For just the third time in his career, Cooper Kupp was held without a catch. He failed to haul in a single reception in the Los Angeles Rams’ 12-6 win over the San Francisco 49ers on Thursday night, frustrating both fantasy managers and bettors alike.
As unusual as it was to see a zero next to Kupp’s name in the receptions column of the stat sheet, he helped the Rams in ways that don’t show up in the box score. His pre-snap motion and the attention he drew on a pivotal third-and-4 play helped Colby Parkinson get wide open for a 14-yard catch, which essentially iced the game for the Rams.
In the run game, he contributed as a blocker, helping create holes for Kyren Williams on the ground. As disappointing as his stat line was, Sean McVay isn’t worried at all about his receiver and he praised his impact in other areas of the game.
McVay also noted that the Rams only threw for 160 yards and struggled on third down, which led to shorter drives and fewer opportunities to throw the ball. Plus, it was raining and difficult to air it out in tough conditions.
“He contributed in other ways,” McVay said. “I thought he had some key blocks at the point of attack. … He did have a way of impacting the game. When you only throw for 160 yards, there were some reasons because of execution. I could do a better job for guys and then ultimately the weather did play into it. There just weren’t a lot of opportunities to throw the football. The way that the game ended up playing out, when you’re not converting on some third downs early on in the game, and then based on how the game unfolded, there just weren’t too many opportunities. When we did throw it in the latter parts, those were more kind of where other guys – the tight ends were activated. They were playing some different things where we ended up throwing a couple check downs to the backs. Puka (Nacua) got his targets. Other than Tutu (Atwell) having the one catch, Puka ended up having seven. I believe those were the only catches we had from our receiver group as a whole, which every game is so unique in this league. You just never know. That’s why you just have to be able to figure out how to stay in the moment and figure out what is required for our football team. Cooper made an impact in that way.”
After putting up 44 points and scoring five offensive touchdowns against the Bills in Week 14, the Rams sputtered against the 49ers and managed just 12 points with no touchdowns and 14 first downs. The 49ers defense played well, but Matthew Stafford was missing throws and the offense couldn’t convert on third down.
They were two very different games for both the offense and defense, but McVay is proud of his team for winning in a variety of ways this late in the year.
“I think it says a lot about our team to be able to find different ways, like I mentioned,” he said. “Would you like to be able to put together complete performances where we play well on offense, on defense and in the kicking game? Yeah, of course. But the enemy has a say. This league is difficult. What I do like is that our team plays off each other well enough to be able to ultimately find a way. I think there is something to be said for learning how to be able to win, especially with the youth of this group. I know I got a little bit away from your question, but I was proud of our team. I was also proud of the contributions that Cooper made without the ball. He didn’t really have many opportunities in the pass game, so certainly isn’t on him.”
This season, Kupp has 63 catches for 657 yads and six touchdowns in 10 games, even after recording no receptions or yards on Thursday night. He may not be putting up big numbers for the Rams this year, but he’s still a valuable part of the offense.
