FRISCO — Defenses are struggling to slow down the Dallas Cowboys’ offense right now. Maybe the key to leveling the playing field is to elongate it.
Carolina Panthers rookie kicker Ryan Fitzgerald has become one of the league’s best at one of the newest trends. His “dirty ball” kickoff — essentially a low-lining knuckle ball — has become a problem or opposing kickoff returns. Fitzgerald’s consistency with the dirty ball has induced multiple mishandled returns.
The Cowboys are aware of it. The next problem: preparing for it.
“It’s tough, because you can’t get the [jug machines] to kick them, as much as we tried,” Cowboys special teams coordinator Nick Sorensen said about the dirty balls. “And then Brandon [Aubrey] will kick them too. He’ll try and work on them. Those aren’t 100%. Some guys are better than others, but he tries to give us different looks, too.”
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Still, it’s hard to replicate until players actually see it. Consider the Panthers’ biggest win of the season, for example. Fitzgerald was a weapon in the Panthers’ 30-0 win over the Atlanta Falcons. He had seven kickoffs in that game. Only two were successfully returned. Three of the seven kickoffs went into the landing zone and through the endzone for a touchback that started at the 20-yard line, according to new NFL kickoff rules. Two other kickoffs pinned the Falcons at their own 10-yard line.
The kick isn’t easy to perform. Fitzgerald, however, has found consistency with it — much to the chagrin of opposing returners.
“No two are exactly the same,” Sorensen said. “And you know with a football, and the weird shape that thing is, you can’t duplicate it where that ball could bounce, and that’s what that guy has done really good. There’s a few guys around the league that have hit some good ones and that’s helped their drive start a lot [farther back].”
The Panthers are second in the NFL in opposing return yards (19.3). Opposing teams start, on average, at their own 24-yard line against the Panthers.
The Cowboys, meanwhile, aren’t expected to be at their fullest in the return department. All-Pro returner KaVontae Turpin said earlier this week that he isn’t expecting to return from a sprained foot suffered in Week 4. He said the following Sunday at home against the Washington Commanders is more likely.
Instead, the Cowboys will likely turn to rookie running back Jaydon Blue and potentially practice squad wide receiver Jalen Cropper. The Cowboys have elevated Cropper twice already, however. One more elevation and then they’d have to decide whether to add him to the active roster or release him.
Regardless of who’s back there, they should be prepared for some difficult kickoffs.
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