled with crude.

Days later, the Veronica became one of at least 16 tankers that left the Venezuelan coast in contravention of the quarantine that U.S. forces have set up to block sanctioned ships, according to Samir Madani, the co-founder of TankerTrackers.com. He said his organization used satellite imagery and surface-level photos to document the ship movements.

The ship is currently listed as flying the flag of Guyana and is considered part of the shadow fleet that moves cargoes of oil in violation of U.S. sanctions.

According to its registration data, the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, owned and managed by a company in Russia. In addition, a tanker with the same registration number previously sailed under the name Pegas and was sanctioned by the Treasury Department for being associated with a Russian company moving cargoes of illicit oil.

As with prior posts about such raids, Noem and the military framed the seizure as part of an effort to enforce the law. Noem argued that the multiple captures show that “there is no outrunning or escaping American justice.”

Speaking to reporters at the White House later Thursday, Noem declined to say how many sanctioned oil tankers the U.S. is tracking or whether the government is keeping tabs on freighters beyond the Caribbean Sea.

“I can’t speak to the specifics of the operation, although we are watching the entire shadow fleet and how they’re moving,” she told reporters.

But other officials in Trump's Republican administration have made clear they see the actions as a way to generate cash as they seek to rebuild Venezuela’s battered oil industry and restore its economy.

Trump met with executives from oil companies last week to discuss his goal of investing $100 billion in Venezuela to repair and upgrade its oil production and distribution. His administration has said it expects to sell at least 30 million to 50 million barrels of sanctioned Venezuelan oil.

Associated Press writer Ben Finley contributed to this report.

This story has been corrected to show the Veronica is the fourth, not the third, tanker seized by U.S. forces since Maduro’s capture and the ship also has been known as the Gallileo, not the Galileo.

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks with reporters at the White House, Thursday, Jan. 15, 2026, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks during a press conference, Thursday, Jan. 8, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem speaks at a news conference at Harry Reid International Airport, Nov. 22, 2025, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/Ronda Churchill, File)