Cooper Kupp Continues Historic Season on Monday Night, Leading Rams Past Cardinals

Cooper Kupp leads the NFL in every receiving category and continued his historic dominance on Monday night against the Cardinals.

MJ Hurley | Dec 14, 2021

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There was plenty to celebrate in the Rams win against the Cardinals on Monday evening. Among the items to rejoice over was wide receiver Cooper Kupp passing 5,000 career receiving yards. With 13 games in the book for Kupp in what could end up being a historic 2021 NFL season for him, let’s review exactly how special Kupp’s statistics have been thus far.

Following the Week 14 showdown against the Cardinals, Kupp currently sits with 1,489 receiving yards on 113 receptions and 12 touchdown catches. All of these rank first in the NFL, which has Kupp on pace to achieve the rare receiving triple crown accomplishment. The only three players to ever achieve that elite status are Jerry Rice (1990), Sterling Sharpe (1992) and Steve Smith (2005).

So let’s break down exactly how impressive Kupp has been, beginning with his yards receiving. Kupp is on pace for 1,947 receiving yards, which would be good for the second-highest season ever and only 17 yards shy of the 1,964 set by Calvin Johnson of the Lions in 2012. In order to break Johnson’s record, Kupp needs to average 119 yards per game. Kupp needs just 292 yards in the final four games to break Isaac Bruce’s 1995 Rams’ single-season receiving record of 1,781 yards.

In terms of receptions, Kupp is on pace for 148 receptions which would be one shy of the 149 passes brought down by Michael Thomas for the Saints two years ago in 2019. Kupp is also only 7 catches away from breaking Isaac Bruce’s single-season Rams’ record of 119 receptions.

For receiving touchdowns, Kupp likely will not set any records. While he's on pace to lead the league in touchdown grabs, his pace of 16 touchdowns this season would leave him one shy of the 60-year-old Rams record set by Elroy Hinch in 1951.

The way Kupp has arrived at all of these impressive numbers is through his consistency. Kupp is one of three receivers in NFL history to have 90 yards receiving in nine straight games. The other two receivers on that list are Michael Irvin in 1995 and Kupp’s current teammate, Odell Beckham Jr. in 2014. Kupp also has eight different games with 100 yards receiving and six with over 120 yards. With a new quarterback at the helm, Kupp is proving he's not just a slot receiver but he sits among the game's very best group of pass-catchers.

Last night against Arizona, Kupp showed exactly why he is producing as the best receiver in the NFL. Against a top-five defense, Kupp produced from every single alignment on the field. Kupp set a new career-high with 13 receptions as the main target for an impressive passing performance from Matthew Stafford. According to Next Gen Stats, Kupp caught at least one pass in every pre-snap alignment, which has not been done since Next Gen Stats began tracking this in 2016.

Kupp's pre-snap alignment upon recording a catch:

Left Wide: 2
Left Slot: 4
Left Tight: 1
Backfield: 1
Right Tight: 1
Right Slot: 3
Right Wide: 1

Meanwhile, Kupp also leads the NFL in targets, first downs, catches per game, yards per game and yards after the catch. While Davante Adams and DeAndre Hopkins may receive more notoriety throughout the sport, it's Kupp who's put the NFL on notice for his dominant 2021 campaign.

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Published Dec 14, 2021

MJ HURLEY

MJ Hurley is a writer, podcast host and credentialed NFL reporter.