That was vintage Cooper Kupp.
On first-and-goal from the nine-yard line, Kupp moved behind the offensive line on a return motion. Once the ball was snapped, he flared out into the flat, where Matthew Stafford hit him in stride and Kupp snuck inside the left pylon to give the Rams their first lead of the second half, 20-17, with four-and-a-half minutes remaining.
"It was good to be feeling (like) myself," Kupp said postgame.
On Friday, the veteran wideout said it had "been a while" since he entered a season as healthy as he is now. On Sunday night, he proved that, erupting for 14 catches, 110 receiving yards and a touchdown, plus 10 rushing yards for good measure. He was the target on 42.9% of Stafford's pass attempts, but the Rams couldn't scrape a win, losing to the Lions 26-20 in overtime.
This was the 32nd 100-yard receiving game of Kupp's illustrious career, and his first since December 17th of last year. His 14 catches matched his single-game career high, and it was the 12th time in his career where he caught at least 10 balls.
Kupp was the motion man quite often throughout the night, as the Rams utilized pre-snap motion on most of their offensive plays. According to Next Gen Stats, Kupp was in motion on 42 snaps, which included 12 touches, the most by any player in a game over the past seven seasons.
Stafford was able to glean knowledge of the defensive coverage using this motion, and he and Kupp took advantage of it. Kupp settled into defensive zones in the middle of the field and toed the sideline on out routes throughout the game, as Stafford peppered passes to him.
"That's what I've been seeing in practice," Stafford said of Kupp. "That's who I know he is... I'd love to see what his yardage was running today... We're asking him to move all over the place and handle a whole lot of things, both in the pass game and the run game, and he leads that room really well."
To answer Stafford's query, Next Gen Stats tracked Kupp traveling a total of 436 yards in pre-snap motion, the second most in a game by any player since 2018. He's second only to himself in Week 14 of 2023.
It wasn't just short outs and hitch routes, though, Kupp's route-running prowess was on full display. On the Rams' second drive of the latter half, Kupp made rookie cornerback Terrion Arnold stumble on a comeback route that gained 21 yards.
In the fourth quarter, Kupp showed off his "toe drag swag" by highpointing a ball on the sideline while keeping both feet in bounds. Three plays later, he scored the go-ahead touchdown, but Detroit tied it at 20 with under a minute remaining to send the game to overtime.
On Sunday, Kupp looked like the prime version of himself that won the receiving triple crown back in 2021. So, although the Rams endured a tough overtime loss to start the 2024 campaign, his performance is a definitive bright spot.
