It feels great to talk about the Dallas Cowboys in a positive light again. The five-game losing streak, which was only compounded by Dak Prescott’s season-ending injury, was one of the darkest periods for the franchise that we can remember.
It would have been easy for the Cowboys to lie down, but they’re still fighting. Micah Parsons’ infectious confidence is to thank for that, but so is Mike McCarthy.
McCarthy is far from perfect. but Dallas’ effort supports that they haven’t given up. There had been a lot of talk about McCarthy losing the locker room and the team waving the white flag. It is clear they are still behind McCarthy.
The Cowboys beat the Giants on Thanksgiving fairly convincingly. It wasn’t a banner game for McCarthy, who bafflingly ghosted Rico Dowdle on three straight possessions in the first half and maybe called Cooper Rush’s number one too many times in the second half.
However, the head coach did something in the game that fans have wanted for over a season now. The only problem? He waited until Prescott was hurt to do it.
Cowboys waited until Dak Prescott was hurt to feature KaVontae Turpin
It is unfathomable that it took Dallas this long to get Turpin involved on offense. Anyone with two functioning eyes can see that Turpin could make a difference.
Jerry Jones was adamant after Turpin’s 99-yard kickoff return against the Commanders that the speedster would be more involved. The thing is it isn’t new information that Turpin is one of the fastest players in the NFL. His kickoff return was a nice reminder, but this is his third year with the team.
While Prescott was not playing great before his injury, the offense did him zero favors. Between McCarthy’s poor route concepts and the lack of a secondary option behind CeeDee Lamb, Prescott threw into tight windows at the highest rate of any quarterback before he went down.
Brandin Cooks had been out since Week 4, Jalen Tolbert showed flashes but was nowhere near consistent enough to be WR2 and Jalen Brooks and Ryan Flournoy failed to step up. The offense – and Prescott – was desperate for another playmaker.
Turpin led Dallas on Thanksgiving with 53 receiving yards. He had receptions of 30 and 16 yards. The Giants could not bring him down in the open field. In Week 11, he took a simple hitch route 60 yards to the house for his second receiving touchdown of the season.
Nobody is saying that Turpin needs 10 targets a game, but he should touch the ball on offense no fewer than five times. He was targeted five times on 10 routes run on Thursday. His 50% target rate is tied for the third-highest in a game by a WR this season, per Next Gen Stats.
Turpin should arguably be running more than 10 routes, but this was a promising start so long as McCarthy keeps it up.
It is criminal it didn’t happen while Prescott was still healthy.
