Matthew Stafford Threw the Most Beautiful Touchdown Pass to Cooper Kupp
Name a more iconic duo (in the NFL ... right now ...)
Cooper Kupp is having one of the best receiving seasons in NFL history. After hauling in nine passes for 136 yards and two touchdowns in a win over the Seahawks on Tuesday, Kupp broke the Rams’ franchise record for receptions in a season (he’s at 122 with three games left to play, surpassing Isaac Bruce’s 120 in 1995). It was his 10th straight game with at least 90 yards receiving, the longest such streak in the past 70 years. He’s currently leading the NFL in receptions, receiving yards (1,625) and receiving touchdowns (14), with a healthy lead over second place in all three categories, meaning he’s well on his way to becoming the first player since Steve Smith in 2005 to win the receiving triple crown.
Sure, Kupp has been amazing, but don’t sleep on the role a rejuvenated Matthew Stafford has played in his success. Stafford is having his most productive full season since Calvin Johnson’s retirement in 2015, reminding people that, while he might not have the same number of wins as some of his contemporaries, he’s among the most talented passers of his generation. A lesser quarterback would not have been able to make the throw that Stafford made for Kupp’s second touchdown of the night.
Kupp was closely shadowed by a defender, but Stafford put the ball where only his receiver could get it and hit him in stride, allowing Kupp to cruise into the end zone after the catch.
But that angle doesn’t even do the throw justice. A replay from Stafford’s point of view shows just how impressive the pass was. Stafford, with a free rusher bearing down on him, threw the ball the moment Kupp broke toward the middle of the field, putting it right where he knew Kupp was going to be. Kupp was still eight or 10 yards from where the ball was going when it was thrown. And not only did Stafford throw the ball to the exact spot on the field where Kupp was going to be when it got there, he put it at the perfect height where Kupp would be able to grab it but his defender would not.
To be clear, Kupp deserves plenty of credit here, too, for running a perfect route and having such impeccable timing with Stafford. It’s incredible that the pair is so in sync in just their first season together.
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After the game, Kupp heaped praise on his quarterback for making a great play.
“It really comes down to, receivers, we know we’ve got to be in a certain place at a certain time within the rhythm and timing of the play,” Kupp told reporters. “That’s our job. It’s the quarterback’s job to get the ball out and put it in those spots.
“I haven’t seen it yet, obviously, but I’m telling you, that was a product of Matthew being a really good football player, getting the ball out early, being able to anticipate the spot, being able to put a good trajectory on it to let me run in there when he knows he’s getting that ball out a little early. It was just a very, very impressive play by him and then I just had to be in the spot and catch the ball.”
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