The Cowboys’ special teams unit plays a crucial role in their overall strategy.
In the season opener against the Cleveland Browns, the Dallas Cowboys demonstrated that special teams, a frequently disregarded aspect of the game, can have a big impact on the outcome of each and every week’s contest.
“Special teams matter too!”
Though it has been claimed previously, the Week 1 game against the Browns was the first time it was really seen. The Cowboys played admirably in all three phases of the game, but unexpectedly, special teams contributed to the win and recorded the first “W” of the season.
Though it was undoubtedly a team effort, the Cowboys’ game-changing special teams plays in the season opener came from both KaVontae Turpin and Brandon Aubrey. These two seem like they are already
Against the Browns, Aubrey shown once more that, when necessary, he can be counted on to be a reliable weapon from almost any distance. With a long of 57 yards, he was perfect on 4/4 field goal tries and made all of his extra point kicks. Before the break, he was even planning to try a 66- and 71-yard shot. We were saddened to learn that it did not occur.
Any team in the league would be envious of their ability to bring Brandon Aubrey onto the field from the 50-yard line or beyond, knowing that he will almost certainly score three points. Mike McCarthy and his staff may be able to take more offensive risks because of their high degree of confidence in their kicker.
KaVontate Turpin is Dallas’ field-flipping weapon if Brandon Aubrey is their long-range weapon. He has the ability to take the ball home whenever he touches it, as the season opening demonstrated. He only had one 34-yard return as a kick returner, but he was mostly effective with five punt returns.
The rest of the league now understands how big of a game-changing weapon Turpin can be in the return game, if they did not know it before. He has the ability to quickly change the field position, which may influence how certain teams decide to use him as a punt and kick returner. How that could change the game, who knows?
The Dallas Cowboys have perhaps the greatest kicker and return specialist in the NFL in Brandon Aubrey and KaVontae Turpin. They are the kinds of game-changing weapons that could prove to be the advantage Dallas needs over their opponents this season, even though they are no longer secrets as to what they can do when the time arises.