With 2:49 remaining in the fourth quarter on Sunday, Cowboys returner KaVontae Turpin returned a kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown. With 14 seconds remaining, Juanyeh Thomas grabbed an onside kick and returned it 43 yards for a Cowboys touchdown.
That made the Cowboys just the 15th team in NFL history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game, and only the fourth team to get kickoff return touchdowns from two different players.
The last time two different players returned kickoffs for touchdowns for the same team in the same game was in 1998, when the Ravens’ Corey Harris returned a kickoff 95 yards in the first quarter, and Patrick Johnson returned one 97 yards later in the same quarter. On the ensuing kickoff after Johnson’s touchdown, Minnesota’s David Palmer ran it back 88 yards for a touchdown, making it the only time in NFL history that there were three kickoff return touchdowns in the first quarter of a game.
In 1952, the Bears’ Leon Campbell had an 86-yard kickoff return touchdown and Eddie Macon had an 89-yard kickoff return touchdown against the Packers. And in 1940, the Bears’ George McAfee had a 93-yard kickoff return touchdown and Ray Nolting had a 97-yard kickoff return touchdown, also against the Packers.
And those are the only games in NFL history with a team getting kickoff return touchdowns from two different players, with the Cowboys the only team to get them both in the fourth quarter, a thrilling finish to an upset win in what has otherwise been a disappointing season for the Cowboys.
