Cooper Kupp capped one of the great seasons that a wide receiver has ever had, with an unbelievable performance in Super Bowl LVI.
The NFL Offensive Player of the year caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns, the second of which proved to be the game-winning score, putting the Rams up 23–20 with 1:25 remaining in the fourth quarter.
On second-and-goal from inside the Bengals’ one-yard line, Stafford took the snap under center, and immediately turned to Kupp, who found himself in one-on-one coverage with oft-maligned cornerback Eli Apple.
After a jab-step to the inside to get Apple off-guard, Kupp released towards the sideline, and caught a perfect back-shoulder fade from Stafford for the score.
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After the game, Kupp explained the Rams’ call on the play, how the offense adapted to the Bengals’ defensive look and how he got himself open for Stafford to throw the game-winning touchdown.
“We had a little run alert in. We call the run if we get the look we want, if we get man or something, or we get zero [coverage], I think we ended up getting zero on that one. We’re able to alert things—alert and throw a little fade ball out there,” Kupp said, per Nicki Jhabvala of The Washington Post.
“Eli Apple had been playing me pretty well the entire game. Really came up, challenged me, doing a really good job with that. You know, cover zero, you got that inside leverage so I tired to just weave to his leverage, make him move in a little bit, jab him one time and be able to just give Matthew some room to put the ball wherever he wanted to. He made a great back-shoulder throw, and I was able to come down with it.”
Kupp won Super Bowl MVP for his performance.
On the season, Kupp caught 145 passes for 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns, and added 33 receptions for 478 yards and six touchdowns during L.A.'s four-game postseason run.
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