After a blazing start to the season upon his return from injured reserve in Week 5, Cooper Kupp has had forgettable performances for the Los Angeles Rams in recent games. Despite the recent struggles from Kupp, Mike LaFleur believes the elite receiver will bounce back sooner rather than later.
“Yeah, I think last week was rough on everybody, I mean coaches, players, organization,” LaFleur said. “It wasn’t fun for anybody. He’s had two games this year when he was back-to-back a hundred yards. I know we all want Cooper to have 2,000 yards every year because that’s his last standard of when he played a lot of football and even last year before he got hurt statistically. His time will come. He’s Cooper Kupp, you know? Truly believe our offense has a lot of good things in store for us, not just him, but everyone for these next few weeks.”
In his first two games back from injured reserve, Kupp combined for 15 receptions, 266 yards, and a touchdown on 21 targets. But in the last three games, Kupp has totaled only eight receptions, 98 yards, and zero touchdowns on 24 targets.
The positive news for Kupp is that Matthew Stafford is expected to start for the Rams in Week 11 after missing Week 9 due to a thumb injury. At the same time, even Stafford and Kupp seemingly weren’t on the same page on certain plays before the bye week.
The emergence of rookie Puka Nacua and the speed that Tutu Atwell brings to the offense have given the Rams other options outside of Kupp in the aerial attack. That being said, defenses are still keying in on doing their best to slow down Kupp.
Even with his recent outings, Kupp is still one of the best receivers in the NFL, and he hasn’t shown any signs of being limited by the hamstring injury that landed him on injured reserve to begin the season. After not getting to face the Seattle Seahawks in Week 1, Kupp will look to get back to recording his typical production against the Seahawks in Week 11.
