In the immediate aftermath of the Los Angeles Rams’ 16-13 loss to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, there were some questioning the decision Rams star Cooper Kupp made in the final minutes of the game.
With 1:46 left and the Rams leading 13-9 and facing 2nd-and-10 at their own 7-yard line, head coach Sean McVay dialed up a sweep to Kupp. The standout wide receiver picked up five yards around the right side, but elected to slide down inbounds in order to make sure the Bucs burned their final timeout.
Tampa Bay called timeout to stop the clock with 1:39 remaining, and after LA ran one more play and punted, the Bucs got the ball back at their own 40 with 44 seconds left. It only took Tom Brady 36 seconds to drive his team into the end zone for the winning score.
Kupp’s decision to slide instead of possibly cutting back and getting the first down was second-guessed in the moment and even more so after the Rams wound up losing.
“Cooper Kupp slid when he didn’t have to,” tweeted Talkin’ Giants’ Bobby Skinner.
“I actually don’t love that slide by Kupp,” added Twitter user Gruff Sparty. “He needed to try to pick up that 1st down but stay inbounds. Instead, gives himself up too early and doesn’t give the 3rd down a better chance to succeed.”
“Cooper Kupp going be kicking himself for that slide,” added another fan.
“The Rams served it up to [Brady] on a silver platter. Kupp’s slide instead of getting the 1st down was a killer,” said another fan responding to Skip Bayless.
With the loss, the defending Super Bowl champion Rams fell to 3-5 on the season. Kupp’s slide is going to be talked about a lot postgame and in the coming days.