FRISCO, Texas – As the Cowboys prepare to face the Commanders at AT&T Stadium on Sunday, they'll be getting some of their key playmakers back in KaVontae Turpin.
Turpin has missed the last two games with a foot injury for Dallas. After being limited in practice on Wednesday and Thursday, Turpin was a full participant in Friday's practice and carries no injury designation, meaning he's good to go.
"I feel like I'm back to 100%," Turpin said. "No hurting in my toes, I feel good now that I can be out there competing with my guys on Sunday…"
"Wednesday, I took it one day at a time, every play at a time. Thursday I went out there ready to go, then today I went out there not even worrying about it, just knowing that I'm going to be out there Sunday."
He'll be joining fellow WR CeeDee Lamb back out on the field as well, who has missed the last three full games for Dallas with a high ankle sprain. In the absence of Lamb and Turpin, George Pickens has stepped up big for the Cowboys offense.
With the additions of Lamb and Turpin back into the lineup, the hope is that the NFL's number one offense can only continue to improve under first-year head coach Brian Schottenheimer.
"I would just say just keep the trust in Schotty," Turpin said. "Hopefully he can get everybody the ball, everybody's out there trying to make a play. My boy [George Pickens] man, I just hope they keep finding ways to move him, put him in the slot, and find ways to get him the ball."
In Week 12 last year, Turpin had the highlight of his career, and maybe of the Cowboys' entire season, on a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown. Turpin initially muffed the kickoff, went back to the one-yard line to retrieve the ball, hit a spin-move on a Washington defender and then hit 21.35 miles per hour speed to run away from everybody and give Dallas a double-digit lead late in the fourth quarter.
It was a play that took over social media, and one that Turpin still sees pop up on his own feeds every now and then. This week, he wants to come up with something new.
"This time, I'm trying to do something else," Turpin said. "I'm trying to do something spectacular that'll go viral. So that's the plan right now."
What ended up making that play a touchdown, aside from Turpin's one-of-a-kind speed, was his patience. That continues to be an element of his game on kickoff returns because of the different ways that kickers are trying to force opposing teams to set up their returns under the NFL's new kickoff rule.
"I always be patient," Turpin said. "When I'm back there by myself, I don't know how they're going to kick it, if they're going to go touch back, if they're going to go dirty ball, they're going to kick it straight got me, it'll be everything. So now I got to think about it more, see how guys are kicking to me."
Sunday's matchup between the Commanders and Cowboys serves as an early marker for who will take second place in the NFC East. The Commanders currently sit in second place at 1-0 but hold a 3-3 record, with the Cowboys behind them at 2-3-1 with a 1-1 division record. Turpin's approach to getting to that second spot is to keep doing what they're doing and take things one step at a time.
"That's the NFL," Turpin said. "Every division's going to be hard, the conference is going to be hard. We've just got to take it one game at a time. We're third right now, we've just got to take it one day at a time… it's wide open, but we've got keep doing what we've got to do."
