Cowboys’ KaVontae Turpin named NFC Special Teams Player of the Week

From @ToddBrock24f7: Turpin’s 360-degree spin move versus the Commanders set up an electrifying kick-return score and cemented his first win of the weekly award.

KaVaontae Turpin just picked up a shiny new piece of hardware. Maybe it will go on the shelf right next to the commercial-grade blender he put the entire Commanders kickoff-coverage team into in order to earn the award.

The Cowboys return specialist was named the NFC Special Teams Player of the Week for Week 12, an accolade given almost solely for the electrifying 99-yard kickoff return for touchdown he executed in the closing minutes of Dallas’s 34-26 win over Washington last Sunday.

It’s the first time he’s won the weekly award.

The play certainly didn’t start out looking like an award-winning effort from the speedster, who muffed the kick at first and had to retrieve the loose ball from the 1-yard line, turning his back to all 11 Commanders players to do so.

When Turpin turned around, he was moving at what looked to be half-speed as he reached a wall of would-be tacklers. And then he hit the purée button, pulling off a bewildering 360-degree spin move that caused a moment’s hesitation for every player wearing red.

Turpin came out of the spin in turbo mode and raced nearly untouched all the way to the end zone. The return, his first kick-return score in a regular-season NFL game, didn’t quite cement the Cowboys win, but it did lock up Turpin’s first Special Teams Player of the Week nod.

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The 28-year-old and former USFL MVP returned a punt for a touchdown in the season opener versus Cleveland. He also scored on a 64-yard reception in Week 11’s loss to Houston in which he hit 22.36 miles per hour, the fastest recorded time for a player thus far in the 2024 season.

Turpin has said he’s worried he may not get another chance at returning a kick now that opponents have seen the spin move he’d been saving for a desperate moment.

At least he made it count by turning it into an award-winner.

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