Brett Maher was game-winning hero for Dallas Cowboys but don’t forget KaVontae Turpin
One of the sweetest things about Sunday’s 20-17 victory by the Dallas Cowboys over the Cincinnati Bengals was that it was a total team effort, led by backup quarterback Cooper Rush.
It took everyone to notch that first victory of the season and it was sparked and consummated by two guys who weren’t on the team at the start of training camp: kick returner KaVontae Turpin and kicker Brett Maher.
Maher was the hero Sunday with his game-winning 50-yard field goal as time expired, sending the Cowboys and the fans at AT&T Stadium into a frenzy.
“Every opportunity is rewarding to be honest with you,” Maher said. “I’m happy to do my part with this group. The guys in the locker room are awesome. This whole game was a ton of fun to be a part of.
“This whole locker room is a ton of fun to be a part of. I’m embracing the ride and doing my part.”
It also offered a matter of redemption for Maher, who was fired as the Cowboys kicker in 2019 after missing at least one kick 16 of 29 games with the Cowboys and having a disappointing 66.7 percent success rate that season.
The Cowboys gave Maher the game ball in the post-game locker room.
“Brett Maher, I’m so happy for Brett, he gets to come back home here and he makes the game winner,” Cowboys coach Mike McCarthy said. “Excellent team win.”
Maher was out of the league in 2020 and spent part of 2021 with the New Orleans Saints before being summoned by a desperate Cowboys team in training camp after a failed competition between Jonathan Garibay and Lirim Hajrullahu.
Maher out-kicked Hajrullahu in the preseason and scored the team’s only points in a 19-3 season-opening loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
Perhaps a sign of things to come came at the end of the first half Sunday when Pro Bowl punter Bryan Anger pinned the Bengals at 13.
And when the Bengals punted it back to the Cowboys after a strong defensive stand, including a sack by Dorance Armstrong, Turpin gashed them with a 20-yard punt return.
It set the offense up at the Bengals 49-yard line with 51 seconds left in the half.
Remember, Turpin, who was the USFL MVP and a former star returner at TCU, didn’t join the Cowboys until a week after training camp started.
Maher then kicked a 54-yard field goal to give the Cowboys a 17-3 lead at halftime.
The situation was eerily similar late in the fourth quarter with the game tied at 17.
A 47-yard punt by Anger pinned the Bengals at 8 with 2:20 left. The defense forced a three-and-out
And although the Bengals punter Kevin Huber got off a 63-yard boot to the Cowboys 21, Turpin gave the offense some breathing room and a spark of life with 14-yard return.
Rush moved the Cowboys 33 yards in five plays to set up Maher for the final heroics.
“You do go out there expecting to make every kick,” Maher said. “I feel like I’m in a good rhythm right now. Jake [McQuaide] and Bryan [Anger] are absolutely money on the operation — gave me a great look at it. It’s just a really fun group to be a part of.
“That whole last sequence was awesome where Bryan pinning them deep with a punt, the defense getting a stop, getting a good punt return, and then getting in position and coming through. That was a very fun moment to be a part of.”
Special teams coach John Fassel was happy for Maher.
“I was as happy as I could be. I’ve known Brett since he came out of college and kind of followed his career,” Fassel said. “Then getting to know Brett when we tried him out last fall and then we brought him in this training camp. It’s just been great to get to know him on a personal level, but also I wouldn’t say he’s exceeded my expectations because I thought he was always a really good kicker, but just his mental toughness and just poise has been really cool to witness because you don’t really get to know somebody like that until you’re coaching them.”
And Fassel said it’s only a matter of time before Turpin breaks a long one. But he didn’t overlook the impact the returns had on the field goals and the game winner.
“I think it was good to get the ball in his hands twice on a punt return, and the first one we actually rushed and C.J. [Goodwin] and Kelvin Joseph did a nice job blocking their gunners because they were one-on-one outside,” Fassel said. “Then Turpin does what he told me, he said, ‘Hey, just get a man on a man and make sure everybody is kind of out of the way.’ He has a real natural knack for kind of finding creases. Then the right before the game-winning drive we had a return call on, and it was a good punt and he took it and he’s got great ball skills and he took it and ran for a return. He got us a first down and a half, a 14, 15-yard return. But anything like that just jump starts your offense. You guys get a couple more and we’re right there. It was great to see him go.”
This story was originally published September 20, 2022 at 4:00 AM.
