The Los Angeles Rams (5-5) continue to thrive in the passing game all season long and it was on display once again in Sunday's road win over the New England Patriots (3-8). Quarterback Matthew Stafford threw for 295 yards and four touchdowns, featuring three different scoring receivers.
The Rams' top two targets came to play and had fabulous performances, gashing the Patriots secondary defense.
Veteran wide out Cooper Kupp led the way in scoring with six catches for 106 yards and two touchdowns. His counterpart second-year star Puka Nacua earned a season-high 123 receiving yards and one score on seven catches.
Rams head coach Sean McVay spoke postgame about the impressive performances from his two star pass catchers. Kupp had a game-changing 69-yard touchdown reception to open the second half that extended the Rams' lead that they would never lose.
"Puka [Nacua] and Cooper [Kupp] have been – Cooper obviously has been doing it for a long time," McVay said. "He's [Kupp] so steady. He maximizes his moments. There's a couple of ops [opportunities] where we missed him in the first half, even though we were able to get the touchdown to him. I thought the touchdown coming out of the half, the second play of our opening drive, that was big. Zero blitz, he's running a seam across his face but he's always kind of just – that's what he's been. That's what makes him great, and I think his influence has rubbed off on Puka."
Nacua is just in his second season in the league and made a statement in his rookie season last year. He has followed it up with a pair of 100+ yard games in five games as he has dealt with a knee injury for a majority of the season.
McVay could not be happier to have the young star on the team to work alongside an eight-year veteran in Kupp that has had tons of playoff experience and will continue to help teach Nacua how to grow as his career progresses.
"Puka is a stud," McVay said. "No moment is too big for him. I thought it was a huge third down catch that he had to be able to extend the drive to run some more clock off. And the best thing about Puka is he'll probably tell you he wanted to make the one we didn't make where we could have extended it down inside their tight red area if we end up making that play versus man coverage. But they were both great. They were instrumental in today's win."
Arguably the best receiving duo in the NFL, Kupp and Nacua will be required to have another clutch game next week as the Rams host the Philadelphia Eagles (8-2) at SoFi Stadium on Sunday Night Football.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/nfl/rams/ as Rams Superstar Duo Just Sent a Message to the NFL.