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ARLINGTON, Texas -- The Dallas Cowboys, who managed just two playoff wins over the past 20 years, won't get a chance to add to that total this season. A 21-12 loss to the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday eliminated Dallas from postseason contention, but it might not mean the end of the road for Cowboys coach Jason Garrett.
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Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said postgame, "Just so we're clear about it, I do understand frustration right after you lose a game that has as much meaningfulness as this ballgame, but I get to look at a lot of different things and have been around a lot of head coaches and coordinators. I feel good about our head coach."
Garrett deflected questions about his future, saying he planned to go back to work to prepare to finish strong against the Philadelphia Eagles next week.
For Dallas (8-7), the chance at a late-season surge and the hope of getting to full strength for a playoff run ended Sunday.
"Obviously, it was a big game for us," Garrett said. "We needed to win it, and we didn't do the things necessary to win it. I thought our team fought hard and battled hard. We just didn't play well enough."
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Cowboys tight end Jason Witten, 35, indicated he wants to be back for the 2018 campaign.
"Every week I have an opportunity to break this team down, and I see too much positive," Witten said. "I really do. I feel too good to think that would end. My intentions are to keep playing."
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Cowboys running back Ezekiel Elliott returned from a six-game suspension just in time to see Seahawks cornerback Justin Coleman steal one of his signature moves.
Coleman celebrated a 30-yard interception return for a touchdown by hopping into the Salvation Army kettle just beyond the end line, just as Elliott did during a win over the Tampa Bay Buccaneers on Dec. 18, 2016.
The Sunday celebration drew a 15-yard unsportsmanlike-conduct penalty.
"Honestly, I don't really mind," Coleman said. "I'm willing to take that flag to get them boys pumped out there. That's OK."
His coach felt differently.
"I was disappointed in that just because it takes away the momentum of the score," Pete Carroll said. "We already know that it's not OK. In the moment he was so excited, he screwed up. I didn't talk to him because I really didn't think he'd do it again."
In Coleman's defense, his interception return and subsequent charity dive proved to be the go-ahead score for a lead Seattle didn't relinquish.
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For a while on Sunday, kicker Dan Bailey kept the Cowboys in the game by booting field goals of 34, 51 and 51 yards. His fourth field goal, from 39 yards, cut Seattle's lead to 14-12 with 8:36 left in the third quarter.
However, with Dallas trailing by nine in the fourth, Bailey missed from 34 and 48 yards.
Cowboys coach Jason Garrett said he didn't know if Bailey's misses were a result of lingering effects of a groin injury that caused the seventh-year veteran to miss four games earlier this season.
"I do know that he made four kicks in the game, two of them 51-yarders," Garrett said. "He was kicking well and he's been such a great player for us for a long time. Those are important. Obviously, the first miss kept it a two-score game in that situation. If we make it a one-score game, the dynamic changes on the other side."
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Cowboys wide receiver Dez Bryant caught three passes for 44 yards. However, one of his catches resulted in a fumble at the Dallas 43 that Seattle turned into its first offensive touchdown.
Bryant also dropped two passes, the second of which was tipped in the air, allowing Seahawks linebacker K.J. Wright to intercept it.
Dallas quarterback Dak Prescott took some of the blame for Bryant's deflected pass that resulted in the turnover.
"I just think I have to throw him a better ball," Prescott said. "Put it right there on his facemask and don't give him a chance to drop it."
