FRISCO, Texas — The Dallas Cowboys fell to the division rival Philadelphia Eagles, 24-20, on Thursday Night Football in the season opener for both teams.

But there were positives to take from the loss, at least from a fan standpoint. The play of the defense, specifically in the second half, quarterback Dak Prescott seems to be back to his old self again after dealing with a major hamstring issue last season, and the offensive line held up nicely in front of him.

But you won’t hear new coach Brian Schottenheimer praising any aspect of the loss. He used the phrase, “no moral victories,” at least four times in his post-game press conference.

“I don’t find any moral victories when this team’s built on a culture that’s all about winning,” Schottenheimer said after his head coaching debut. “You don’t find moral victories in losing.”

Owner and general manager Jerry Jones did find some positives and used the word “encouraged” to describe his team’s performance.

“I am encouraged,” owner and general manager Jerry Jones said. “And I’m encouraged by the meat on the bone, not my normal optimism. These guys played hard. They played good. They played consistently.”

The offense scored on all four possessions in the first half while new running back Javonte Williams became the first Cowboys player to score two rushing touchdowns in his Dallas debut since Herschel Walker in 1986. The Cowboys’ defense held the Eagles to just three second-half points and gave up only two plays of 20 yards or more. Eagles’ star recevier A.J. Brown had just one catch the entire game, and it came late in the second half.

On the other side of the coin, the Cowboys’ run defense allowed 123 yards in the first half and allowed QB Jalen Hurts two rushing touchdowns and 62 yards on the ground. Dallas recorded just one sack after trading Micah Parsons to Green Bay. And maybe the most glaring negative of the game was CeeDee Lamb’s three crucial drops, including two in the fourth quarter when the Cowboys were driving to take the lead.

“We’ve just got to play a little bit more complementary,” Prescott said. “And what I mean by that is defense gets some stops in the first half, and we score points in the second half. Then we’re going to be proud of the outcome of this game.”

Scottenheimer addressed all of this with his team on Monday, then immediately. moved on to this week’s opponent, the Giants.