Ezekiel Elliott couldn’t save the Cowboys from playoff elimination in loss to Seahawks

The Seahawks and Cowboys both came into their Christmas Eve clash with their entire seasons riding on the outcome. The Seahawks walk away with their playoff hopes intact with a 21-12 win.

A Seahawks defense that is missing Richard Sherman and Kam Chancellor ran the show for Seattle. They didn’t let the Cowboys in the end zone for the entire game, holding Dallas to four field goals.

This was Ezekiel Elliott’s first game back on the field for the Cowboys after serving his six-game suspension over domestic violence allegations raised against him by a former girlfriend. Elliott got a heavy workload, carrying the ball 24 times for 97 yards. But the Cowboys needed more than just Elliott on Sunday.

Here are the key plays that lost the game — and a shot at the postseason — for the Cowboys.

The Cowboys managed to get on the board first with a couple of Dan Bailey field goals. But with 4:10 left in the second quarter, the Seahawks finally answered. Dak Prescott hit Dez Bryant for an 8-yard gain, but Seahawks cornerback Byron Maxwell stripped it, and linebacker K.J. Wright came up with the ball.

Russell Wilson marched the Seahawks’ offense down the field and hit tight end Jimmy Graham for a 3-yard score to take a 7-6 lead.

This isn’t the kind of NFL list Prescott wants to be at the top of.

His most recent pick-six went directly into the hands of Seahawks cornerback Justin Coleman. Coleman ran it back 30 yards for a touchdown.

He celebrated by jumping into the giant Salvation Army kettle behind the end zone.

The Seahawks brought in Coleman via trade with the Patriots just before the 2017 season began. Coleman had only started four games for Seattle going into Sunday’s matchup against Dallas. He’s racked up 37 tackles, 1 ¹⁄₂ sacks, and seven pass breakups. He now has two interceptions on the year, including Sunday’s pick-six.

Prescott’s second interception of the day set up yet another Seahawks score. The ball hit Bryant in the hands but bounced straight in the air. Wright hauled it in for the Seahawks.

Seattle capitalized. It took over on its own 21-yard line, and Wilson led a 13-play, 79-yard drive. Seattle finished it with a 6-yard pass from Wilson to Doug Baldwin to take a 21-12 lead.

The Cowboys still had just under 12 minutes to make up ground, and Prescott led them into the red zone. Dallas had a second-and-goal at the Seattle 2-yard line. A holding penalty on Jason Witten pushed the Cowboys back to the 12-yard line. Then Prescott took a sack from Frank Clark for a loss of 11 more yards.

A 7-yard completion to Jason Witten made up some ground. But it was fourth down, so Dan Bailey came out to try his fifth field goal attempt of the day. The 34-yarder was his first miss.

The Cowboys’ drive took 6:20 off the clock, and it was time Dallas couldn’t afford to lose trailing by nine points. Bailey had another shot with just over a minute left to play. But that one went wide right as well and let the Seahawks kneel for the win.