LATIMES.COM/SPORTS WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 2, 2019D7
NFL
The questions keep com-
ing for Rams coach Sean
McVay and running back
Todd Gurley.
The Rams’ offense is out
of balance and McVay con-
tinues to deploy running
back Malcolm Brown,
seemingly to reduce the
workload on Gurley and his
much-scrutinized left knee.
Through four games last
year — all victories — Gurley
rushed for 338 yards and four
touchdowns in 79 carries.
Going into Thursday
night’s game at Seattle, Gur-
ley has rushed for 219 yards
and three touchdowns in 49
carries. In Sunday’s 55-40
defeat by the Tampa Bay
Buccaneers, Gurley rushed
for 16 yards and two touch-
downs in five carries, and
caught seven passes for 54
yards as the Rams suffered
their first loss.
On Tuesday, Gurley of-
fered clipped answers when
asked about the Rams of-
fense and alternating series.
Asked if he had any ideas
about how the offense could
start faster, he shook his
head no.
McVay, the Rams’ play-
caller, acknowledged the of-
fense’s struggles. He said he
speaks with Gurley and
other players throughout
the week about the offense.
“If everything went ex-
actly like we had planned
during the week, I would be a
lot happier and a lot less
stressed,” he said.
Is he stressed about the
Gurley situation?
“I’m stressed because I’m
always stressed out” during
the season, he joked.
McVay and Gurley have
been fielding questionsabout Gurley’s condition
since the latter part of last
season, when Gurley was
sidelined and slowed by an
unspecified issue affecting
his surgically repaired knee.
Gurley has said he feels fine
and that he does not call the
plays. But he appears to
have grown weary of the que-
ries.
“I can’t imagine how he
feels having to answer all
those questions,” McVay
said.
McVay still is trying to
find answers for an offense
that he acknowledged is
searching for an identity.
“Figuring out and kind of
continuing to get to know
what’s going to be the best
way for this offense and this
season for us to really be the
most efficient week in and
week out,” McVay said.
“That’s definitely been
something that we’re work-ing through.”
Seahawks coach Pete
Carroll has noticed a
change in how the Rams are
utilizing Gurley, but appar-
ently no change in the run-
ning back.
“Looks like they’re just
mapping out a course for the
season and keeping him
healthy and fresh,” Carroll
said during a teleconference.
“He looks pretty darn good
to me.”
Questions about Gur-
ley’s situation are “just kind
of silly,” Rams left tackle An-
drew Whitworth said. He
pointed to Gurley’s perform-
ance at the end of the sea-
son-opening victory over the
Carolina Panthers, when the
running back carried the
load down the stretch.
“We haven’t executed as
well,” Whitworth said of the
offense, “and that’s the bot-
tom line. It’s the whole of-fense.”
The Rams defense also
must address some issues
after surrendering 55 points,
though that number was
skewed by the situations
created by four Rams turn-
overs. Quarterback Jared
Goff had three passes inter-
cepted and lost a fumble
that was returned for a
touchdown.
Safety Eric Weddle says
he’s not concerned.
“That’s an anomaly — we
won’t play like that the rest
of the year,” he said. “So I’m
not even going to stress or
worry.”
The Rams’ pass defense
and tackling were the main
problems against the Bucca-
neers, defensive coordinator
Wade Phillips said. The
quick turnaround of having
to play Thursday night en-
abled the Rams to move on,
he said.“You can get humbled
quickly,” he said, “but you
can also get back quickly.”Etc.
Safety Taylor Rapp, who
suffered an ankle sprain
against the Buccaneers, said
an MRI exam was negative
and that he was “feeling
great.” McVay has said that
Rapp and linebacker Bryce
Hager (shoulder) would be
game-time decisions. “Try-
ing to do as much as possible
in the training room,” Rapp
said. Rookie linebacker
Troy Reeder could start or
play significant snaps if
Hager is unable to play. ...
Nose tackle Sebastian Jo-
seph-Day got his first sack
against the Buccaneers, but
the second-year pro refused
to celebrate after the game
because the Rams lost. “It
doesn’t feel better,” he said,
“because we’re still 3-1.”RAMS REPORT
Gurley has no answer; McVay still searching
By Gary Klein
Carson Wentz, the second
pick in the 2016 draft behind
Rams quarterback Jared
Goff.
Eastern Washington won
the FCS title in 2010. Last sea-
son, the Eagles lost to North
Dakota State in the champi-
onship game.
Kupp, a third-round draft
pick in 2017, said Eastern
Washington’s success goes be-
yond winning.
“They’re teaching stuff
that’s applicable all the way
through this game and devel-
oping guys,” said Kupp, who
leads the Rams with 32 recep-
tions, three for touchdowns.
“They’re not just seeing if they
can plug a guy into their sys-
tem, they’re developing guys
as players.”
Beau Baldwin was Eastern
Washington’s head coach for
nine years before he left after
the 2016 season to become Cal-
ifornia’s offensive coordina-
tor. Aaron Best, a longtime as-
sistant, succeeded Baldwin.
The two coaches said there
was no mystery to their for-
mer players’ success.
“It wasn’t anything magic
in the water in Cheney,” Bald-
win said. “It was them going
out and working their craft,
and one guy maybe leading
the next guy.” Kupp, from
Yakima, Wash., redshirted as
a freshman and then played
four seasons, setting FCS re-
ceiving records by the time he
was done.
Ebukam, who played high
school football in Portland,
Ore., somehow escaped the
eye of Pac-12 schools and, as
with Kupp, put in the work on
the field, in the weight room
and during film study, and de-
veloped into a 2017 fourth-
round pick.
Webster, played quarter-
back at Deer Valley High in
Antioch, Calif., but at Eastern
Washington he learned a new
position and also emerged as
a potent kick returner before
the Rams signed him as a free
agent after the draft in April.
“We just have a history of
hungry guys coming out,”
Webster said.
From a distance, Best said
that Rams’ unselfish culture
under McVay appears similar
to the one fostered at Eastern
Washington. So he is not sur-
prised the Rams have repeat-
edly tapped the program.
“You go to the grocery
store and you like something,
and then all of a sudden you
may go to the grocery store for
something else that they’re
not noted for ... and say,
‘That’s a pretty good product
too,’ ” Best said. “Before you
know it, all your shopping is
done there.”On the final day of NFL
roster cuts in August, after
Nsimba Webster earned one
of the coveted 53 spots on his
team, Rams coach Sean Mc-
Vay and general manager Les
Snead marveled at the school
that produced the receiver.
Eastern Washington Uni-
versity was producing a
steady supply of talented
players to the Rams.
Snead said he was quoting
McVay about the former
Eagles.
“They come in and earn it,”
Snead said.
The Rams began the sea-
son with four players from
Eastern Washington, an
NCAA Football Champi-
onship Subdivision school lo-
cated in Cheney, about a four-
hour drive from Seattle. Web-
ster was the latest to join a
Rams team that included re-
ceiver Cooper Kupp, lineback-
er Samson Ebukam and offen-
sive lineman Aaron Neary.
Neary has since been re-
leased, but the Rams will trav-
el to Thursday night’s game
against the Seattle Seahawks
with three former Eastern
Washington players in tow.
“It doesn’t matter where
you come from,” Ebukam said
of making the jump from a
smaller college program to
the NFL. “If you can ball, you
can ball. That’s all it really
comes down to.”
About 15% of the Rams’
roster played college football
in Washington state. Along
with the Eastern Washington
products, the team also fea-
tures five players from the
University of Washington —
linebacker Cory Littleton, cor-
nerback Marcus Peters, safety
Taylor Rapp, defensive line-
man Greg Gaines and center
Coleman Shelton. But Pac-12
schools such as Washington,
and other Power Five Confer-
ence schools in the Football
Bowl Subdivision, are re-
garded as the name-brand
stops on the way to the NFL.
Eastern Washington, per-
haps best known for its red
Sprinturf field, is not the only
FCS school establishing a
reputation for producing pro-
ductive NFL players. Accord-
ing to the NCAA, 157 players
from 76 FCS schools were on
NFL opening-day rosters.
That includes former North
Dakota State quarterback
SAMSON EBUKAMis one of three players on the
Rams from Eastern Washington University.
Wally SkalijLos Angeles TimesRams are awash in
Northwest players
They have three
from Eastern
Washington and five
from Washington.
By Gary Klein
52, laughing his infectious
laugh in a sandwich shop in
this central Washington
town where he and Karin
raised three sons and a
daughter. That rhythmic
name, Cooper Kupp —
virtually always said in its
entirety — is announced
more and more these days,
as the route-running techni-
cian has risen from obscure
third-round pick from East-
ern Washington to feel-good
story to elite NFL receiver.
Entering Thursday
night’s game at Seattle, a
21 ⁄ 2 -hour drive west from his
hometown, Kupp has had
three consecutive games of
more than 100 yards receiv-
ing. Less than a year after
reconstructive knee surgery,
he leads the team in recep-
tions (32), receiving yards
(388), and receiving touch-
downs (three). His 66-yard
reception against the Saints
— a stiff-arming, tackle-
breaking masterpiece that
ended inches from the goal
line — was the epitome of
“Yards After Catch,” and
the kind of YAC so familiar
in his Yakima days.
“It’s what we expect from
him,” said Jay Dumas, who
coached Kupp at Davis
High and at Eastern Wash-
ington. “When you look back
at his tapes from high
school and college, that’s
the type of play that he
made special, the catch and
the run after the catch. It’s
stuff he’s been doing his
whole life.”
That said, Kupp went
largely unrecruited out of a
high school where basket-
ball was traditionally a
bigger deal. He was a tena-
cious defender in basketball
and, as was the case in
football, always had a knack
for being in the right posi-
tion to make a play.
He was skilled as a young
football player, but so
undersized that he had to
hide ankle weights under
his jeans to tip the scales at
112 pounds at freshman
weigh-in. Despite his im-
pressive high school career,
he was an afterthought
when he arrived at Eastern
Washington. It soon became
apparent he was a special
player, and he finished his
college career with a slew of
Football Championship
Subdivision receiving re-
cords, among them career
yards (6,464), catches (428),
and touchdowns (73). “He’s
stronger than people think,
and he’s faster than people
think,” said Fox Sports host
Colin Cowherd, an Eastern
Washington alumnus. “He
has kind of a wiry frame, and
he pulls away from people.
The first time I saw him, he
reminded me of [former
Stanford and Denver Bron-
cos receiver] Ed McCaffrey.”
Kupp wasn’t the only late
bloomer in his family. His
grandfather was that way
too, and wound up an NFL
offensive lineman. And
Cooper’s father stretched
out to nearly 6 feet 5 inches
in college, where he played
quarterback for Pacific
Lutheran University in
Tacoma, Wash. Craig was a
fifth-round pick of the New
York Giants in 1990, and
played briefly for the
Phoenix Cardinals and
Dallas Cowboys.
The Kupp children —
Cooper, Ketner, Kobe and
Katrina — have an athletic
lineage that stems from
both parents. Karin Kupp,
now a personal trainer who
has a business conductingboot-camp workouts, was
an All-American soccer
player at PLU. The three
sons attended Eastern
Washington — Ketner was a
linebacker in Rams training
camp this summer — and
Katrina, a high school jun-
ior, has a scholarship to play
soccer there.
As dedicated as he is to
his Rams career, Kupp puts
football a distant third to his
faith and family. He and his
wife, Anna, were in the same
high school class, and wed
after their sophomore year
in college. They have a 14-
month-old son, Cooper
Jamison, whom they call
“June,” as in junior.
Last season ended in
dramatic and disappointing
fashion for Kupp, who suf-fered a torn ACL in his left
knee against the Seahawks
and missed the final nine
games, counting the play-
offs and Super Bowl.
He had to re-learn how to
run after surgery, and used
that as a way of eliminating
the imperfections in his
stride. He meticulously
studied video of his form,
breaking it down in super
slo-mo, and the results were
astounding. He said he’s
between 1.5-2 mph faster
than before his injury.
“It’s a little crazy,” said
Dr. Neal ElAttrache, who
performed the ACL recon-
struction. “We’ve never had
this GPS data until the last
few years, but I can tell you
that’s typically not the way
it goes the first year back.
He’s surprising everybody.”
Surprising everybody,
that is, except CooperKupp. Since early child-
hood, he has kept a list of
football goals, most of them
absurdly lofty, that he con-
stantly reads through. As a
kid, he had them posted on
his wall. But they became
increasingly private. “When
I started writing down my
goals, I wanted to be as
outlandish as possible,” he
said. “I wanted to make sure
before I went to bed that I’d
see my list of goals and feel
good when I put my head on
the pillow that what I’d done
that day was pointing
toward achieving those
things. I set them outra-
geously high because I
wanted to have an outra-
geous work ethic about how
I went about my day.”
NFL teams took notice of
Kupp’s numbers at Eastern
Washington — and how he
had some of his biggest
games against Pac-12 oppo-
nents — but future Hall of
Fame quarterback Peyton
Manning played a role in
raising his profile too.
Kupp worked as a coun-
selor at the Manning Pass-
ing Academy for five years,
and Peyton quickly recog-
nized he was no ordinary
receiver. When Kupp was
heading into his sophomore
year of college, Rams gen-
eral manager Les Snead
stopped by the Manning
camp and overheard Peyton
stake a claim to the sure-
handed target before a
passing exhibition. “Peyton
mentioned to [his brother]
Eli, and all the subsequent
college QBs, ‘Hey Cooper
Kupp’s my guy. Y’all can
figure out who y’all are
throwing to, but Cooper’s
mine,’ ” Snead recalled. “At
that point, you took the note
to follow the kid. Because
Peyton’s a perfectionist, and
he was definitely going to
have someone who was
going to be where they were
supposed to be, and make
the catch when he was
supposed to make it.”
Recalled Peyton Man-
ning: “Eli and I would argue
over who got to throw to
Cooper, because all of his
routes were very precise. Hehad great control of his
body. You always knew
where he was going, when
he was going to break out or
break in. For a quarterback
and receiver, sometimes it
takes awhile to develop that
timing. But he was one of
those guys who right away
for me and Eli the timing
was easy. And of course he
caught everything as well.”
That blip on the radar
screen grew brighter as
Kupp assembled his record-
breaking college career. The
Rams were light on both
receivers and draft picks in
Sean McVay’s first season,
and they were worried that
Kupp wouldn’t be around
for them to take in the third
round. So they were actually
relieved when Kupp ran an
underwhelming 40-yard
dash at the scouting com-
bine, covering the distance
in a relatively sluggish 4.62
seconds.
“I don’t know if I gave a
fist pump, but I do know I
made a smirk,” Snead said
of his reaction to that 40
time. “I said, ‘We’re going to
be able to get Cooper Kupp
now because the football
world overvalues 40s.’ If
there’s one thing we do
wrong in scouting, it’s
putting too much value on
how fast someone runs the
40-yard dash.”
Reminded this week that
the Rams were pleased he
ran slow, a bemused Kupp
said: “Man, they should
have let me know. I could
have saved myself some
embarrassment.”
Kupp is plenty fast these
days, studying everything
he can about angles and
positioning and route preci-
sion in an effort to separate
from defenders. He’s ob-
sessed with repetition and
the smallest of details.
“Ever since he was a little
kid,” his mother said,
“Cooper has always been
determined to finish what-
ever he starts.”
Kupp knows how to
finish. Those defensive
backs in his wake, vainly
clutching at air, understand
that better than most.Kupp comes from athletic family
[Farmer, from D1]KARIN AND CRAIG KUPPsit in the stands at the Davis High stadium in
Yakima, Wash., where their undersized and skillful son Cooper played.Sam Farmer Los Angeles Times