3 things you might’ve missed about Cowboys’ disaster final play
By Adam Weinrib
2. Kavontae Turpin Having Zero Idea the Game Was Over After He Was Tackled?
Don’t lose sight of the fact that, while Zeke Elliott was seeing stars and trying to figure out his contract situation from the rock-hard turf at Levi’s Stadium, Turpin was also on the ground and trying to figure out how to help his team as the clock expired.
Turpin may very well be the only NFL player who doesn’t know that, when you are tackled to the ground, you can no longer participate in the active football play (as long as you hold onto the ball).
As the play ended — and, coincidentally, as time expired — Turpin reflexively tried to lateral the football and keep the party going.
Underrated part of the video is Turpin getting lit up and thinking for a half second that he could lateral the ball flat on his back. All time clip pic.twitter.com/XCT3noo1bZ
— Bobby Skinner (@BobbySkinner_) January 23, 2023
Somehow, this wasn’t even Turpin’s most embarrassing moment of the evening.
While streaking towards the end zone on a game-changing kick return earlier in the quarter, and with the entire sideline ahead of him, Turpin instead decided to take a visit to the Guys in 49ers Jerseys Forest and got taken down by a punter headbutt.
Guess which way did Turpin ran pic.twitter.com/Pj6bpkJYBe
— Akash (@YZR_Fantasy) January 23, 2023
Hmm. Seems like a bad idea, given where all those red arrows were pointing.
Ultimately, Turpin trying to lateral during Mike McCarthy’s handshake with Kyle Shanahan probably wasn’t going to turn out for the best.
But, hey, the game’s not over until the FINAL WHISTLE SOUNDS! What? It was sounding, at this very point in time? Interesting.