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profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
BALTIMORE — They are the 21 days that should have tried Rams’ souls. Instead, these last 21 days revived Rams’ souls.
Forty players, coaches and football staff—more than any team in the league—tested positive for Covid. Two vital players were sidelined hours before the start of this ramrod schedule: at Arizona, Seattle (delayed two days because of 22 positives that week), at desperate Minnesota, at desperate Baltimore. Because of the Covid spread and the heavy rains in southern California, the team has not had a full, normal practice since early December. With all that, the Rams had to go 4-0 in this stretch to have a realistic chance to pass 10-2 Arizona and be in position to win the division.
Facing the Ravens on Sunday at the big Crabcake, the Rams’ crazy 20-19 win—keyed by superstar acquisitions Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.—finished the crazy schedule stretch. The Rams went 4-0. They’ll win the NFC West with either a home win over the Niners this weekend or an Arizona loss to Seattle.
Going 4-0 in that three-week stretch is one of the great accomplishments this season by any NFL team, particularly in the hazy time of the record number of Covid positives. But Christmas Day highlighted a particularly bizarre weekend.
Stalwart left tackle Andrew Whitworth went to bed on Friday night, Christmas Eve, feeling lousy. The team’s head athletic trainer, Reggie Scott, told Whitworth if he didn’t feel good Christmas morning, he should report for 5 a.m. Covid testing at the team facility. Whitworth didn’t sleep much that night, felt feverish, and he knew the team needed him for the Sunday game at Minnesota, and he thought of trying to gut it out. “But I knew the responsible thing with this outbreak running through our team was to test and try to slow it down,” he said.
Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford and teammates. (Getty Images)
Whitworth’s first three rapid-test swabs in the 5 a.m. test were positive. He was out for Sunday. His backup, Joe Noteboom, had been out with Covid, but the Rams felt he was trending in a healthy direction, and he reported for the early test. And just as the Rams buses were about to leave for the trip to Minnesota, Noteboom’s PCR test came back positive.
The third option at left tackle, David Edwards, started. But 18 plays into the game, center Brian Allen got hurt, and the Rams shuffled the line, and undrafted rookie Alaric Jackson moved to left tackle for the last 52 snaps against the Vikings.
Jackson, the Rams’ fourth left tackle, gave up zero sacks and one pressure of Matthew Stafford. Rams 30, Vikings 23.
“The blessing in disguise,” Whitworth said, “over the last three weeks is we’ve got guys playing that never played. We’re relying on guys that we’ve never had to rely on before. There’s almost this adversity, this belief system of anybody can get in there and we can be okay. Then you get your guys back and you start getting stronger and there’s just this bond that’s bigger than whether or not one guy can do it. It’s made us have this little resolve that maybe we didn’t have as early in the year. We were a good team, but maybe something was missing. We’re more complete.”
More than that, the Rams are thriving in this ridiculous time. And about 35 of their players, having tested positive in December, now do not have to test through the end of the season, because the NFL gives players who tested positive a 90-day holiday—with a CDC nod of approval—from the testing protocols. More than half of the roster is free of the testing burden, and the Covid burden. Think how handy that will be if the Rams advance in the playoffs. Half the roster can practice and play with an uncluttered mind.
“We are playing football, and playing winning football, through the biggest pandemic of our lifetime,” said Scott, the team’s Infection Control Officer. “Today, these four important players are available. Tomorrow, they’re not. Sometimes I just pinch myself. Really, it’s incredible.”
This really was a compelling game. The Ravens have been ravaged by injury and Covid unlike any team in the league. They’re paying 89 players (about 15 above the league average), with about $77 million in 2021 cap money on IR. You could argue the five most important positions on the run-heavy Ravens are QB, RB, LT, CB and CB. The starters at every one of those spots in August—Lamar Jackson, J.K. Dobbins, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters—were hurt and not dressed Sunday.
These must-win games are stressful enough for the players. But when I asked Baltimore vet Calais Campbell what this year had been like for him, he said, “Stressful. So stressed. Not just the game itself, but doing everything to be available for the game,” he said. “I can’t afford to test positive. My team needs me. So I try to stay at home as much as possible. Even at home, I’ve been masking up, which is so weird. My son’s looking at me like, ‘Why do you have a mask on?’ But it’s crunch time. You just can’t risk it.”
The Rams took similar precautions on their trip east Saturday. The traveling party was cut down to 75 people on a 239-seat charter—the players, by seniority, get the 30 cushy first-class seats that can lay flat—and eight buses take the 75 people to and from the team hotel and stadium. Nine or 10 people per bus seems weird. “It’s tough to have camaraderie the same as always,” Whitworth said, “because everything is designed to separate us. It’s a little isolating.”
The Rams aren’t perfect. Matthew Stafford turned it over three times for the second straight game Sunday; the Rams won’t continue to survive three stunted drives per game in the playoffs. “I hate going over all of these—I’m tired of doing it,” Stafford said in a moment of introspection after the game. The two picks were surprisingly careless, particularly the pick-six by Chuck Clark to open the scoring. It conjures Detroit Lions thoughts, and those can’t continue as the Rams think about seriously contending for the Super Bowl.
But it seems the more the Rams play together, the more they go into a sort of happy survival mode. Vets like Miller and Beckham both seem so happy to be on a contender, and their play reflects it. The two biggest plays in the game were made by the mid-season imports.
Baltimore led 19-14 with 68 seconds left, with the game on the line. The Rams had fourth-and-five at the Ravens’ 12-yard line. For one of the few times all day, the Baltimore crowd sounded like it had so many times in the Ray Lewis days. As Stafford rolled left, his first option was tight end Tyler Higbee, with Cooper Kupp the second. Both covered. Though Beckham was covered tightly coming across the middle, Stafford thought he had a tight window, and with the rush coming, he was running out of time and options. “The ball needed to get there in a hurry,” Stafford said. “I ripped it pretty good. For him to reach out and snatch it and hold onto it, take a big hit in the back, that was huge.” Beckham stretched for the first down. I bet he made it by eight inches. On the next play, Stafford fit it in to Beckham next to the right pylon. For the first time all day, the Rams led.
The Ravens had one last chance, with a first down at the Baltimore 38-yard line and no timeouts left. Miller had been jonesing for a big play all day against Ravens tackle Patrick Mekari because he respects his game, and because he arrived from Denver in trade to make big plays. This time Miller sped by and enveloped quarterback Tyler Huntley for an eight-yard sack. That was the ballgame. “To have A.D. [Aaron Donald] jump on my back, and to have all the guys go crazy, that’s what you play the game for,” Miller said.
You could hear through the door separating the Rams’ locker room and the press-conference room in Baltimore. That was one exultant team late Sunday afternoon. The Rams deserved to let loose. When they took the field in Glendale 21 days earlier, they were 8-4, two games and the tiebreaker behind 10-2 Arizona. And with a week to play, L.A. has a one-game lead, the division title in sight.
Beckham, in particularly, reveled in the Ram rally. “It’s tatted on me,” Beckham said. “ ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort and convenience, but times of challenge and controversy.’ “ The Rams are measuring up well.
As the Rams retained control of first place in the NFC West Sunday with the 20-19 win in Baltimore, the play of wideout Cooper Kupp—who leads all NFL pass-catchers in football in receptions (138), receiving yards (1,829) and touchdowns (15)—continues to be one of the stories of the year in the NFL. He’s trying to become the first receiver since Steve Smith in 2005 to lead the league in all three categories. On Sunday, Kupp became the fourth receiver in history (and in 16 games) to have a season of at least 100 catches, 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns.
So it’s curious to look back on the 2017 NFL Draft, and to see how Kupp lasted so long. The top receivers picked that year:
Pick 5 overall: Tennessee, Corey Davis, Western Michigan.
7: L.A. Chargers, Mike Williams, Clemson.
9: Cincinnati, John Ross, Washington.
37: Buffalo, Zay Jones, East Carolina.
40: Carolina, Curtis Samuel, Ohio State.
62: Pittsburgh, JuJu Smith-Schuster, USC
69: L.A. Rams, Cooper Kupp, Eastern Washington.
FYI: Chris Godwin went 84th to Tampa, Kenny Golladay 96th to Detroit. How crazy is the draft? With five seasons of evidence, the best wideouts to come out in 2017 were the sixth (Smith-Schuster), seventh (Kupp) and 11th (Godwin) receivers picked.
Two reasons Kupp lasted as long as he did: He ran a 4.62-second 40 time at his Eastern Washington Pro Day. And level of competition rendered his average season of 107 catches and 1,608 yards in four years at Eastern Washington suspect. As one evaluator told me in December: “We didn’t know if he was a MAC receiver, one of those guys who puts up incredible numbers because of level of play.”
The other day, driving home from practice in California, Kupp had this to say about his 40 time:
“The last time I put my hand in the ground and ran a straight-line 40 yards is at the Scouting Combine. It’s just not really conducive to understanding what a receiver has to do, and what’s important to playing the position. That’s the last time I did it, and I don’t plan to do it again, ever.”
But that 40 time, luckily for him, helped him get to the Rams, a team that uses his skills perfectly.
Rams wide receiver Cooper Kupp and Ravens safety Geno Stone. (Getty Images)
Kupp’s NFL story begins in the summer of 2015 at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, La., of all places. His grandfather, former NFL guard Jake Kupp, blocked for academy founder Archie Manning during his Saints career, and so Cooper Kupp had an in with the family. Cooper Kupp got to polish his game with some top NFL and college quarterbacks—including Peyton Manning, who, at the time, was preparing for his last NFL season. Rams GM Les Snead, who was a fan of the passing camp, found himself in a staff meeting there one night.
Snead tells the rest of the story: “Peyton’s running this meeting and he’s going over the throws they’re gonna make the next day and which receivers are going to be with which passers. He looked at his brother Eli and he said, ‘Hey Eli, Cooper Kupp’s with me. You figure out who’s with you.’ “
Reminded of the story last week, Kupp said: “At the time, I didn’t know that. Peyton Manning wanting to throw to me? Wow. An honor, of course. It was great to work with him. So detailed and precise.”
Snead, at the time, didn’t know who Kupp was. “I type ‘Cooper Kupp’ into my notes,” Snead said. “Who the heck is Cooper Kupp? Is this guy some high school kid that’s really good? Long story short, Peyton throws to Cooper that night. He was really good. Good route-runner. I find out he’s from Eastern Washington. Just finished his sophomore year.
“So we monitored him. He played against some NFL corners in college and produced. [Kupp did play against Marcus Peters at Washington in 2014, catching eight balls for 145 yards and three touchdowns.] We have a saying around here. If you can get open consistently and catch the ball consistently, don’t over-analyze it. Just respect it and try to add that player to your team.”
When he ran the 4.62 time before the ’17 draft, coach Sean McVay exulted in a call with Snead. “Now we might be able to get him in the third!” McVay told Snead.
Snead: “We strategically were jacked. An FCS kid running in the 4.6s is probably gonna fall in the draft. But he did what a receiver needs to do at this level—accelerate, decelerate, get in and out of breaks in a very efficient and quick manner and separate from a good corner. There was something else. He played receiver with a Peyton Manning-esque, quarterback brain.
“For us, now, I think you got an old-school quarterback brain in Cooper Kupp, and a traditional pocket passer in Matthew Stafford with a lot of experience. And Peyton Manning picking him to run routes for him on that field down in Louisiana is where it all began for us.”
I asked Kupp last week if there was one catch, of the 132 in his first 15 games, that best illustrated him as a receiver—a player who uses leverage against DBs and his quickness in short-areas. “I don’t want to give away too many secrets,” he said. “But there were a couple of routes in our game against the Giants I liked. In fact, the same route basically that I ran twice.”
A check of the film shows Kupp’s 38th and 40th receptions of the year were mirror images of each other: Kupp lined up in the right slot, opposite Giants DB Jabrill Peppers, leveraged him to the inside both times, then veered to an out-route toward the right sideline at about 18 yards. On the first one, Kupp was alone with Peppers, beat him on the out-cut, and caught a perfect throw from Stafford and turned upfield; gain of 30. On the second one, using the same body-lean on Peppers, the Giants gave some help, with two other DBs bracketing the play above and below Kupp’s catch-point near the sideline. But Stafford’s throw landed perfectly in the middle of the three Giants, and Kupp corralled it around his shins; gain of 28.
Peppers is a good player. Kupp’s strengths, though, won these routes—leverage, quickness, finding the hole in coverage, good hands, and basically a sense of exactly when to deke, leaving the defender unsure whether he’s cutting in or out or curling or running to the post. That’s the advantage a smart receiver has, and that’s why Kupp is able, week in and week out, to overcome the focus of almost every defense. After 16 games, he’s had 15 with at least 90 receiving yards. The next-highest in the NFL: seven games.
“It’s more challenging as the season goes on,” Kupp said. “Defenses go to school on us. Every week, I self-scout myself to be sure I’m not giving anything away.”
In a sluggish day for the offense Sunday, Kupp’s 18-yard TD catch on an incut, freezing linebacker Patrick Queen, gave the Rams life and cut into a 10-0 Ravens lead just before halftime. But it was his advice to coach Sean McVay, bringing out his Peyton Manning side, that made McVay so happy after the game. “He recognized that they were playing a certain coverage, and he put that thought in my head,” McVay said. “So, in essence it was his play call. He saw some of the voids and the vacancies in the coverage.”
A minute into the second half, McVay showed how much he trusts Kupp. He called the play, and Stafford hit Jefferson deep down the middle for a 35-yard gain. Four plays later Stafford ruined the drive by losing a fumble, but his point was made: Kupp is the NFL’s best receiver in 2021, and he’s also just what they thought they drafted in 2017—a receiver with a quarterback’s ability to see the field in an egalitarian way.
Peter King's Football Morning In America, Week 17 - NBC Sports
Peter King's Football Morning In America column for Week 17 leads with Antonio Brown and the Bucs, plus the L.A. Rams revival, NFL playoff scenarios + more.
profootballtalk.nbcsports.com
The Lead: Rams Revival
BALTIMORE — They are the 21 days that should have tried Rams’ souls. Instead, these last 21 days revived Rams’ souls.
Forty players, coaches and football staff—more than any team in the league—tested positive for Covid. Two vital players were sidelined hours before the start of this ramrod schedule: at Arizona, Seattle (delayed two days because of 22 positives that week), at desperate Minnesota, at desperate Baltimore. Because of the Covid spread and the heavy rains in southern California, the team has not had a full, normal practice since early December. With all that, the Rams had to go 4-0 in this stretch to have a realistic chance to pass 10-2 Arizona and be in position to win the division.
Facing the Ravens on Sunday at the big Crabcake, the Rams’ crazy 20-19 win—keyed by superstar acquisitions Von Miller and Odell Beckham Jr.—finished the crazy schedule stretch. The Rams went 4-0. They’ll win the NFC West with either a home win over the Niners this weekend or an Arizona loss to Seattle.
Going 4-0 in that three-week stretch is one of the great accomplishments this season by any NFL team, particularly in the hazy time of the record number of Covid positives. But Christmas Day highlighted a particularly bizarre weekend.
Stalwart left tackle Andrew Whitworth went to bed on Friday night, Christmas Eve, feeling lousy. The team’s head athletic trainer, Reggie Scott, told Whitworth if he didn’t feel good Christmas morning, he should report for 5 a.m. Covid testing at the team facility. Whitworth didn’t sleep much that night, felt feverish, and he knew the team needed him for the Sunday game at Minnesota, and he thought of trying to gut it out. “But I knew the responsible thing with this outbreak running through our team was to test and try to slow it down,” he said.
Whitworth’s first three rapid-test swabs in the 5 a.m. test were positive. He was out for Sunday. His backup, Joe Noteboom, had been out with Covid, but the Rams felt he was trending in a healthy direction, and he reported for the early test. And just as the Rams buses were about to leave for the trip to Minnesota, Noteboom’s PCR test came back positive.
The third option at left tackle, David Edwards, started. But 18 plays into the game, center Brian Allen got hurt, and the Rams shuffled the line, and undrafted rookie Alaric Jackson moved to left tackle for the last 52 snaps against the Vikings.
Jackson, the Rams’ fourth left tackle, gave up zero sacks and one pressure of Matthew Stafford. Rams 30, Vikings 23.
“The blessing in disguise,” Whitworth said, “over the last three weeks is we’ve got guys playing that never played. We’re relying on guys that we’ve never had to rely on before. There’s almost this adversity, this belief system of anybody can get in there and we can be okay. Then you get your guys back and you start getting stronger and there’s just this bond that’s bigger than whether or not one guy can do it. It’s made us have this little resolve that maybe we didn’t have as early in the year. We were a good team, but maybe something was missing. We’re more complete.”
More than that, the Rams are thriving in this ridiculous time. And about 35 of their players, having tested positive in December, now do not have to test through the end of the season, because the NFL gives players who tested positive a 90-day holiday—with a CDC nod of approval—from the testing protocols. More than half of the roster is free of the testing burden, and the Covid burden. Think how handy that will be if the Rams advance in the playoffs. Half the roster can practice and play with an uncluttered mind.
“We are playing football, and playing winning football, through the biggest pandemic of our lifetime,” said Scott, the team’s Infection Control Officer. “Today, these four important players are available. Tomorrow, they’re not. Sometimes I just pinch myself. Really, it’s incredible.”
This really was a compelling game. The Ravens have been ravaged by injury and Covid unlike any team in the league. They’re paying 89 players (about 15 above the league average), with about $77 million in 2021 cap money on IR. You could argue the five most important positions on the run-heavy Ravens are QB, RB, LT, CB and CB. The starters at every one of those spots in August—Lamar Jackson, J.K. Dobbins, Ronnie Stanley, Marlon Humphrey, Marcus Peters—were hurt and not dressed Sunday.
These must-win games are stressful enough for the players. But when I asked Baltimore vet Calais Campbell what this year had been like for him, he said, “Stressful. So stressed. Not just the game itself, but doing everything to be available for the game,” he said. “I can’t afford to test positive. My team needs me. So I try to stay at home as much as possible. Even at home, I’ve been masking up, which is so weird. My son’s looking at me like, ‘Why do you have a mask on?’ But it’s crunch time. You just can’t risk it.”
The Rams took similar precautions on their trip east Saturday. The traveling party was cut down to 75 people on a 239-seat charter—the players, by seniority, get the 30 cushy first-class seats that can lay flat—and eight buses take the 75 people to and from the team hotel and stadium. Nine or 10 people per bus seems weird. “It’s tough to have camaraderie the same as always,” Whitworth said, “because everything is designed to separate us. It’s a little isolating.”
The Rams aren’t perfect. Matthew Stafford turned it over three times for the second straight game Sunday; the Rams won’t continue to survive three stunted drives per game in the playoffs. “I hate going over all of these—I’m tired of doing it,” Stafford said in a moment of introspection after the game. The two picks were surprisingly careless, particularly the pick-six by Chuck Clark to open the scoring. It conjures Detroit Lions thoughts, and those can’t continue as the Rams think about seriously contending for the Super Bowl.
But it seems the more the Rams play together, the more they go into a sort of happy survival mode. Vets like Miller and Beckham both seem so happy to be on a contender, and their play reflects it. The two biggest plays in the game were made by the mid-season imports.
Baltimore led 19-14 with 68 seconds left, with the game on the line. The Rams had fourth-and-five at the Ravens’ 12-yard line. For one of the few times all day, the Baltimore crowd sounded like it had so many times in the Ray Lewis days. As Stafford rolled left, his first option was tight end Tyler Higbee, with Cooper Kupp the second. Both covered. Though Beckham was covered tightly coming across the middle, Stafford thought he had a tight window, and with the rush coming, he was running out of time and options. “The ball needed to get there in a hurry,” Stafford said. “I ripped it pretty good. For him to reach out and snatch it and hold onto it, take a big hit in the back, that was huge.” Beckham stretched for the first down. I bet he made it by eight inches. On the next play, Stafford fit it in to Beckham next to the right pylon. For the first time all day, the Rams led.
The Ravens had one last chance, with a first down at the Baltimore 38-yard line and no timeouts left. Miller had been jonesing for a big play all day against Ravens tackle Patrick Mekari because he respects his game, and because he arrived from Denver in trade to make big plays. This time Miller sped by and enveloped quarterback Tyler Huntley for an eight-yard sack. That was the ballgame. “To have A.D. [Aaron Donald] jump on my back, and to have all the guys go crazy, that’s what you play the game for,” Miller said.
You could hear through the door separating the Rams’ locker room and the press-conference room in Baltimore. That was one exultant team late Sunday afternoon. The Rams deserved to let loose. When they took the field in Glendale 21 days earlier, they were 8-4, two games and the tiebreaker behind 10-2 Arizona. And with a week to play, L.A. has a one-game lead, the division title in sight.
Beckham, in particularly, reveled in the Ram rally. “It’s tatted on me,” Beckham said. “ ‘The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands at moments of comfort and convenience, but times of challenge and controversy.’ “ The Rams are measuring up well.
Scouting Cooper Kupp
As the Rams retained control of first place in the NFC West Sunday with the 20-19 win in Baltimore, the play of wideout Cooper Kupp—who leads all NFL pass-catchers in football in receptions (138), receiving yards (1,829) and touchdowns (15)—continues to be one of the stories of the year in the NFL. He’s trying to become the first receiver since Steve Smith in 2005 to lead the league in all three categories. On Sunday, Kupp became the fourth receiver in history (and in 16 games) to have a season of at least 100 catches, 1,500 yards and 15 touchdowns.
So it’s curious to look back on the 2017 NFL Draft, and to see how Kupp lasted so long. The top receivers picked that year:
Pick 5 overall: Tennessee, Corey Davis, Western Michigan.
7: L.A. Chargers, Mike Williams, Clemson.
9: Cincinnati, John Ross, Washington.
37: Buffalo, Zay Jones, East Carolina.
40: Carolina, Curtis Samuel, Ohio State.
62: Pittsburgh, JuJu Smith-Schuster, USC
69: L.A. Rams, Cooper Kupp, Eastern Washington.
FYI: Chris Godwin went 84th to Tampa, Kenny Golladay 96th to Detroit. How crazy is the draft? With five seasons of evidence, the best wideouts to come out in 2017 were the sixth (Smith-Schuster), seventh (Kupp) and 11th (Godwin) receivers picked.
Two reasons Kupp lasted as long as he did: He ran a 4.62-second 40 time at his Eastern Washington Pro Day. And level of competition rendered his average season of 107 catches and 1,608 yards in four years at Eastern Washington suspect. As one evaluator told me in December: “We didn’t know if he was a MAC receiver, one of those guys who puts up incredible numbers because of level of play.”
The other day, driving home from practice in California, Kupp had this to say about his 40 time:
“The last time I put my hand in the ground and ran a straight-line 40 yards is at the Scouting Combine. It’s just not really conducive to understanding what a receiver has to do, and what’s important to playing the position. That’s the last time I did it, and I don’t plan to do it again, ever.”
But that 40 time, luckily for him, helped him get to the Rams, a team that uses his skills perfectly.
Kupp’s NFL story begins in the summer of 2015 at the Manning Passing Academy in Thibodaux, La., of all places. His grandfather, former NFL guard Jake Kupp, blocked for academy founder Archie Manning during his Saints career, and so Cooper Kupp had an in with the family. Cooper Kupp got to polish his game with some top NFL and college quarterbacks—including Peyton Manning, who, at the time, was preparing for his last NFL season. Rams GM Les Snead, who was a fan of the passing camp, found himself in a staff meeting there one night.
Snead tells the rest of the story: “Peyton’s running this meeting and he’s going over the throws they’re gonna make the next day and which receivers are going to be with which passers. He looked at his brother Eli and he said, ‘Hey Eli, Cooper Kupp’s with me. You figure out who’s with you.’ “
Reminded of the story last week, Kupp said: “At the time, I didn’t know that. Peyton Manning wanting to throw to me? Wow. An honor, of course. It was great to work with him. So detailed and precise.”
Snead, at the time, didn’t know who Kupp was. “I type ‘Cooper Kupp’ into my notes,” Snead said. “Who the heck is Cooper Kupp? Is this guy some high school kid that’s really good? Long story short, Peyton throws to Cooper that night. He was really good. Good route-runner. I find out he’s from Eastern Washington. Just finished his sophomore year.
“So we monitored him. He played against some NFL corners in college and produced. [Kupp did play against Marcus Peters at Washington in 2014, catching eight balls for 145 yards and three touchdowns.] We have a saying around here. If you can get open consistently and catch the ball consistently, don’t over-analyze it. Just respect it and try to add that player to your team.”
When he ran the 4.62 time before the ’17 draft, coach Sean McVay exulted in a call with Snead. “Now we might be able to get him in the third!” McVay told Snead.
Snead: “We strategically were jacked. An FCS kid running in the 4.6s is probably gonna fall in the draft. But he did what a receiver needs to do at this level—accelerate, decelerate, get in and out of breaks in a very efficient and quick manner and separate from a good corner. There was something else. He played receiver with a Peyton Manning-esque, quarterback brain.
“For us, now, I think you got an old-school quarterback brain in Cooper Kupp, and a traditional pocket passer in Matthew Stafford with a lot of experience. And Peyton Manning picking him to run routes for him on that field down in Louisiana is where it all began for us.”
I asked Kupp last week if there was one catch, of the 132 in his first 15 games, that best illustrated him as a receiver—a player who uses leverage against DBs and his quickness in short-areas. “I don’t want to give away too many secrets,” he said. “But there were a couple of routes in our game against the Giants I liked. In fact, the same route basically that I ran twice.”
A check of the film shows Kupp’s 38th and 40th receptions of the year were mirror images of each other: Kupp lined up in the right slot, opposite Giants DB Jabrill Peppers, leveraged him to the inside both times, then veered to an out-route toward the right sideline at about 18 yards. On the first one, Kupp was alone with Peppers, beat him on the out-cut, and caught a perfect throw from Stafford and turned upfield; gain of 30. On the second one, using the same body-lean on Peppers, the Giants gave some help, with two other DBs bracketing the play above and below Kupp’s catch-point near the sideline. But Stafford’s throw landed perfectly in the middle of the three Giants, and Kupp corralled it around his shins; gain of 28.
Peppers is a good player. Kupp’s strengths, though, won these routes—leverage, quickness, finding the hole in coverage, good hands, and basically a sense of exactly when to deke, leaving the defender unsure whether he’s cutting in or out or curling or running to the post. That’s the advantage a smart receiver has, and that’s why Kupp is able, week in and week out, to overcome the focus of almost every defense. After 16 games, he’s had 15 with at least 90 receiving yards. The next-highest in the NFL: seven games.
“It’s more challenging as the season goes on,” Kupp said. “Defenses go to school on us. Every week, I self-scout myself to be sure I’m not giving anything away.”
In a sluggish day for the offense Sunday, Kupp’s 18-yard TD catch on an incut, freezing linebacker Patrick Queen, gave the Rams life and cut into a 10-0 Ravens lead just before halftime. But it was his advice to coach Sean McVay, bringing out his Peyton Manning side, that made McVay so happy after the game. “He recognized that they were playing a certain coverage, and he put that thought in my head,” McVay said. “So, in essence it was his play call. He saw some of the voids and the vacancies in the coverage.”
A minute into the second half, McVay showed how much he trusts Kupp. He called the play, and Stafford hit Jefferson deep down the middle for a 35-yard gain. Four plays later Stafford ruined the drive by losing a fumble, but his point was made: Kupp is the NFL’s best receiver in 2021, and he’s also just what they thought they drafted in 2017—a receiver with a quarterback’s ability to see the field in an egalitarian way.
