The Dallas Cowboys fell short of the NFL playoffs this season. While Dak Prescott has powered a strong offense and enters Week 18 as the league’s leading passer, the Cowboys’ defense has underwhelmed at times this year.

Dallas’ defensive unit was thrust into the spotlight when star pass rusher Micah Parsons was traded to the Green Bay Packers in August. Parsons, who will miss the rest of the regular season and the entire postseason with an ACL injury, recently assessed the Cowboys’ defense.

Cowboys defensive coordinator Matt Eberflus acknowledged the heavy void after Parsons' departure, an admission Parsons responded to with several laughing emoji.

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Parsons defended his response by pointing to how longtime team owner Jerry Jones’ handling of Parsons' reputation played out.

"Y’all want me to feel bad?" Parsons wrote Thursday on X. "Jerry Jones slandered my name to Cowboys media and national media for months. So I do think I can react to comment if I want to!"

Jones addressed those comments from the 2021 NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year during his routine appearance on 105.3 The Fan in Dallas.

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"I wish Micah the very best," Jones said. "I’d love to have Micah on the team. But we just couldn’t afford him. We wanted four or five players more than we did him. But he’s outstanding. I understand his sensitivity and can even understand these comments."

Parsons missed four games in 2024 but still finished the season with 12 sacks. He has recorded double-digit sacks in each of his five seasons in the NFL.

Parsons compiled 12½ sacks in his first 14 games with the Packers.

Green Bay sent defensive tackle Kenny Clark and two future first-round draft picks to the Cowboys in late August in exchange for Parsons.

Shortly after the two teams agreed to the deal, Parsons became the highest-paid non-quarterback in NFL history. He inked a four-year, $188 million contract, ESPN reported at the time. The contract reportedly included guarantees worth up to $136 million.

In a statement, Parsons thanked the Cowboys and expressed excitement about his next chapter, writing in part, "I never wanted this chapter to end, but not everything was in my control. My heart has always been here, and it still is. Through it all, I never made any demands. I never asked for anything more than fairness. I only asked that the person I trust to negotiate my contract be part of the process."

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The creators of Netflix’s "Stranger Things" are responding after the hit show’s penultimate episode was review-bombed online following backlash over a coming-out scene involving a main character.

The episode, titled "The Bridge," features Will Byers coming out as gay to his family and friends just before the group’s final battle with Vecna, the antagonist. Matt and Ross Duffer, known as the Duffer Brothers, told Variety the "honest truth" is that they did not see the outrage coming.

"Because it is, as Ross said, something we’ve been building for a really long time. I always say, Ross and I are many things, but subtle is not one of those things!" Matt said.

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The brothers said they had been planting seeds for the scene throughout the series and spent more time writing it than any other, noting they were "so concerned about getting it right."

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The episode is now the series’ lowest-rated installment on IMDb, receiving a 5.6 out of 10. It also drew backlash on Rotten Tomatoes, where the season fell to an 83% critic score and a 56% audience score, the lowest of all five seasons.

Some viewers online criticized the timing of the coming-out scene, saying it felt out of place in preparation for the show’s final battle. But the Duffer brothers argue the scene was necessary for the plot.

They explained that Will’s coming out as gay was a crucial part of his journey toward self-acceptance, something he needed in order to help defeat the show’s primary villain.

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Matt called it "the final step in Will’s journey," adding that Will is "in so many ways, the key to defeating Vecna."

"He’s trying to figure out how to come out, and he knows that he needs to do that, and that that’s the final step for him," Matt said. "And he finds the courage to be able to do it. And it’s really the ultimate f--- you to Vecna. That was the intention."

Noah Schnapp, who played Will, came out publicly himself in 2023. The creators of the show said they were very sensitive in how they handled the moment due to "how close to home this hit for him [Schnapp]."

Despite the pushback, the Duffer brothers maintained they were proud of the episode and the entire season.

"We’re proud of the episode, and we’re proud of the scene, and proud of Noah [Schnapp], who gave a really brave, very vulnerable performance," Ross said.