Special teams bungles dominate the NFL with Commanders, Cowboys leading the way in a chaotic Week 12
Special teams bungles dominate the NFL with Commanders, Cowboys leading the way in a chaotic Week 12
Adventures on special teams made the Washington-Dallas showdown a clumsy affair, yet Joe Davis and Greg Olsen saw to it that the broadcast of the chaotic finish was pure gold.
After Terry McLaurin weaved his way past five defenders for an 86-yard touchdown catch from Jayden Daniels to cut the Cowboys lead to 27-26 with 21 seconds left, Fox’s No. 2 broadcast crew captured the chaos before admonishing the audience not to count on anything as a certainty on this helter-skelter afternoon.
“Lightning strikes twice in Washington!” McLaurin shouted in an homage to Daniels’ 52-yard Hail Mary to Noah Brown that stunned the Bears last month.
“They dropped 11 guys in coverage,” Olsen marveled. “If they just tackle him inbounds the game is over. I don’t even know what to say. I’m absolutely speechless.”
Not for long he wasn’t.
Olsen quickly cautioned the audience that “Automatic” Austin Siebert had already missed an extra point along with a field goal Sunday in his return from a right hip injury.
“Before anyone in Washington gets too fired up, remember, we’ve seen a missed PAT already,” Olsen said.
“Yeah, you hold your breath with anything special teams-related on this day,” Davis agreed.
After all, this was the first game in NFL history to feature two kickoff returns for touchdowns, two errant extra points and a blocked punt.
In the 41-point fourth quarter that erased the game’s snoozer status, Washington allowed KaVontae Turpin’s 99-yard kickoff return for a score. Earlier, the Cowboys missed a field goal and saw another one blocked along with a punt.
Sure enough, the snap was low … the hold was better …
“ It is no good! ” Davis hollered. “And the worst special teams day in history has a fitting finish!”
Actually, no.
More ruckus remained.
Siebert’s onside kick bounced twice in front of safety Juanyeh Thomas, who gathered it in and returned it 43 yards for Dallas’ second kickoff return for a touchdown.
If Thomas takes a knee short of the goal line, he effectively seals the Cowboys’ win. Instead, the score, while pushing Dallas’ lead to 34-26, also left enough time for Daniels and the Commanders for a shot at yet another miracle touchdown.
Austin Ekeler returned the kickoff to the Washington 36 and after a short gain, Daniels’ Hail Mary was intercepted by Israel Mukuamu as time expired.
And that’s how what Davis called the “worst special teams day in NFL history” came to an end.
“What a wild special teams moment of blocked punts, kicks, kickoff returns, blocked field goals,” Commanders coach Dan Quinn said.
In keeping with the not-so-special-teams theme, there were several foibles in the kicking game across the NFL in Week 12, where the Broncos gave up a 34-yard pass completion on a fake punt that Denver coach Sean Payton swore the team saw coming — and not as it was unfolding, either, but five days earlier.
“We met Tuesday as a staff. It wasn’t a matter of if, it was when they were going to run a fake punt,” Payton said. “You’re struggling as a team like this, we had it on the keys to victory, so credit them, they executed it.”
Thanks to AJ Cole’s 34-yard pass to linebacker Divine Deablo that set up a second-quarter field goal, the reeling Raiders took a 13-9 advantage into the locker room, just their second halftime lead of the season.
In the second half, the Raiders succumbed to surging rookie QB Bo Nix and veteran wide receiver Courtland Sutton in their 29-19 loss. That’s seven straight losses for the Raiders, their longest skid in a decade.
The Broncos (7-5), who blew a chance to beat the Chiefs in Week 10 when their 35-yard field goal try was blocked as time ran out, also allowed a 59-yard kickoff return that led to Las Vegas’ only touchdown Sunday.
The Texans (7-5) lost for the third time in four games after Ka’imi Fairbairn shanked a 28-yard field goal try that would have tied the Titans just after the two-minute warning.
Like the Broncos, the Vikings (9-2) overcame a special teams blunder and escaped Soldier Field with a 30-27 overtime win against the Bears after allowing Chicago (4-7) to recover an onside kick with 21 seconds left. Caleb Williams followed with a 27-yard pass to D.J. Moore to set up Cairo Santos’ tying 48-yard field goal as the fourth-quarter clock hit zeros.
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AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
By ARNIE STAPLETON
AP Pro Football Writer
