ARLINGTON, Texas — On Christmas Eve, when they absolutely had to be, the Seahawks were lit.

On defense. On point. Finally.

Justin Coleman picked off the key pass. He scored the touchdown that gave the Seahawks the lead they had to have. Then he jumped into the Salvation Army kettle behind the end zone. Frank Clark pounded the prop to punctuate Coleman’s sparking, saving play.

“He was the kettle,” Clark said. “I was the drum. Merry Christmas.”

Coleman’s ringing interception and 30-yard return for the score early in the second half put Seattle ahead 14-9—despite its sputtering (again) offense having just 53 total yards at that point into the third quarter.

Doug Baldwin’s exquisite move off the line for a 3-yard touchdown pass from Russell Wilson in the fourth quarter and the Seahawks’ patched-together defense turned Dallas away six times without touchdowns while in Seattle territory to seal the Seahawks’ 21-12 victory on Christmas Eve at AT&T Stadium that kept their playoff hopes alive—and eliminated the Cowboys from playoff contention.

Seattle (9-6) came back from its 42-7 home loss to the Rams the previous week that had most of the football country writing off the Seahawks as finished—maybe for an era.

“We responded,” said linebacker K.J. Wright, who had an interception after being confined to his hospital bed all day Saturday with food poisoning after he ate lasagna on the Seahawks’ charter flight by Delta to Dallas—and a week after he missed the Rams game with a concussion.

“I really challenged the guys on Wednesday to…respond to the performance we put out last Sunday against the Rams, because we are better than that. So, we practiced and had a helluva week this week. We really challenged ourselves to get back to playing Seahawks football and Seahawks defense. We came out and did a tremendous job.””

The Seahawks followed their worst margin of defeat in the Pete Carroll era with one of their most reassuring victories, doing it their old way. With defense.

“I really proud of that win,” Carroll, a defense-first mind, said.

The Seahawks won despite just 136 yards of offense, their lowest total since 2013. Russell Wilson’s 93 yards passing was the fewest of his career.

“It felt like we weren’t even out there a lot of the time,” Wilson said of his side of the ball.

No one’s feelings were worse than those on the Seahawks’ defense after last week.

“It felt like we had hit rock bottom last week,” Clark said. “You lose that bad at home you feel the momentum of the whole season go the other way.

“It felt like we had nothing to lose, that we only had one direction to go. And that was up.”

Now, they’ve resurfaced, needing a win on New Year’s Eve at home over Arizona plus a Carolina win at Atlanta the same day to make the playoffs for the sixth consecutive January.

They are even back to having their usual Seahawks sideshow.

Thomas, a native of Orange, Texas, five hours southeast of Dallas, said he was a Cowboys fan growing up—and that he was informing his boyhood team he wanted to play for it when “Seattle kicks me to the curb.”

Thomas’ contract ends after next season. It’s obvious he feels slighted that the Seahawks, the only NFL team he’s known, haven’t yet offered to extend it for a second time.

As has happened throughout much of this season, the Seahawks’ defense kept them in the game—then gave them the lead in the third quarter.

Seattle benefited from Dallas going away from Ezekiel Elliott’s running. Elliott gained 61 yards on 13 carries over Dallas’ first 25 plays in his return from a six-game suspension. He romped for 51 yards in the first quarter—and looked to be on his way to an epic return. But the 2016 NFL rushing champion carried it just 11 times over the Cowboys’ final 43 plays.

Elliott finished with 97 yards on 24 carries, well short of the 200 yards he had bet Hall of Fame rusher Eric Dickerson a game jersey he’d get in his return.

Dallas managed just four field goals by Dan Bailey against Seattle’s defense that got linebacker Wright back from a concussion, had a healthier All-Pro linebacker Bobby Wagner, and looked nothing like the unit that folded in a blowout loss to the Rams the previous week.

Seattle’s offense was doing its usual, first-half thing—zero—until cornerback Bryon Maxwell stripped the ball from Dallas’ Dez Bryant after a catch. Wright recovered the fumble at the Cowboys 43, and the offense had its first spark.

A catch and juke by lead running back Mike Davis and pass-interference penalty on Dallas cornerback Jourdan Lewis in the end zone grabbing at Jimmy Graham’s torso on Wilson’s pass far over the 6-foot-7 tight end’s head put the Seahawks at the 1-yard line.

Then Wilson, who has struggled with his passing accuracy for weeks, made his best play in a month. Davis dropped his handoff, but Wilson alertly dived on the ball before any Cowboys defender noticed it laying there.

Seattle retained possession, and on the next play Graham simply jogged a few yards into the end zone, turned around and walled Lewis onto his back then caught Wilson’s 3-yard pass that put Seattle ahead 7-6.

It was Graham’s 10th touchdown catch this season, his most since his final season with New Orleans in 2014. That was just before the Saints traded him to Seattle.

Seattle turned all three of Dallas’ turnovers into not just points but touchdowns. Prescott was mostly awful: 21 for 34 for 182 yards passing and two interceptions. The one to Coleman sailed far over Elliott’s head.

That was the game. And the season revived.

“A huge day turning the football over,” Carroll said. “When you get three turnovers, you are supposed to win. We know that.”