Los Angeles Rams fans were given a scare on Tuesday as Cooper Kupp left practice with what has been diagnosed as a hamstring injury. After Kupp was sidelined, Matthew Stafford took the podium for his post-practice press conference and discussed the Rams’ other pass catchers stepping up in his place.
“Yeah, he did a nice job, made some nice plays. Drew a pass interference on a long ball down there which I thought was a nice play by him, a little bit underthrown by me. So, nice play by him jumping back into the defender on that one, getting that call for us,” Stafford said of Puka Nacua. Tutu (Atwell) made a nice catch in traffic over the middle of the field. Puka made some nice plays. ‘Higs’ did his thing as usual. Some things to always clean up. It’s kind of hard to give you my full assessment right now, but (I’ll) take a look at the tape and learn from it, come out here tomorrow and try to be better.”
When a player suffers an injury in the NFL, there’s always a next-man-up mentality for teams. Even though there was concern about Kupp’s status, the other pass catchers seized the opportunity to see more looks from Stafford in practice.
Stafford name-dropped rookie Puka Nacua, Tutu Atwell, and Tyler Higbee as the three players he noticed in Tuesday’s practice session. While Higbee is locked in as the starting tight end, Nacua and Atwell are competing for roles in the passing game.
You never want to see a player go down with an injury, especially a player like Kupp that is the engine of the Rams’ offense. But until Kupp can return to the practice field, it will be important for all of the pass catchers on the Rams to maximize their reps with Stafford.
