Tag: KaVontae Turpin

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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Do the Commanders still have a kicker problem?

Do the Commanders still have a kicker problem?

For about seven weeks, everything went right for the Washington Commanders. During that stretch, Washington won six of seven games, had an offense and rookie quarterback that were the envy of the NFL, and even found themselves a kicker.

Since then, the Commanders have lost three consecutive games; the offense has struggled, Jayden Daniels has looked like a rookie at times, and, well, maybe they haven’t found a kicker after all.

During Sunday’s loss to the Dallas Cowboys, kicker Austin Seibert missed a field goal and two extra points. The second missed PAT was most costly as it prevented the Commanders from tying the game and sending it into overtime.

Before Sunday, Seibert had made 25 of his 27 field goals and all 22 of his PATs. It’s important to note that he missed the last two games due to a right hip injury before returning on Sunday.

After the game, a lot of unfair hate was directed at Seibert. People often forget it’s just a game. These are human beings, and all make mistakes. Seibert didn’t lose Washington this game. We could go through all four quarters and name 10 plays or players that negatively impacted the outcome.

But it is fair to ask if the Commanders still have a kicking problem. Washington’s kicking woes have only been overshadowed by its QB woes. Fans believed GM Adam Peters found a quarterback and kicker in the same season.

What should Washington do?

The Commanders should stick with Seibert unless he completely falls apart in the coming weeks, as misses happen. He’s proven reliable and consistent. It’s fair to wonder if the hip still bothered Seibert on Sunday. He, of course, denied it and took full responsibility.

Washington has been on the kicking carousel for years. Heck, the Commanders were on it for three months this year after they released veteran Brandon McManus.

The knock on Seibert was his inaccuracy over 50 yards. He did hit one over 50 yards on Sunday and missed another. However, something head coach Dan Quinn said after the game was a bit concerning.

“It’s harder to kick it out than you think,” Quinn said of Seibert potentially kicking the ball out of the back of the end zone. “And so, I thought it was really honestly from the kicking standpoint executed well. If you have to stop your feet and get one to go, that’s the challenge. If you can get it to hit the ground, that’s what you’re trying to do into that spot, but that’s the difference.”

Statistics show it’s not hard for every team — only Washington. Was Quinn saying Seibert’s leg strength is a liability on kickoffs?

Regardless, Washington had chances to bring down KaVontae Turpin on Sunday and failed. Outside of that, the Commanders have been excellent at covering kicks this season.

Sunday was a bad day for everyone in Washington, including Seibert. He deserves the opportunity to make things right next week against Tennessee.

Otherwise, the Commanders go back to the carousel, and that’s not where Quinn or Peters want to go.

This Cowboys specialist has punched his ticket to Pro Bowl in Week 12

After another explosive touchdown, Turpin has separated himself from the pack yet again. | From @KDDrummondNFL

It hasn’t been a particularly fun season for the Dallas Cowboys and their players. Starting out 3-2, the club lost several contributors over the first month of the season and that led to a cascading record that turned into 3-7. Along that five-game slide, QB Dak Prescott was lost for the year and the season went down the drain.

From an individual perspective it becomes hard for players to stand out amongst the sullenness of the organization, but Sunday’s electrifying win allowed one player in particular to emerge from the doldrums. Return specialist and (unfortunately only) part-time receiver Kavontae Turpin punched his ticket to the Pro Bowl.

VOTE FOR THE PRO BOWL HERE

In the game’s fourth quarter, Dallas extended their lead to 20-9 when Cooper Rush found Jake Ferguson wide open over the middle for a 22-yard score. Cowboys fans are used to the bottom falling out from under any positive play, and sure enough the Commanders offense woke up and they quickly marched down the field to score their own touchdown.

On the ensuing kickoff with three minutes remaining and a 20-17 advantage, Washington’s Austin Seibert kicked it off to Turpin in the field of play at the five-yard line.

Turpin muffed it; the ball squirted through his hands and legs to the goal line.

But then, magic. Turpin scooped up the ball at the one, turned back upfield and saw magic in the middle. He went into Madden spin mode at the nine-yard line and it was dust.

Turpin has long been the victim of opposing teams not kicking in his direction. After returning this punt for a touchdown opening week, it’s been a ton of frustration as kickers are choosing hang time instead of distance to make sure he doesn’t get a good opportunity to embarrass them.

Turpin’s opportunities are limited. He has only returned 31 on the season and has now scored twice, and is the only NFL returner with both a kick and punt return score this season. Turpin is actually the only player in the NFL with a kick, punt and catch touchdown each at least 60 yards, and has three plays where he’s reached speeds that rank in the top 10 across the league.

Starting to be mentioned with some of the best return men in NFL history through less than three seasons, Turpin is a lock to make this year’s Pro Bowl and it’s only Week 12.

Commanders safety Jeremy Reaves blames himself for missed tackle in loss to Cowboys

Washington’s loss was not on one player.

As badly as the Washington Commanders played on Sunday, they still had multiple chances to win late against the Dallas Cowboys. However, various mistakes added up and proved too much for the Commanders, who fell 34-26 to the Cowboys at home.

One of those chances came with around three minutes remaining when kicker Austin Seibert’s line drive kickoff hit Dallas wide receiver KaVontae Turpin’s hands around the four-yard line, which he muffed, picked up and ran back 99 yards for the touchdown to extend the Cowboys lead to 27-17 with 2:49 remaining.

This was just seconds after Washington quarterback Jayden Daniels engineered a quick touchdown drive to again make it a one-score game. With two timeouts and the two-minute warning remaining, the Commanders were in an excellent position to win an ugly game after such a terrible performance.

Turpin had other plans. But even after Turpin’s touchdown, Daniels and Terry McLaurin still had some magic left, but it didn’t matter, as the Cowboys prevailed.

As for Turpin, Washington safety — and former Pro Bowler on special teams — Jeremy Reaves blamed himself for Turpin’s score. It was Reaves who missed the initial tackle.

“I made that play 1,000 times,” a dejected Reaves said at his locker after Sunday’s game. “Thousand times, hundreds of times, it’s repetition. I didn’t make it today, and it cost us. It’s on me, man.

Reaves is right in one sense. He has made that play many times over the years, and not making it on Sunday was costly. However, Reaves is not to blame for the loss — far from it.

You win as a team, you lose a team. Reaves is one of the more selfless and beloved players in the locker room. He’s doing what leaders do: Taking accountability. That play was one of many that added up for the Commanders on Sunday, creating a perfect storm for the heavy underdog to come away with an upset win.

KaVontae Turpin returns kickoff 99 yards for Cowboys touchdown

KaVontae Turpin with a huge special teams play for the Cowboys

The Washington Commanders had closed with three points of the Dallas Cowboys in the fourth quarter on Sunday.

It lasted all of 13 seconds.

KaVontae Turpin misplayed the kickoff, picked the football up, made a spin and was off on a 99-yard return for a touchdown.

After the play and PAT, Dallas led 27-17 and was on its way to an NFC East upset.

Mike McCarthy not using this elite weapon more is unjustifiable Cowboys crime

KaVontae Turpin has proven once again he needs a bigger role on the Cowboys offense. | From @ReidDHanson

For almost three years, return specialist KaVontae Turpin has made the Cowboys return game one of the most feared in the NFL. The former USFL MVP demanded respect from the start in Dallas, earning Pro Bowl honors as a rookie and seeing an ever-expanding role on offense along the way.

While Turpin’s workload on Mike McCarthy’s offense has seen year-to-year growth, it’s still a generally niche role. Through 11 weeks in 2024, Turpin has just five rushing attempts and 31 targets downfield. He’s on pace for a career season on offense but it’s considerably less than what many in the media and fan circles envisioned for the former TCU receiver.

Turpin has largely been stuck in a supportive and gadget role over the years. Despite the blatant need for speed and playmaking ability on offense, McCarthy has struggled to get Turpin involved. The 28-year-old hasn’t made things easy for his coach, dropping some key passes and running some undisciplined routes, but one can argue it’s not Turpin’s job to fit McCarthy’s roles but rather McCarthy’s job to find the right roles for Turpin.

Such a statement may sound like semantics or even blame shifting but the reality is Turpin is just 5-foot-9, 153-pounds soaking wet and stretched out. He’s not the plug-and-play WR McCarthy has been trying to make him be.

For the better part of the season Turpin’s results on the field have been fairly underwhelming. Until, of course, he was used in a way that leaned on his strengths over the past week. Turpin’s ability to be a gamebreaker was on full display against Houston when he took a routine slant route to the house for 64 yards. He showed off his ability to separate, create in space and take a short pass the distance in the blink of an eye.

According to Seth Walder at ESPN, Turpin’s slant route for six points was just the second slant Turpin has run all season. It’s an inexcusable situation from an offensive coach who naturally leans on slant routes to a near preposterous degree.

Rather than using Turpin on pick routes, screens and slants, the Cowboys have been running their diminutive dynamo downfield where his size and experience are understandably exposed. Over the past 2+ seasons in Dallas, Turpin has been misused and underutilized to an unforgivable degree.

An argument could be made his actual number of touches is near maxed out given his build and that McCarthy was simply preserving him as a return man. But with speed and game breaking ability such as Turpin’s, he doesn’t even need the ball in his hands to be impactful. Motioning him behind the line at the snap and dragging him shallow across the formation after the snap is a great way to spread defenses horizontally, opening space on passing routes and widening rushing lanes on runs.

It’s also worth pointing out no one has any idea where that usage rate maxes out at since it’s yet to be found. Turpin has played in 43 of a possible 44 regular season games since coming to Dallas. He’s been extremely durable even in the high impact life of a return man.

A restricted free agent in 2025, Turpin may be somewhere else in the near future. There stands a very real chance his best years as an offensive weapon are ahead of him if his next coach is more willing to feature him in ways that play to his strength.

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1 major concern for 49ers against Cowboys

This could be a real problem for the 49ers on Sunday night!

The San Francisco 49ers will go into their Week 8 showdown with the Dallas Cowboys in desperate need of a win.

San Francisco’s schedule gives them an opportunity to make a playoff run if they can enter their Week 9 Bye with a 4-4 record. If they lose Sunday night and fall to 3-5, their path to the postseason becomes even more difficult.

Dallas has struggled through their first six games on both sides of the ball, but special teams is where things could really get sideways for the 49ers.

While the Cowboys’ offense and defense haven’t been great, their punt and kick returner KaVontae Turpin has been perhaps the best player at those two positions in the NFL. That’s particularly problematic for a 49ers coverage unit that’s surrendered a whopping 18.4 yards per punt return and 33.2 yards per kick return.

Turpin this season is averaging 19.2 yards per punt return and 43.0 yards per kick return. He also returned a punt for a touchdown in Week 1 against the Browns this season.

The 49ers have already had multiple games swing because of special teams mishaps, including long punt returns against the Rams and Chiefs, and a kick return touchdown against the Seattle Seahawks.

San Francisco is favored to win, but there may not be a player more capable of turning the game toward Dallas than Turpin against a shoddy 49ers special teams group.

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Cowboys finally learning the tricks to unlocking this obvious weapon

The Cowboys used KaVontae Turpin more than they’ve used him all season, and in ways that actually help. | From @ReidDHanson

From the moment KaVontae Turpin arrived in Dallas back in 2022, fans have been looking for ways to get him the ball. The former USFL MVP has the kind of speed, explosiveness and athleticism that can’t be taught. A receiver in name but a return man by trade, Turpin has carved out quite the reputation in the two plus seasons he’s been with the Cowboys.

Making the Pro Bowl as a rookie, the 5-foot-9, 153-pound human water bug became a player opposing teams tried to avoid. By his second season Turpin saw his returnable punts drop from 29 to 13 and his kick returns go from 21 to just 10. It’s a trend that continues in 2024 with Turpin not logging a single returnable punt since Week 1 and posting a total of just two kick returns through the first four weeks of play.

Teams have been avoiding Turpin for fairly obvious reasons and the Cowboys haven’t figured out a way to forcibly insert their fastest player back into the game plan. Until now, that is.

In Week 5 against the Steelers, Mike McCarthy finally problem solved the situation. The Cowboys removed co-return man Juanyeh Thomas from the equation and left Turpin back to field kickoffs alone. It only offered him one return on the day but even that was a welcomed sight given he hadn’t had one opportunity the two games prior. For anyone wondering, he’s now averaging 35.67 yards per kick return, far above league average and greater than the value of a touchback.

McCarthy has also given him extra opportunities on offense. While it’s likely Brandin Cooks’ injury played a big part in the decision, seeing Turpin on offense was a welcomed sight regardless. Turpin logged 22 snaps on offense for Dallas, which marked a season high. His five targets downfield and four receptions were also season highs. He took a six-yard loss on his only rushing attempt but much like a cruddy Christmas gift from loved ones, it was the thought that counts.

Using Turpin as a receiver gives him the best opportunity to create magic in space. And using him as a rusher once or twice a game will force opponents to respect the horizonal motion that typically goes with a Turpin run.

It’s what fans and media have been begging for, for quite some time. Problem solve the kick returns. Create horizonal motion on offense. Use Turpin as a runner and as a run-action decoy. And get Turpin the ball down field.

For at least one week, Turpin has been maximized on the Cowboys. Whether Week 5 was an anomaly or a sign of more things to come is anyone’s guess, but McCarthy has been rewarded for using his diminutive dynamo so the hope is it will all continue.

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Teams are eliminating this unique Cowboys weapon, so how will Dallas fix it?

Teams are avoiding KaVonate Turpin and it’s time the Cowboys figure out how to stop that. | From @ReidDHanson

Let’s run through a quick strategy session, shall we? Let’s say an opposing team is fielding two kick returners. One of those returners is a reserve safety with average speed and below average return ability. The other returner is an actual kick return specialist with elite speed and Pro Bowl return ability. How would you handle this situation as the kicking team?

If you answered, “kick it to the reserve safety” you’re not alone. Each of the Cowboys opponents this season has opted to target the safety, Juanyeh Thomas, rather than the professional return man, KaVonate Turpin. It’s not hard to see why either. Turpin is one of the most feared return men in the game today. If given the choice between the two, no one in their right mind would target Turpin. It’s why the former TCU star only has two returns on the season while Thomas has six.

https://twitter.com/GehlkenNFL/status/1561395165071380481

This strategy has rendered Turpin nothing more than a lead blocker on the kick return unit. At 5-foot-9, 153-pounds, he’s not exactly the ideal blocker, but if teams are kicking away from him what else is he supposed to do?

It seems there’s a Turpin avoidance problem at the moment in Dallas and it’s incumbent on the Cowboys to figure out a solution.

One possible solution is upgrading the return spot next to Turpin. Thomas is averaging just 24 yards per return this season, well below league average and significantly below Turpin’s 34.5. Thomas also has the fourth most return attempts in the NFL, indicating it’s not a product of sample size.

It stands to reason a more explosive player could produce better results in the role. Possible solutions are Deuce Vaughn, Rico Dowdle, Jalen Tolbert and Ryan Flournoy. Given Donovan Wilson’s volativity at safety, Thomas could really stand to get more snaps at safety anyway.

Another possible solution is to fight the opponent’s predictability with unpredictability. Opponents are predictably targeting the player opposite Turpin so what if the Cowboys disguise which side of the field Turpin is on?

If both return men begin the process positioned in the middle of the field, making a break to their respective sides only when the kicking motion has begun, they will remove the kicking team’s ability to target specific players. It would give Turpin a 50-50 shot at returning the ball which would be a marked improvement over what he’s getting today.

What the Cowboys can’t do is keep allowing teams to dictate the terms of a return because they’re just going to keep targeting the man not named “Turpin” every time. In that case the Cowboys might as well just take Turpin off the field altogether and replace him with an actual lead blocker since that’s all he’s been doing anyway.

It’s innovation time in Dallas. John Fassel and crew are facing a very predictable situation right now and they need to find ways to work around it.

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KaVontae Turpin 60-yard punt return for Dallas TD

The Cowboys were clobbering the Browns in Cleveland

The Dallas Cowboys were all over the Cleveland Browns on Sunday in Cleveland.

A KaVontae Turpin 60-yard punt return and Brandon Aubrey PAT gave the NFC East champs a 27-3 lead.

Dak Prescott was outplaying Deshaun Watson on the day he signed a $240 million contract, the richest in NFL history.