Rams’ Cooper Kupp delivers again

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — The story we have been advised in regards to the Los Angeles Rams is that they “went all-in” to win this particular Super Bowl. That they had been keen to mortgage their future for it. That what defines their team-building method is the truth that they regularly commerce away first-round picks for win-now helpers, threat be damned.

However once they had been about to lose the Super Bowl to the Cincinnati Bengals, the man who saved the Rams was the receiver they drafted out of Jap Washington within the third spherical 5 years in the past. And the man who sealed the win was a first-round decide they made themselves in 2014.

Cooper Kupp caught eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns to win Super Bowl MVP honors, because the Rams got here again within the fourth quarter and beat the Bengals on Sunday night time. 4 of these catches, 39 of these yards and a type of touchdowns got here on the 15-play fourth-quarter drive that turned a 20-16 Cincinnati lead right into a 23-20 Rams victory.

It was the signature drive within the profession of quarterback Matthew Stafford, who has had 45 profession game-winning drives and who himself was a type of “all-in” strikes the Rams made to win this 12 months. Nevertheless it was unquestionably Kupp who saved them. His largest play on the drive wasn’t even a catch in any respect — it was a 7-yard run play from his personal 30-yard line on fourth-and-1 with 5 minutes left within the recreation. L.A. nearly absolutely loses the sport if they do not get that yard. The Rams could not run the ball all night time. In order that they put it within the palms of their greatest offensive participant, and he delivered.

“No matter’s requested of me, no matter my job goes to be on a given play, in a given recreation, I simply need to do it to the most effective of my skill,” Kupp mentioned. “We went a little bit up-tempo on that final drive, which saved [the Bengals] in some zone calls, and that allowed Matthew and I to form of discover some mushy spots in there.”

Kupp was the person to whom Stafford seemed again and again, all season lengthy when he needed to have a play. What sort of 12 months did Kupp have, precisely? Effectively, he led the NFL in catches (145), receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16) for the broad receiver “Triple Crown.” He was named Offensive Participant of the 12 months. And he capped it with a Tremendous Bowl MVP award. Just one different participant — Jerry Rice, possibly you’ve got heard of him — has ever completed all three of these issues in a profession. Kupp simply did them multi functional season.

“You guys hear me discuss ‘aggressive greatness’ till I am blue within the face,” Rams coach Sean McVay mentioned. “However that was on show tonight.”

Make no mistake: The Rams had been in bother. That they had a 13-10 halftime lead, however it did not final lengthy. Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow discovered Tee Higgins for a 75-yard landing go on the primary play of the second half. Then on the Rams’ first offensive play of the second half, Stafford threw his second interception of the sport, and the Bengals turned that right into a discipline objective. Cincinnati, who’d proven as a lot toughness as any staff on this NFL postseason, immediately had a 20-13 lead and was stifling the Rams’ offense with its defensive position.

Los Angeles misplaced wideout Odell Beckham Jr. (one other “win-now” pickup they made in November after the Browns minimize him) to a second-quarter knee damage. Star wideout Robert Woods has been out since November as a consequence of a torn ACL. Beginning tight finish Tyler Higbee was inactive due to a knee damage suffered within the NFC Championship Sport. The Rams ran for 43 yards on 23 carries within the recreation. They went three-and-out on three straight possessions after the sphere objective that minimize the result in 20-16. The Rams could not run it, and with principally no different choices within the passing recreation, the Bengals had been capable of focus all of their consideration on Kupp.

play

Matthew Stafford connects with Cooper Kupp for an 11-yard landing to pad the Rams’ lead.

“They made it actually tough,” McVay mentioned. “I’ve obtained numerous respect for that Bengal protection. As soon as we obtained down within the tight [red zone] space, it felt prefer it was about 60 performs for us to have the ability to lastly get that one in on the fade. Cooper Kupp is the person.”

“It was robust,” Stafford mentioned. “However he is an unbelievable participant, and I am simply so happy with him.”

Oh, it was robust. The Rams needed to out-tough the Bengals to win this one, and so they toughened up in the appropriate spots. Six of their seven sacks of Burrow got here within the second half, together with two by Von Miller and two by Aaron Donald, whose stress of Burrow on the Bengals’ last fourth-and-1 play helped drive an incompletion and seal the Rams’ championship.

Miller was additionally one of many Rams’ win-now strikes. They despatched second- and third-round picks to the Denver Broncos for him on the commerce deadline, and he completely made a distinction. Miller had 9 sacks over the Rams’ last eight video games (4 regular-season and 4 postseason video games), and L.A. gained seven of these video games. Miller augmented the go rush in a fearsome manner, however he additionally gave the Rams’ locker room a participant who’d completed this earlier than. He was a Tremendous Bowl MVP with a dominating efficiency in opposition to Cam Newton and the Carolina Panthers simply six years in the past, and a staff that believed itself to be excellent was capable of elevate to nice with the assistance of somebody with direct expertise on this very enviornment.

However for each sparkly new acquisition, the Rams have a foundational participant who’s their very own. Donald was the Rams’ No. 12 general decide in 2014 at a time once they nonetheless used to choose that top within the spherical. The Rams do not win this Tremendous Bowl with out Donald taking up within the second half.

“Guys like Aaron are why you coach,” McVay mentioned. “He has elevated all people. I believe the epitome of greatness is making all people that you just’re round, and each scenario that you just’re part of, higher. That is precisely what Aaron does. He is the F’in man.”

Donald was a first-round decide in 2014. Kupp a third-rounder in 2017. Taylor Rapp, David Long Jr., Greg Gaines … all key defensive gamers, all 2019 Rams draft picks. Brycen Hopkins, a fourth-rounder in 2020 who needed to fill in for the injured Higbee, had 4 catches for 47 yards within the Tremendous Bowl. Previous to Sunday, he had one catch, complete, in his NFL profession.

So sure, for all of the discuss of “pushing all of their chips in,” these Rams owe this title simply as a lot to the gamers they’ve drafted and developed as they do to those who simply confirmed up. Whereas they have not made a first-round decide since McVay obtained there in 2017 (and so they do not have one this 12 months both), they’ve made 45 picks in Rounds 2-7, greater than any staff over the previous 5 years apart from Minnesota. Their present roster has 29 of their very own draft picks on it, a determine that ranks within the high 10 within the league. Their roster-building technique is much more nuanced than “they commerce away all of their picks for veterans.”

What they do is commerce late-first-round picks for guys who might help them now. As late because the Rams often decide within the first spherical, they don’t seem to be going to be getting gamers on whom they’ve first-round grades anyway. So why not use these picks as an alternative to get a Matthew Stafford or a Jalen Ramsey to assist push you excessive?

“I am actually proud to be related to a bunch that is not afraid to shoot their shot,” McVay mentioned.

What they do not let you know about that method, although, is that your staff needs to be good already to ensure that it to work. Do you suppose the Buccaneers gained final 12 months’s Tremendous Bowl simply because they signed Tom Brady, Leonard Fournette and Antonio Brown? The Bucs had already constructed the muse of a powerful roster earlier than these guys ever obtained there. Heck, that is the principle cause Brady went there in any respect.

The Rams, by the point they dealt for Stafford final winter, had been already fairly good. They misplaced the Tremendous Bowl simply three years in the past, have made the playoffs in 4 of McVay’s 5 years and completed over .500 in all 5 of them. They made the transfer for Stafford as a result of they felt like it could take them from excellent to championship-caliber, and the outcomes will present that it did.

However Stafford does not pull this off with out Kupp there to reel in his passes. Kupp caught 33 passes in 4 video games this postseason, probably the most in NFL historical past. After ending the common season with the second-most receiving yards ever, he collected the second-most receiving yards anybody has ever had in a single postseason: 478, behind solely Larry Fitzgerald. His six landing catches tied for the second most in a single postseason. And his 22 complete touchdowns this 12 months, common and postseason, are the second most behind Randy Moss’ 24 in 2007.

Kupp is the symbol of who the Rams are and what they had been earlier than the “all-in” strikes that obtained all the eye. He was harm three years in the past and missed his staff’s Tremendous Bowl loss to the Rams, however he mentioned Sunday night time that he’d had a imaginative and prescient after that recreation that he can be on the successful finish of the Tremendous Bowl in some unspecified time in the future. Sunday, he made that imaginative and prescient come true.

“I simply really feel so undeserving of all these awards and accolades,” Kupp mentioned. “I will play from a spot of freedom, and I’ve nice teammates round me.”

They’re all, now, champions collectively. The ringers who got here in for this 12 months, and the long-timers like Kupp and Donald, who constructed a powerful sufficient basis for these strikes to repay. These Rams may need been “all-in” for this 12 months, however do not be stunned to see them proper again on high once more someday quickly. What McVay & Co. have constructed right here in L.A. isn’t any flash within the pan. It is among the best, most constant franchises the NFL has proper now. And on Sunday night time, it grew to become a Tremendous Bowl champion.