Cooper Kupp won’t return for the Rams at a potential tipping point of their season.
The All-Pro receiver is officially inactive to play Sunday against the Raiders, extending his absence to four games due to a high ankle sprain.
Kupp was limited all week and received a questionable designation Friday, with head coach Sean McVay saying a decision could come closer to game time. That decision ended up being a negative one for the scuffling Rams.
At 1-4, Los Angeles is currently looking up at the rest of the NFC West and stands even with the Carolina Panthers as the only teams in the conference not to achieve multiple victories entering Week 7.
It’s a far cry from the year the Rams or Kupp expected so far, especially after L.A. took a strong Detroit Lions team to overtime in a season opener in which Kupp looked an unstoppable menace, totaling 120 yards and a touchdown on 16 touches.
But then Kupp sprained his ankle before halftime of a Week 2 shellacking by the Arizona Cardinals, his name becoming perhaps the biggest of all added to a large list of L.A. injuries in the early going that included fellow top wideout, Puka Nacua, who remains on injured reserve.
L.A. scored a surprise win over the San Francisco 49ers in Week 3 without Kupp but thereafter fell in consecutive one-possession games to the Chicago Bears and Green Bay Packers.
First appeared on www.nfl.com