Punts could provide big opportunities when Cowboys face vulnerable Packers in Week 10

Green Bay gives up punt return yardage and are susceptible to blocked kicks. Both bode well for KaVontae Turpin and Dallas special teams. | From @ToddBrock24f7

The numbers seem to suggest that Cowboys return specialist KaVontae Turpin is due to house-call a punt return sometime soon.

The schedule suggests it might even happen the next time Dallas takes the field, with an upcoming opponent who is particularly vulnerable to problems on both ends of their punts.

Cowboys players and coaches are enjoying their bye week and using the time to recuperate before beginning Week 10 game prep in earnest. But the Nov. 13 trip to Green Bay has been circled on the calendar since the day schedules were released.

And while much of the focus that day will be on Dallas head coach Mike McCarthy’s return to Lambeau Field, the undrafted rookie Turpin is no doubt hoping he’ll be able to make a leap of his own by finally returning a punt to the end zone.

He did it in the preseason, and he’s come close this regular season. Turpin is averaging 14.7 yards per punt return, placing him third leaguewide. He’s one of just four players with three returns of 20 yards or more, and he has the NFL’s second-longest punt return (52 yards) through eight weeks of play.

“I keep getting caught by the last person,” Turpin said after the 24-6 Dallas win over Detroit, “so I just feel like I’ve got to break one.”

An extra week of rest may help him get over the hump. Goodness knows down time is not something Turpin is used to.

Having been signed by Dallas in July shortly after his USFL MVP season ended- and coming to that league directly from rapid-fire stints in the Fan Controlled Football league, The Spring League, and the European League of Football- Turpin hasn’t gotten a breather from football in quite some time.

“He’s been playing year-round football for a couple years,” Cowboys special teams coordinator John Fassel said this week. “Not that I feel like he needs one, but any mental or physical break he can get, I think, is good for him because he’s been going for a while.”

But Fassel says he’s given no thought to giving Turpin a punt off here or there, even with him getting increased chances on offense.

“He needs to be back there. Limited opportunities, anyway, whether it’s a touchback or a fair catch or punts out of bounds. Anytime a ball’s in bounds, he needs to be back there,” Fassel reassured. “He’s in it for the long haul.”

But truth be told, Fassel may also be hoping that his 4th-down crew can cause some chaos of their own before the punts in Green Bay even make it to Turpin’s hands.

The Packers are currently atop the wrong kind of list, allowing record pressure on their punter in 2022.

Two teams have given up an official blocked punt this season; Green Bay is one of them.

The Jets got to Packers punter Pat O’Donnell in Week 6 and turned the double-thud into six points after safety Will Parks alerted his coaches to a pressure opportunity.

“That was a specific thing that we saw today, during the game. That was an adjustment,” said Parks, who recorded the scoop-and-score in the Jets’ win. “I came up to [New York special teams coordinator Brant Boyer] and I said something, and he dialed up that play.”

Packers special teams coordinator Rich Bisaccia, who used to hold the same role in Dallas, took the blame afterward and said he sent in “a bad protection call” that allowed Jets rookie Micheal Clemons to penetrate for the block.

Whoever was at fault, now it’s on tape for other teams to try to exploit when they play Green Bay.

The other team to have allowed a punt block this year? The Rams, who have given up two, one apiece to Atlanta and… the Cowboys.

It’s not hard to imagine Fassel already looking ahead, burning the midnight oil over the bye week, and devising ways to similarly release the hounds on O’Donnell.

So the Packers may have to pick their poison when it comes to punt plays against Dallas.

Because even if the Packers punter manages to get all of his kicks away cleanly, Green Bay’s coverage team is allowing an average of 10.85 yards per punt return, seventh-worst in the NFL.

That smells like it could be Turpin Time.

Either way, fourth down may not be the best time for Cowboys fans to take a snack break when they hit the field again in Week 10.

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