The consistently outstanding 2021 campaign of Cooper Kupp continued on Monday night in historic fashion.
Kupp has been terrific for quite some time, but he's been stellar game in and game out this year with the Los Angeles Rams.
There was one exception, though, and it came in a Week 4 loss to the Arizona Cardinals.
Kupp exorcised any of those demons during another sensational showing, as he tallied a career-high 13 receptions for a game-high 123 yards and the game-winning touchdown in a 30-23 Rams triumph over the host Cardinals on Monday Night Football.
The statistical success of Kupp saw him top 90 receiving yards for the ninth consecutive game, tying him with Hall of Famer Michael Irvin (1995 season) and Odell Beckham (2014) for the longest such streak in the last 70 seasons, per NFL Research.
“He was fantastic. He always is," Rams quarterback Matthew Stafford said of Kupp in his ESPN postgame interview. "Missed him on a couple – I wish I would have put a couple out in front to give him a chance to run. Great player, great teammate for us. Does a lot of the dirty work for us, too. I’m just excited for our team and we gotta continue to build on this."
The Rams improved to 9-4 via their second win in a row and hold the fifth seed in the NFC, and though the roster boasts a galaxy of all-stars, it's hard to fathom the team's success without Kupp.
Kupp leads the NFL with 113 receptions, 1,489 receiving yards and 12 receiving touchdowns as he zeroes on becoming the first NFL triple crown wide receiver since Steve Smith in 2005 with the Carolina Panthers.
Heading into Monday's matchup with the NFC West's first-place Cardinals, Kupp was facing a squad that had held him to zero touchdowns and season-lows of five catches and 64 yards in Arizona's Week 4 win.
Kupp reversed course this time around, and proved problematic for the Cardinals to cover all night, capping his evening with a splendid 4-yard touchdown catch in the third quarter that gave the Rams a 27-13 lead and stood as the game-winning tally. He had a game-high 15 targets, but even if the Cardinals knew Stafford was going Kupp's way, he was rarely stopped.
It was a huge win for the Rams as it relates to the playoff picture, but also because the team was able to overcome a rash of players, most notably Jalen Ramsey , lost for the game due to being placed on the reserve/COVID-19 list.
“At the end of the day, you deal with all that stuff," Kupp told ESPN after the game. "You just gotta control what you can control. That stuff, by the time the game starts, that stuff is over and done with and you just gotta move forward. Next man up, do your job play in and play out, just execute the best you can and we did well enough just to squeak out a 'W.'”
The consistently outstanding season of Cooper Kupp continued on Monday night, made some more history and doesn't appear to be slowing down any time soon.