Justin Jefferson showed heightened awareness in two different ways during a short span that started with him delivering a mind-boggling catch and ended with him tossing his helmet on the sideline.
There wasn’t much time for the Minnesota Vikings’ star wide receiver to celebrate his catch-of-the-year candidate, which required elite concentration to keep his right foot inbounds, because Jefferson knew every point counted in the high-scoring affair that took place between the Vikings and the Los Angeles Rams on Thursday night.
The Rams were whole again with the return of wide receivers Cooper Kupp and Puka Nacua. They, too, made many highlight grabs, which is why Jefferson expressed his frustration when the Vikings settled for field goals. And he threw his helmet harder after quarterback Sam Darnold got sacked for a safety to seal the Rams’ 30–20 upset victory at SoFi Stadium.
Perhaps more Rams opponents should toss helmets because the scoring surge that they had Thursday might have removed Kupp from the trade market. Rams GM Les Snead needs to respond “never mind” to all the texts he probably got about Kupp during Thursday’s impressive performance that placed Los Angeles back in the NFC West race. The Rams are now 3–4, tied with the San Francisco 49ers and Arizona Cardinals for second place, and only sit one game behind the Seattle Seahawks (4–3), who host Los Angeles next week.
Sure, the counter argument is that now Snead might get a second-round pick for the 31-year-old Kupp, who had a sensational 28-yard grab on third-and-9 to help put away the Vikings in the final four minutes of regulation. But stick with me here for a second. What if Kupp was never truly on the market? As my colleague Albert Breer mentioned, the Rams simply just shared that they were receiving calls about Kupp, not that they were shopping him. So why not let the Vikings think that the Rams may or may not be ready to check out of this season after a 2–4 start?
The mind games were on full display when the Rams surprisingly activated Nacua 90 minutes before kickoff and then proceeded to give him a heavy workload after many assumed that Los Angeles wouldn’t play the second-year receiver without a full week’s worth of practice. Nacua missed the prior five games due to a knee injury and his 21-day window to return from injured reserve didn’t open until Tuesday. So, yeah, the Vikings (5–2) were probably caught off guard by how Nacua played—he had a team-high seven catches for 106 yards. Kupp finished with five catches for 51 yards and one touchdown.
"There’s a lot of information. Here’s what I’ll tell you. Teams reached out," Rams coach Sean McVay said of the trade rumors involving Kupp after the win. "Some of the things that I’ve seen out there, they’re just not true... Teams have called about him and, really, we let him know what the dialogue was there. And then there’s a lot of stuff out there where there’s not a lot of accountability to the reports and that’s unfortunate.
"I’m really glad to have have Cooper Kupp back with us and that’s what I expect to stay that way."
Snead probably doesn’t need convincing to keep Kupp, one of the most instrumental Rams’ players of the Sean McVay era. He might no longer be L.A.’s No. 1 wide receiver, but he still offers so much on the field with his versatility that boosts the running and passing games. And this isn’t a one-game overreaction, because Thursday’s offense resembled the Rams that won seven of the final eight regular-season games in 2023.
Kyren Williams rushed for 97 yards, and Demarcus Robinson contributed two catches for 35 yards and two touchdowns. With Kupp, Matthew Stafford was a different quarterback, throwing for 249 yards, four touchdowns and one interception. This wasn’t the same offense that had a sluggish performance five days earlier in the 20–15 victory against the Las Vegas Raiders.
On Sunday, many Rams fans were fed up with McVay’s play calls, and on Thursday, McVay went toe-to-toe with Vikings coach Kevin O’Connell and his explosive offense that features Jefferson and Jordan Addison.
McVay and O’Connell opened their offensive chess battle by unleashing an avalanche of presnap eye candy that constantly left the defenses clueless as to where the ball was going in this battle of quick throws between Stafford and Darnold.
Both teams scored touchdowns on their first two possessions, the first time that’s happened in a game this season. The Vikings had 140 total yards on 18 plays and the Rams had 128 total yards on 19 plays, leading to a 14–14 tie before a punter finally appeared with nine minutes left in the first half.
The Rams might have entered the day hoping to improve Kupp’s trade value to possibly land the coveted second-round pick from a desperate receiver-needy team. But after what the Rams’ offense did Thursday night, Snead needs to see this through even if a team offers the second-round pick.
Kupp doesn’t sound like a player who’s worried about moving before the Nov. 5 trade deadline.
“You got two more weeks to get those questions in,” Kupp told the media about trade speculation. “I have no idea what’s going to happen. I’m going to come in tomorrow and get some treatment and get ready to start preparing for Seattle.”
Then again, maybe Kupp was never available. Mind games or not, healthy wide receivers kept the Rams’ season alive on Thursday night.
This article was originally published on www.si.com as The Rams Shouldn't Be Sellers With Cooper Kupp Back in the Fold.
