The Dallas Cowboys’ win over the Washington Commanders certainly had its share of wild moments, particularly on special teams. For the Cowboys, who won 34-26, that included two kickoff touchdown returns.
One happened on KaVontae Turpin’s epic 99-yard score in which he hit the Commanders with a nasty spin move and another happened when the Commanders attempted an onside kick after painfully missing an extra point that would’ve tied the game at 27 each.
The onside kick was controversially returned for a touchdown by safety Juanyeh Thomas. With under 30 seconds on the clock, the Cowboys didn’t need a touchdown. Up 27-26, going down would’ve secured the win while returning the kick for a TD opened the door for another miracle play for the Commanders.
Fortunately for Dallas, that didn’t happen. However, Thomas was inevitably asked about the sequence postgame and he offered a pretty honest explanation: He couldn’t resist the temptation.
“I’m actually looking at the kickoff team, trying to see where they’re going to kick it,” Thomas told reporters. “Then I see the four (players on one side) and the five (on the other), they’re close, so I’m thinking in my brain, ‘They’re going to kick it to me.’ As soon as he kicked it, I know they can’t hit me until I touch it. So I kind of waited a second, like, ‘Should I try? Should I try? F***k it,’ and really just went for it.”
“I went on and grabbed it,” Thomas added. “I said, ‘Man, I think I’m going to go on and score.”
Thomas admitted next time he’d take a knee but didn’t show much regret for doing his thing and taking a chance. Even though it’s easy to understand the argument about Thomas’ return being the objectively wrong one in that scenario, you could also make the argument it’s the kind of morale boost a 4-7 team needs in this kind of games.
At the end of the day, the Cowboys finally got a much-needed win. Having a little extra fun can only help, right?
Good call, bad call, whatever, the Cowboys are moving on as they have a short week ahead against the New York Giants.
“I’m not going to discredit this win because it feels great, I’m telling you it does, but like I said, we’re just going to stay neutral,” Thomas said abut the team’s feelings after the win.
Neutral has been a key word for the Cowboys behind closed doors, Thomas revealed. And it’ll remain so after the team’s fourth win of the year.
“Preaching in the locker room, man,” Thomas added. “Neutral—that’s the word in the locker room: neutral. We have to stay neutral. You lose? Neutral. You win? Neutral. Because, you know, in this league, you can go up and down, so you just gotta be neutral, confident, and stay positive.”
