The Los Angeles Rams battled back to defeat the San Francisco 49ers, 27-24, on Sunday to earn their first win of the 2024 season.
Both teams were shorthanded, but the Rams especially had their backs against the wall with Cooper Kupp, Puka Nacua, Steve Avila, Joe Noteboom, Jonah Jackson and John Johnson III, among others, sidelined for the game.
Kupp is the only player of the group not currently on injured reserve. However, he is still expected to miss a few weeks due to an ankle injury.
Rams head coach Sean McVay confirmed that Kupp won’t play in the team’s Week 4 matchup against the Chicago Bears and said he will provide updates on the others when they are close to returning.
“No updates on those guys,” McVay told reporters this week. “When it gets to the point that they can start returning to practice or we would end up taking them off of that with the [designated to return] ‘DIR’, then I’ll let you know.
“As far as Cooper, he’s attacking every single day. Not going to be available for this week, if that’s what you’re asking.”
Kupp’s injury was nothing short of disappointing as he finally appeared to be fully back after appearing in only 21 games over the past two seasons.
However, it is encouraging that he has continued to make progress in his recovery and hopefully will return to the Rams sooner rather than later.
Kupp hauled in 18 passes for 147 yards and a touchdown in two games before his ankle injury.
Sean McVay proud of Rams for battling back to defeat 49ers
Given how depleted they were, McVay was thrilled for his players after they pulled off an improbable comeback against the 49ers.
“Holy! What a job by our group just continuing to battle [and] continuing to fight,” McVay said after the game. “There’s a lot of guts [and] there’s a lot of resilience in this group and it’s just one game. I’m really proud of them. I’m really proud of them for a lot of the things that went into it, guys that had to step up. I thought special teams was a huge edge for us today. For Josh Karty, for Ethan Evans [and] for Alex Ward to be able to make their kicks in crunch time, the extra points to tie it up [and] the field goal to ultimately win it.
“What a cool deal for Xavier Smith. [He did a] great job aggressively fielding that thing. [He] got some blocks, got to the sideline [and] got us in good field position right off the jump and then Ronnie Rivers converted on the fake punt. I thought that was a real difference for us. Kyren Williams in the red area came to life in a big way. It wasn’t perfect by any stretch, but I thought those guys did an excellent job when we had to have it. Defensively, we tightened up [and] we got stops when we needed it.
“Matthew Stafford was outstanding. I thought there were some mistakes that we made around him, but he hung in there. He kept his eyes down the field. I thought he delivered the ball accurately all throughout the day. I don’t know what his numbers were, but I thought he was outstanding today. He had crunch time production [and] he had great grit, great leadership. Tutu Atwell was awesome as well. There are a couple hidden yards where you’re talking about down the field penalties. There’s a 48-yard penalty that Tutu got on the penalty when we were in the third quarter. Colby Parkinson ended up drawing the PI right there when they played a man coverage at the end. A lot of guts [and] a lot of grit. I’m really proud of this group. We’ll see how we come back tomorrow and hopefully we don’t have any more injuries.”
