Absurd Cowboys-Commanders ending sets a new precedent in NFL special teams weirdness

For a while, the Commanders-Cowboys game on Sunday afternoon was pretty boring. It was 3-3 at halftime. It was 10-9 at the start of the fourth quarter. It was only 13-9 more than halfway through the fourth.

So, how on earth did this game become a classic, 34-26 Cowboys victory — in regulation? Well, mostly because the special-teams units went nuts. KaVontae Turpin got things started with a 99-yard kick return touchdown, just after Jayden Daniels had hit Zach Ertz to cut into Dallas’ lead and seemingly give Washington a chance for a comeback victory. In case “99-yard kick return touchdown” doesn’t sound crazy enough, take a look at what actually happened on the play.

Washington’s ensuing drive resulted in a deep field goal from Austin Seibert (more on him on a minute), which got the Commanders back to within one score. The Cowboys quickly went three-and-out on their next possession just after the two-minute warning, so Washington got the ball back on its own 14-yard line, needing to go 86 yards in 33 seconds — with no timeouts.

Naturally, Jayden Daniels and Terry McLaurin hooked up for an 86-yard touchdown on the very next snap.

So, it’s another Washington miracle comeback, right? Tie game, headed to overtime? NOT SO FAST, MY FRIEND! Remember how I said we’d be hearing more about Seibert later? Well, the kicker who was 22 of 22 on extra points coming into this game, proceeded to shank the extra point, meaning instead of heading to overtime, Washington needed to recover an onside kick.

What happened on the onside attempt? Well, not only did Washington not recover the ball; Dallas safety Juanyeh Thomas snagged it on the run and took it all the way back to the end zone with just 14 seconds remaining, extending the Cowboys’ lead once again. (Let’s leave aside for the moment that he absolutely should have gone down instead of running into the end zone. It was a super cool play.)

According to CBS Sports research, this was the first game in the Super Bowl era with two missed extra points (both by Seibert, who also missed one early in the third quarter) and two kick-return touchdowns. And the Cowboys are the first team in history with two kick-return touchdowns in the fourth quarter of a single game. How’s that for wild?