SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Cowboys owner Jerry Jones echoed the sentiment of Dallas fans on Sunday night after his team lost to the San Francisco 49ers - again - in the NFC playoffs: "This is very sickening," Jones told reporters immediately after the loss.
"Our team is one that could have handled the situations on anything we had tonight," Jones said. "We came up short. We're sick. Just sick. Sick."
The Cowboys lost 19-12, failing to advance to the NFC Championship Game.
Dallas has not gone beyond the NFC Divisional Round since January 1996, the last season they won a Super Bowl.
On Sunday night, Jones said he "had a different ending to this thing planned."
The Cowboys' lone touchdown put them ahead 6-3, but kicker Brett Maher's extra point was blocked.
The 49ers were able to hold the Cowboys to two field goals the rest of the way, and they also intercepted quarterback Dak Prescott twice.
"Frankly, turnovers do settle the scores with games like that," Jones said. "And I'm so disappointed for our fans. This felt good today, felt good with the team. But San Francisco had something to say about that."
Jones said turnovers were "probably the difference."
"I thought this team, with Dak at quarterback, I thought we had a chance to get to and compete at the top level in this tournament," Jones said. "I really did. That was our edge here tonight, I thought, the quarterback, the experience of the quarterback. They might have had a little edge in an area there, but I thought the quarterback was the edge. We got after that and tried to expose that. To their credit, they made some plays."
WFAA's Mike Leslie asked Jones if the loss Sunday night changed Jones' mind on Mike McCarthy's future as head coach. Jones was straightforward.
"No," Jones said. "Not at all."
Jones also said McCarthy's decision to stick with kicker Brett Maher was "exonerated" by Maher's two made field goals.
"And their decision for our kicker was exonerated with his field goal(s), in my mind," Jones said. "I'm proud for [Maher]."