Just when it seemed like things couldn’t get worse for the Los Angeles Rams this season, they did. Not only did they lose their third straight game on Sunday, sinking their record to 3-6, but more importantly, they lost their best offensive player: Cooper Kupp.
In a game where the Rams were already without Matthew Stafford, they played most of the fourth quarter without Kupp. He suffered a right ankle injury after attempting to make a catch, getting hit low by cornerback Marco Wilson.
The injury is being described as a high ankle sprain, which is almost always a multi-week injury. And given the Rams’ situation, they may be out of the playoff picture by the time Kupp is ready to respond.
This offense has already been hard to watch the last three weeks, scoring a total of 44 points and failing to top 260 yards a single time, but it’s going to be even more painful without Kupp. He has 864 yards from scrimmage this season, which is 479 more than any other Rams player. As a team, the Rams have just 2,544 total yards, which ranks 31st in the NFL.
Based on that, Kupp has accounted for 34% of the Rams’ scrimmage yards. And that’s after he had minus-1 yard on Sunday against the Cardinals. Prior to that game, he accounted for 38% of the offense.
For comparison, he accounted for 31% of the team’s scrimmage yards last season, so the Rams are even more reliant on him in 2022.
The Rams are last in the NFL in yards per play and Cooper Kupp has gained 34% of their yards from scrimmage.
This team is going to be absolutely impossible to watch.
— Joe Dolan (@FG_Dolan) November 14, 2022
There’s no replacing Kupp. The Rams can’t possibly find someone who can produce yards and touchdowns the way he does. Not even Odell Beckham Jr. can make up for the impact Kupp has on offense.
And clearly, Allen Robinson, Van Jefferson and Ben Skowronek haven’t shown any signs that they’ll be able to step up as a consistent seven-catch, 80-yard receiver.
The Rams were already in deep, deep trouble even with Kupp leading the way. It’s scary to think what this offense will look like without him.