Cowboys' KaVontae Turpin feared to have suffered high-ankle sprain in Week 5 loss to 49ers

The Dallas Cowboys could be without star return man and wide receiver KaVontae Turpin for four-to-six weeks after he left the game against the 49ers early due to injury. According to NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the team believes Turpin has a high-ankle sprain, which has a rough return timeline of a month.

The Cowboys are having the wideout undergo an MRI on Monday to determine the full severity of the injury. If it is on the more severe side, they could put him on the Injured Reserve, which means a mandatory four weeks out.

Prior to his exit, Turpin hauled in a beautifully lofted 26-yard touchdown pass from Dak Prescott in the second quarter. However, not much else could go right for Dallas on Sunday Night Football, as they were demolished by the 49ers to the tune of a 42-10 beatdown.

The Monroe, Louisiana native played for TCU under Gary Patterson from 2015-2018. He returned to the state of Texas for his chance with the Cowboys where he made the Pro Bowl last season.

Turpin showed off his breakaway potential in Fort Worth, recording a punt return touchdown in each of his four seasons on campus. He also had one kick return touchdown a piece during his junior and senior years.

Last season, Turpin recorded 508 kick return yards and another 303 on punts during the regular slate. In the Cowboys’ two playoff games, he totaled 155 yards on kickoffs. As a receiver, he had one catch for nine yards.

If the Cowboys have to manage the next few weeks without their starting kick returner, they’ll likely turn to rookie running back Deuce Vaughn.

Cowboys humbled once again

The Dallas Cowboys are looking like the Jekyll and Hyde team of the league after a blowout loss to the San Francisco 49ers in primetime on Sunday night. After crushing the Patriots 38-3 in Week 4, Dallas lost 42-10 against their NFC rivals.

The Cowboys’ inconsistency has head coach Mike McCarthy demanding more accountability from everyone in the organization.

“A very humbling loss, clearly, and that’s stating the obvious,” McCarthy said post-game. “I think the biggest thing is that I just had a reflection on the five games we’ve played, and it’s been a wide range of performance — as wide of a range as I can recall in a five-week period. The biggest thing is for us to be accountable.”

“It’s clearly humbling,” McCarthy added. “But it is one game —I expressed that coming into that. They were playing very well coming into [this game], and I thought our defense was in for a big challenge. Frankly, it starts with me. I didn’t do a good enough job tonight. … It clearly just shows where we are at 3-2. It’s [lack of] consistency. Even when we’re playing really well, look at those three games that we’ve won by a big margin, it’s pre-snap penalties that showed up again tonight.”