The NFL world is buzzing about the Week 11 meeting between the Seattle Seahawks and the Los Angeles Rams. Both teams looked like juggernauts last week against NFC West foes; the Seahawks thrashed the Cardinals while the Rams handled the 49ers.
While these two 7-2 rivals do battle on Sunday, a prominent storyline connecting the two teams is wide receiver Cooper Kupp taking on his former team for the first time after spending eight years with the Rams, where he won an Offensive Player of the Year Award and a Super Bowl MVP in 2021.
Typically, these are called revenge games, when a player gets to take on his former employer who let him go for one reason or another. But Kupp isn’t calling it that, instead approaching it like any other week.
Seattle Seahawks’ Cooper Kupp will treat game against Los Angeles Rams like any other
Kupp spoke with the media on Wednesday, where he discussed the emotions of taking on the team that brought him into the NFL from Eastern Washington as a third-round pick in 2017.
“It’s another football game, you know,” Kupp said. “Get out there, play your game. I mean, love these guys, love so many of the guys over there, but at the end of the day, gotta go play a football game. So that’s going to be what it is, try to treat this as any other game.”
That’s what Kupp said before he was informed that the Rams would honor him in some capacity on Sunday. That news caught him a bit off guard, but allowed him to talk fondly about his former team.
“Obviously, so thankful for my time there. Incredible experience. Built so much with just the fans and the guys I played with, and just great experiences. Nothing but love for that city. But like I said, gotta be able to lock into the game and what’s ahead of you. It’ll be fun. I’m excited to go out there.”
At 32, Kupp isn’t quite the same player for the Seahawks as he once was for the Rams. Seattle brought in Rashid Shaheed at the trade deadline and drafted Tory Horton late in the draft, not only for their talents, but as future failsafes for Kupp.
Kupp has just 26 receptions for 367 yards and a single score this season, a far cry from the heavy volume production he put up with the Rams for nearly a decade. Still, he’s come up with some big plays for the Seahawks’ offense when called upon and has provided the type of mentorship to allow Jaxson Smith-Njigba to all but replicate Kupp’s historic 2021 campaign at the position.
Still, while the Seahawks’ offense hasn’t needed those huge numbers from Kupp just yet, if ever there would be a poetic time for him to have a just a bit extra, it’ll be his first trip back to L.A. where Seattle’s challenge will be keeping pace with an offense that can score just as easily as it did when Kupp wore their shade of blue.