Jared Goff, Cooper Kupp spearhead Rams' offensive resurgence Published: Sep 15, 2019 at 09:10 PM Michael Silver LOS ANGELES -- He snatched the ball out of the air just beyond his own 40-yard line, charging forward into the ' secondary with star cornerback closing in from his left and George Gervin Jersey 10 months' worth of frustration lurking behind him. At that moment, receiver was driven and defiant, resilient and unrestrained -- and he was determined to go the distance, perhaps more than ever before. Nine minutes remained in Sunday's much-anticipated clash between the and at the L.A. Coliseum, a rematch of , which Kupp had to sit out in the wake of reconstructive knee surgery. This time, L.A. had an 11-point lead and, with quarterback having exited in the first quarter with , looked to be cruising to victory. And then, for the next 59 yards, Kupp -- with some help from fellow wide receivers and -- ran absolutely wild, putting his stamp on an afternoon that may have signaled the ' long-awaited offensive resurgence. By the time Kupp was finished with his statement -- after stiff-arming Lattimore and pushing past a pair of Williamses (safety Marcus and cornerback P.J.) and juking cornerback with a sick swim move and carrying linebacker with him on his lurch toward the goal line -- it was clear to 71,460 fans at the Coliseum and millions of television viewers that the (2-0) were rolling in a manner they hadn't since leaving New Orleans last January. Tragically, a subsequent replay review deprived Kupp of the touchdown he so desperately craved, leaving quarterback to follow up their 66-yard connection with and polish off the (1-1) by . Well -- it was more like 1/12th of a yard, at least according to the man of the moment. "That was a bummer," Kupp said long after the game as he dre sed in a nearly cleared-out locker room. "When the officials said they were bringing it back, they told me it was 6 inches short, but when they actually marked it? inches. I mean, at that point, with the score what it was, maybe you just give it to me?" Kupp smiled, indicating he was half-serious, at best. After all, railing against a perceived officiating injustice in the presence of an opponent still reeling from the seemed a bit severe. This was especially true given that, on Sunday, officiating gaffe deprived defensive end Cam Jordan of following a fumble recovery on a play that had been erroneously whistled dead, back when the game was tied at 3 with 6:02 left in the first half. "Woulda been nice," Jordan said afterward as he headed for the ' bus outside the stadium, having stopped to congratulate Goff (19 for 28, 283 yards, one touchdown, no interceptions) on a stellar performance. "Once I scooped it up and cut (to the left sideline), my form was hot. I wasn't even that tired. I got to the end zone and then they told me, 'We blew the whistle.' I'm like, 'You blew the whistle ?'" Then, in the fourth quarter, Goff and Kupp blew up the remaining suspense, ending the day in a first-place tie with the and in the NFC West. If Kupp's catch-and-run provided Sunday's signature moment, on the ' third offensive play might have been even more David Robinson Jersey significant. Given the young quarterback's in a 13-3 LIII setback to the , and his choppy outing in , Goff was getting his share of grief from fans and media analysts, continuing a common theme throughout his four-year career. This was especially true in the wake of the Goff signed earlier this month, a deal which included a record $110 million guaranteed. For most of Sunday, and especially on his sublime pa s to Cooks, Goff was . safety on the game's first drive, a play made po sible thanks to a great hit by newly acquired veteran safety on tight end . Now, facing a third-and-16 from his own 32, Goff decided to let it rip, and the result was spectacular. After taking a shotgun snap, Goff surveyed the ' coverage and saw Lattimore singled up on Cooks, who was running a go route off a tight alignment on the left side of the formation. Goff felt that the cornerback was in a vulnerable position and that safety would not be able to get over in time to help. "It was third-and-forever, and I figure they're gonna sit (near the first-down marker)," Goff explained later. "That's when we take our shot. Lattimore's a great player. I saw him flat-footed and thought, 'Oooh, we got him.'" It all sounds so simple -- and it is, presuming you have a quarterback who can do what Goff was about to do: Stand tall against an oncoming pa s rush, plant his left DeMar DeRozan Jersey foot at the ground on his own 24 and deliver a crisp, soaring spiral that would land perfectly in Cooks' hands as the former receiver fell to the gra s at the New Orleans 11. The ball traveled 65 yards in the air and seemed to be guided by a GPS chip. It had zip and touch and sugar and spice and everything nice. "What a throw," coach Sean McVay said as he congratulated Goff at his locker after the game. "It was a hell of a ," Goff said. That he would try to deflect attention away from himself, and toward one of his receivers, was not surprising. In a league with so many divas and stat-seekers populating the receiver position, Goff believes the are an anomaly, with Woods, Cooks, Kupp and (Kupp's stand-in after he tore his ACL last Nov. 11) seemingly constituting a content and mutually supportive ensemble cast. On Sunday, even as Kupp (five catches, 120 yards) had the second-most prolific game of his career, Cooks (three receptions, 74 yards, one touchdown) and Woods (two receptions, 33 yards) were relative bit players. Woods was targeted twice, his lowest total since joining the before the 2017 season, and a tally one fewer than the amount of defenders he obstructed during Kupp's catch-and-run. "The best part of all four of those guys, they're all selfle s," Goff said. "They're all rooting for Cooper when he's catching the ball and blocking their a ses off and trying to get him into the end zone. I've never been around anything like it. It's all 'team, team, team; win, win, Bruce Bowen Jersey win' with all four of them. Some teams will they have that, but we really do. I'm very, very lucky to have that group." The band is back together now, but Kupp's absence was felt during the second half of last season, and especially in the . He stood on the sidelines in Atlanta in February and agonized as his teammates struggled against the , at times writing route adjustments on a greaseboard to share with his fellow receivers. Then, once the offseason began, Kupp dove into his rehabilitation with a vengeance. "He's only gotten better and stronger since his injury," Goff said. "He was in August. He won't say that, you could tell -- he had his feet under him. Today, he was able to show that off." Veteran cornerback said Kupp had been "going nuts at practice. I could've told you (he was back)." Added cornerback Marcus Peters: "We're glad to have that boy back. He worked his a s off to get to this position. It shows that hard work pays off." Goff repeatedly made the pay on Sunday, at a time when they were vulnerable because of Brees' absence. I'm not a big single-game pa ser rating guy, but I'll make an exception here: This was the 16th time since the start of the 2017 season that Goff registered a rating of 110 or more in a game, tying him atop the NFL with the ' during that span. That's consistency and no, * *can't just do that on demand. The , meanwhile, played most of this game without Brees, who while throwing a first-quarter incompletion , injuring his thumb. Former starter took it the rest of the way, and while he was reasonably proficient (17 for 30, 165 yards, no TDs, no interceptions), the registered their fourth-lowest point total of the Sean Payton-Brees era, which dates back to 2006. If Brees is out for an extended period, which seems very po sible , New Orleans will need to find a way to rally around Bridgewater. In the meantime, fans can now obse s about something other than the non-call that likely cost the team a berth in January -- a subject the had all but tuned out in the days leading up to Sunday's rematch. "It's a whole new team, and that s--- didn't mean anything to us," Talib said. "All it did was send us to lose the , so why would it mean a thing to us? That's why they looked like that (in this game); it was on their mind. It wasn't on our mind. This is a fresh, new season." Said Goff: "It's been so belabored, but we didn't talk about it for a second inside our locker room. I'm sure they were talking about it. But us ... straight ahead." Kupp didn't exactly run straight ahead on his highly entertaining near-touchdown. His weaving, juking and tackle-breaking effort was a sight to behold, with a little help from his friends: Woods throwing blocks on three New Orleans defenders ( , and Klein) and Cooks knocking to the ground at the ' 30. As Kupp prepared to leave the locker room Sunday, he said he hadn't yet seen a replay. "I look forward to watching it," Kupp said. "I tell you what, the stars of that play were and . To see them blocking downfield and Keita Bates-Diop Jersey going as hard as they did, that's what makes a team transcendent. "When you have guys who love to compete and do their job -- and help other people do their job, and truly take joy in it -- that's when you become special." The ? They may have taken a significant step forward. This article has been reproduced in a new format and may be mi sing content or contain faulty links. Please use the Contact Us link in our site footer to report an i sue.