ARLINGTON, TX – In a strange way, Micah Parsons won and lost during his much-ballyhooed return to Jerry World on Sunday night.

Parsons won because he probably saved a touchdown when he chased down Dak Prescott near the goal line in overtime to notch the only Green Bay Packers sack of the game in the nick of time. Big players, big plays.

Yet after it was over, Parsons sounded more like a player who lost. Big time.

Parsons didn’t get the last laugh against the Dallas Cowboys. He didn’t exactly extract in-your-face revenge against Jerry Jones. He didn’t even bag a victory that would have kept the Packers (2-1-1) in first place in the NFC North. The game ended in a 40-40 tie.

And ties, we’ve been told, are like kissing your sister – or in this case your former team.

No doubt, the Dallas defense lived up to its reputation and was scorched again. Yet Parsons knew. His new defense, lit up by Prescott (31-of-40, 319 yards, 3 TDs), George Pickens (8 catches, 134 yards, 2 TDs) and a few others, played like his old defense.

“Giving up 40 points … that’s just unacceptable,” he said.

“I’m pissed off,” Parsons said during his postgame news conference. “I’m very disappointed, just overall, how we performed.”

We get it. The Packers were heavily favored to steamroll the Cowboys, whose defense has major holes that only begin with the lack of a premier pass-rusher after dealing away Parsons in the stunning move a month earlier.

No doubt, the Dallas defense lived up to its reputation and was scorched again. Yet Parsons knew. His new defense, lit up by Prescott (31-of-40, 319 yards, 3 TDs), George Pickens (8 catches, 134 yards, 2 TDs) and a few others, played like his old defense.

“Giving up 40 points … that’s just unacceptable,” he said.

It’s no wonder that Parsons, as he described it, pulled Packers quarterback Jordan Love to the side and thanked him “for having our back today.”

Love, like Prescott, passed for three touchdowns. He completed 31 of 43 passes for 337 yards and engineered the drives that ended with Brandon McManus field goals to force overtime and then to seal the tie.

“That’s why it’s so pivotal to play complementary football,” Parsons said. “Because today, Jordan played like the player he (is) and we let him down.”

Maybe even worse was that Jones, who traded Parsons for two first-round picks and defensive tackle Kenny Clark, has fresh material to justify trading away a star player in his prime against a torrential rain of criticism.

See, in this situation, a tie for the Cowboys (1-2-1) – playing without injured star receiver Cee Dee Lamb – seemed like a win. Remember, they were major underdogs against a team that is cast as a Super Bowl favorite with Parsons added to the mix.

And Jones, who hasn’t been shy in reiterating that the Cowboys never won a Super Bowl with Parsons (or Prescott, or Tony Romo, or Bill Parcells, et al), could take solace in the effort and bottom-line result. Parsons, who finished with three tackles and three quarterback hits to go with his sack, didn’t dominate the game. Not when his unit gave up 40 points.

“We knew he was there,” Jones said. “And he made a difference. But that’s the way it goes. Whether we like it or not, I’ll take my side of it. And Green Bay can have their side of it.”

Of course, this can’t be put in its proper context without some numbers. The Packers signed Parsons to a four-year, $186 million extension that averages $46.5 million per year and makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He looked for that distinction with the Cowboys and Jones maintained that he had a “handshake deal” on a new contract when he and Parsons met in the team owner’s office last spring. But the talks went sideways after details weren’t worked out through Parsons’ agent, David Mulugheta.

On top of contract matters, egos and emotions seemingly became part of the equation that ultimately resulted in the trade. It added so much spice to Parsons’ return.

Or so you’d suspect.

“The emotions for Dallas went away when the trade went down,” Parsons maintained.

Parsons still seemed miffed that when the trade went down on Aug. 28, he heard about it from Mulugheta, rather than from Jones. He added that Packers general manager Brian Gutekunst told him that he needed to call Clark before the news broke.

So, no, Parsons – who still has a suite at AT&T Stadium, which was full of family and friends on Sunday night – doesn’t have the same respect for Jones that he used to have.

“The same way he called me into his office as a man, he couldn’t tell me as a man,” Parsons said, referring to the meeting last spring about the contract talk and the trade. “So, to me, that emotion side was gone. It was more a respect factor at this point.”

These sentiments beg to be continued. And the same can be said for ultimately scoring the Parsons trade. Time will tell. Championship pursuits and the development of future draft picks are undoubtedly potential swing factors.

Yet the first matchup pitting Parsons against Jones could be symbolic for scoring the trade. At least for now, it looks like a draw.