Tag: Cooper Kupp

Watch: Notre Dame alumnus J.B. Long makes calls for Rams radio

There was an Irish connection in the Rams’ broadcast booth for the Super Bowl.

Ben Skowronek isn’t the only Notre Dame connection celebrating the Los Angeles Rams’ Super Bowl LVI victory over the Cincinnati Bengals. Another Notre Dame alumnus who had a good evening was Rams radio play-by-play announcer J.B. Long. With the Rams on the cusp of taking the lead for good late in the game, Long was ready to make the call of a lifetime. Here’s how he called Matthew Stafford’s touchdown pass to Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp:

Of course, no one knew yet that there wouldn’t be another lead change. The Bengals had a chance to complete their own miracle, but once Aaron Donald got to Joe Burrow, it was all over. Here’s how Long called that moment:

Retired Irish men’s basketball announcer Jack Nolan made sure to congratulate Long, whom he once knew as an intern:

Congratulations to Long for having an opportunity most broadcasters only can dream of.

Contact/Follow us @IrishWireND on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Notre Dame news, notes, and opinions.

Follow Geoffrey on Twitter: @gfclark89

 

Cooper Kupp and the Rams capped a season for the ages with a Super Bowl 56 victory

A dream Rams season could’ve only ended with a dream effort by Kupp.

You win Super Bowls off the backs of your best players. It’s decided on their arms, their hands, their will. If your big guns don’t come to play, you’re not going to win. No role player will save the day when the chips are down. No, your stars must have brought their A-game to beat the final boss.

Nothing less.

After narrowly winning Super Bowl LVI 23-20 over the Cincinnati Bengals, the Los Angeles Rams have a lot of blessings to be thankful for. Climbing this impossible mountain means that not only do you have a great deal of luck on your side, you also need a bevy of stars—true game-changers in every sense of the hyphenated, melodramatic word.

On a team with Aaron Donald, Jalen Ramsey and Von Miller, arguably none are more significant than Super Bowl MVP Cooper Kupp (+600 to capture the award, per Tipico Sportsbook).

The 2021 receiving triple-crown winner, a First-Team All-Pro, and now Super Bowl MVP, Kupp wasn’t always in the conversation for the NFL’s best player. Nor was he someone you would ever envision a championship team feeding over and over on a fourth-quarter, title-winning drive. Five seasons ago, Kupp was merely a solid possession receiver on a solid Rams playoff team. A good contributor, but not someone you write home about. A savvy and reliable player, but not a face of the league.

In truth, there’s nothing typical about Kupp. Of all people, of every special superstar to strap on a helmet on Sunday, this Super Bowl could’ve only ended in his arms. With 5:00 remaining on their last meaningful possession, down four, and the entire season on the line, the Rams ensured that it did.

From their own 30, the Rams faced a 4th and 1. Miss in any fashion and the Bengals likely drive the other way for the dagger. This wasn’t a situation to get cute.

Get Kupp the ball.

Later, on 2nd and 7, the Rams needed another clutch play while in Bengals territory. Already a little behind the sticks, every yard and second counted. Don’t overthink it.

Get Kupp the ball.

Many NFL greats often talk about how the game “slows down” in the final moments of a Super Bowl. Already hopped up on adrenaline, your mind is racing beyond a mile per minute. You’re intimately aware of an entire country watching you at home, magnifying the pressure. Should results break the right way, what you’re about to experience will be one of the greatest moments of your life. Unfiltered euphoria. Or, in a fit of poor fortune, it’ll be a moment of anguish you’ll learn to accept–or repress–soon enough.

The last minutes of a Super Bowl are where legends are created. They are figuratively what people tell their grandkids in hallowed terms about once they pass on this sport as a passion. NFL Films doesn’t fixate on the regular-season greats and their otherwise empty statistics. Why would they? Heroes coming through when it’s most dire is why we watch football, why we watch sports in the first place. A hero is someone we can all identify with and see ourselves in. How empty would this entire endeavor of American gladiators be if we couldn’t relate to someone stepping up as a professional?

With 1:29 remaining, and the Rams on the verge of their first Super Bowl in over two decades, Kupp became that universal hero.

Get Kupp the ball.

Five touches. One fourth-down conversion. 49 yards. And the game-winning touchdown in the Super Bowl. A dream season for Kupp with the perfect nightcap.

The Rams, by every measure, had an All-Star team in 2021. Donald and Miller will walk into the Hall of Fame the second they retired. Ramsey, at his pace, will probably join them in that exclusive club. They were supposed to enjoy this sort of February glory. It was their destination from the start.

It’s fitting then that instead of any of their other weighty names, L.A. won thanks to Kupp. He brought his A-game to football’s biggest stage, as he did all year, and he’s who we’ll glow about one day to our grandkids. Heck, we might even tell everyone we know and love now that we saw Cooper Kupp win a Super Bowl for the Rams. We’ll say our words don’t do Kupp–or the Rams–justice either. They couldn’t.

You just had to be there.

Gannett may earn revenue from Tipico for audience referrals to betting services. Tipico has no influence over nor are any such revenues in any way dependent on or linked to the newsrooms or news coverage. See Tipico.com for Terms and Conditions. 21+ only. Gambling problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER (NJ), 1-800-522-4700 (CO).

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This angle of Matthew Stafford’s no-look pass to Cooper Kupp is incredible

One of Matthew Stafford’s biggest plays of the game was actually a no-look pass to Cooper Kupp, which looks incredible from this angle

On the biggest drive of his life, Matthew Stafford didn’t play it safe. He didn’t stray from what has made him great throughout his career, remaining aggressive as the Rams marched down the field for a game-winning touchdown to beat the Bengals in Super Bowl LVI.

Stafford was even brave enough to throw a no-look pass in a critical moment on second-and-7 from the Bengals’ 46-yard line with only 3:06 left in the game. He threw a dart to Cooper Kupp over the middle for a 22-yard gain and a first down, putting the Rams on the fringe of the red zone.

He baited Vonn Bell by looking to his right, causing the safety to come flying down in anticipation of a throw going to Brycen Hopkins. But Stafford snuck the throw behind Bell to Kupp for a huge play, helping set up the game-winning touchdown.

The end zone angle of the play shows how incredible of a throw it was by Stafford.

Kupp said after the game that Stafford threw “the best no-looker of his life” on that play, not realizing until the last second that Stafford was throwing it to him over the middle.

So if he briefly fooled Kupp, you can imagine how confused Bell was when he saw the ball whiz by him for a completion.

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Chiefs players savagely trolled Eli Apple after he gave up Super Bowl-winning touchdown

Eli Apple’s feud with Kansas City’s Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman continues even in the face of a Super Bowl defeat.

The back-and-forth between a few Kansas City Chiefs players and Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Eli Apple doesn’t appear ready to calm down anytime soon.

In the moments after Apple’s Bengals lost Super Bowl 56 to the Los Angeles Rams, 23-20, the Kansas City wideouts Tyreek Hill and Mecole Hardman couldn’t wait to mock the defender and made sure to tag him on social media so he could see it.

Apple was in the unfortunate position of having to take on Rams’ megastar—and Super Bowl 56 MVP—Cooper Kupp in single coverage on what became the game-winning touchdown. As that last sentence makes clear, Apple was unsuccessful in his attempt to prevent the score.

There’s adding insult to an already brutal championship loss, and then there’s waving your own title ring in the face of a player who came less than two minutes from earning one for himself.

Yet this feud has been building for weeks—ever since the Bengals topped the Chiefs in the AFC Championship game with Apple making a few noteworthy stops against the Chiefs’ playmakers.

They started yapping on Twitter shortly after the AFC Championship ended.

This doesn’t look like a situation where any player will have the last laugh for quite a bit. Hill might not have wanted any Twitter beef, but he’s sure enjoying his participation now.

The same goes for Hardman, who may have been the biggest Kupp fan outside of Los Angeles on Sunday night.

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Cooper Kupp caps all-time great season with Super Bowl MVP award

Kupp had the third-best odds for MVP.

Cooper Kupp was named MVP of Super Bowl 56 as his Los Angeles Rams defeated the Cincinnati Bengals 23-20.

Kupp had +600 odds for the award per Tipico Sportsbook, the best of any non-quarterback in the game. The wide receiver finished with eight catches for 92 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead score with less than two minutes to go.

Kupp likely beat out teammate Aaron Donald (+1300) for the award. Donald had four tackles, two sacks, three QB hits, and an impact beyond the box score as he took on several double teams throughout the game. Quarterback Matthew Stafford (+100) entered the game with the best odds for the award, but threw two interceptions in the game to go with 283 yards and three touchdowns.

For Kupp, the award caps one of the all-time great seasons for a receiver. He finished the year with the receiving triple-crown, racking up 145 receptions, 1,947 yards and 16 touchdowns.

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Rams radio voice delivers on Cooper Kupp’s game-winning TD grab

The Rams’ radio call of the game-winning touchdown

It was a 1-yard pass but it was one for the ages as Matthew Stafford hit Cooper Kupp with a back-shoulder throw with 89 seconds left in Super Bowl 56 and the Los Angeles Rams went on to defeat the Cincinnati Bengals, 23-20, Sunday at SoFi Stadium.

The Rams’ radio play-by-play voice delivered: “Touchdown! Touchdown! Touchdown!”

 

A Triple Crown season and an MVP Super Bowl performance by the classy Super Cooper Kupp.

Watch the Super Bowl-winning touchdown from Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp

Watch the play that won the Super Bowl for the Rams, a touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp

The Los Angeles Rams are Super Bowl champions, and it’s largely thanks to Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp. The two not only played well for most of the game against the Bengals, but they came through in the clutch with a touchdown in the final minutes.

Stafford hit Kupp from 1-yard out to put the Rams up 23-20 over the Bengals, giving them their first lead since the first half. There was only 1:25 left on the clock when Kupp came down with the touchdown, leaving the Bengals with little time to go down and potentially tie or win the game.

The defense came through with a stop on fourth down, but it was the touchdown from Stafford to Kupp that won the game for the Rams.

The Bengals won’t soon forget this questionable pass interference call after Super Bowl loss

Brutal call in that moment.

When the Cincinnati Bengals look back at their Super Bowl loss to the Los Angeles Rams, several plays will stand out where they could have done something different to get better results. But the one play that may stand out the most is the one where they appeared to do everything right.

On a Rams third-and-goal from the 8-yard line, with under two minutes to play and Cincy protecting a 20-16 lead, Bengals linebacker Logan Wilson was flagged for pass interference on a throw from Matthew Stafford to Cooper Kupp.

The only problem is he appeared to play the ball perfectly.

There was certainly contact on the play, but it didn’t look like Wilson held Kupp or stopped his momentum in any way. What he did was jump in front of him and deflect the pass, just as it was arriving.

Had the play stood, the Rams would have faced a fourth down, needing to get into the end zone.

 

 

The automatic first down on the pass interference call put the Rams in possession to eventually score the go-ahead touchdown.

That play was far from the only determining factor in the outcome of the game. Cincinnati did get another possession and failed to move into position for a game-tying field goal. But it certainly helped the Rams grab a late lead and do something they mostly struggled to do throughout the game, score touchdowns.

It’s a play that’s sure to linger in the minds of the Bengals and their fans.

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Cooper Kupp wins Super Bowl MVP for 2-touchdown game vs. Bengals

Cooper Kupp has been named Super Bowl MVP after scoring two touchdowns in the Rams’ win over the Bengals

Cooper Kupp may not have won NFL MVP for his historic season, but he was the Most Valuable Player of the biggest game of the year.

After catching eight passes for 92 yards and two touchdowns against the Bengals, Kupp was named Super Bowl MVP. He helped lead the Rams to the victory, catching the game-winning touchdown pass from Matthew Stafford with 1:25 left in the fourth quarter.

It was a well-deserved honor for the NFL’s Offensive Player of the Year, who came alive in the fourth quarter with big play after big play.

As critical as his touchdown catch was, his 7-yard run on fourth-and-1 might’ve been even more important. That kept the game-winning drive alive, extending the possession and eventually leading to the 1-yard touchdown grab.

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