A mid-season Thursday night time between the Los Angeles Rams and Minnesota Vikings usually wouldn’t be on the radar of many Pittsburgh Steelers’ followers. However the Rams 30-20 upset victory might play a serious shift of their and the Steelers’ plans going ahead in relation to WR Cooper Kupp’s future.
With their win, Los Angeles is now 3-4 on the season and on a two-game successful streak. It places them proper within the thick of the NFC West race, now with the identical file because the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers and inside hanging distance of the first-place 4-3 Seattle Seahawks.
Talking to reporters after the sport, Rams’ head coach Sean McVay implied the workforce was shutting the door on buying and selling away Cooper Kupp.
“We’re actually glad to have Cooper Kupp with us, and it’s going to remain that manner,” McVay mentioned by way of Rams’ beat author Adam Grosbard.”
McVay took time to handle the hypothesis that’s picked up round Kupp during the last week.
“Right here’s what I’ll let you know,” he informed reporters by way of the workforce’s YouTube channel. “Groups reached out. A number of the issues that I’ve seen on the market, they’re simply not true. We’ve addressed that with these people. Groups have known as about him and actually we let him know what the dialogue was there. After which there’s a whole lot of stuff on the market the place there’s not a whole lot of accountability to the studies. And that’s unlucky.”
He then known as studies of Kupp being dealt “hypothesis.”
As soon as staring down the prospects of a loss season, their odds of constructing a playoff run and preserving Kupp have simply been boosted. Kupp performed an element of their victory. Returning for the primary time since a Week 2 ankle damage, he completed the sport with 5 receptions for 51 yards and a landing. The rating got here from 7-yards out within the second quarter whereas his most vital catch got here to assist chew clock, a 28-yard seize on third down forward of the two-minute warning.
Whereas the Rams couldn’t shut out the clock after that first down and punted away, Minnesota QB Sam Darnold was sacked for a security two performs into the next possession, giving the Rams two factors, the ball, and the sport.
Los Angeles received again each their prime receivers with Puka Nacua additionally re-entering the lineup. He didn’t miss a beat, racking up seven catches for 106 yards within the win.
The NFL commerce deadline nonetheless isn’t for, as of Friday, one other 11 days. The league adopted a Steelers’ proposal to push the deadline again one week. And a loss by the Rams to the Seattle Seahawks might have them re-thinking their season plans. Besides, they’d be 3-5 and never utterly out of the working. A workforce would probably have to satisfy their reported calls for of a second-round decide to ensure that them to contemplate parting with Kupp. If these are even true, which McVay appeared to push again on post-game. Kupp and McVay have had a detailed relationship, each integral components of the group’s success and Tremendous Bowl victory. McVay’s phrases postgame have been clear and assured about holding onto him.
With Brandon Aiyuk, Davante Adams, Amari Cooper, and DeAndre Hopkins off the board, if the door closes on Kupp, the Steelers might be left with few choices. Good ones, anyway. It might slim the sphere right down to New York Jets’ WR Mike Williams, nonetheless more likely to be moved by the Jets earlier than the deadline. Different names might embrace New York Giants WR Darius Slayton, who the Steelers will see Monday night time.
