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Has there ever been an NFL team that gave less effort in a must-win game than the 49ers showed Thursday night against the Los Angeles Rams? One player refused to participate, and Brock Purdy performed like a lazy spring passing day in the backyard. And that makes Cooper Kupp’s shocking game versus the 49ers even more painful for fantasy managers.
First, let’s call it what it was, a terrible game for viewers. Only Rams running back Kyren Williams seemed to show up as a professional football player, and Joshua Karty’s four field goals easily beat back the embarrassing 49ers in a 12-6 mess.
And although Matthew Stafford’s accuracy didn’t match his usual standards, Kupp turned in a fantasy dud for the ages, according to a post on ZX by Field Yates.
“Last night marked just the second game in Cooper Kupp’s career that he did not record a single catch.”
Rams WR Cooper Kupp lays golden fantasy goose egg
Kupp whiffed on all three of his targets, one of which turned out to be uncatchable. Also, he looked like he played with some kind of injury. If the video of his routes Thursday displayed full speed, he’s on the fast track to retirement.
Kupp appeared to be moving in slow motion. It’s already obvious he pales compared to superstar receiver Puka Nacua, but the contrast in this game hurt the fantasy manager’s eyes.
It’s amazing the Rams won the game, but they only did so because the 49ers seemed to care even less than they did.
Rams coach Sean McVay yukked it up, boasting how his team won without really doing much offensively, according to espn.com.
“What’s really cool is this team has found a bunch of different ways to be able to win football games,” McVay said. “You come off a 44-42 game the other day and then you win 12-6. Our group did what they needed to do to be able to get it done.”
What did they need to do? Kick field goals. Three would have been enough.
Sure, the weather could be blamed for Kupp’s ineffectiveness in the first half. But his disappearing act continued throughout the second half with dry skies.
“In the second half, the weather was good enough to do it all,” Stafford said. “We had the feeling that that was the kind of way this game was going to be played. And it’s going to have to be one of those games. We scored 44 four nights ago and come out here and score 12. But they both count for one.”
And Kupp’s counts for a playoff exit for many fantasy managers nationwide. It’s going to be extremely difficult to overcome a goose egg when the expectation came in the form of double digits. In 12-team leagues, overcoming Kupp’s early vacation will be extraordinarily difficult to overcome.
