Green Bay Packers v. Rams: 5 Big Questions Ahead of Week 12 Matchup
By Paul Bretl
Can the Green Bay Packers slow Cooper Kupp?
One week after running into Justin Jefferson, this Green Bay Packers secondary will now be tasked with slowing Cooper Kupp.
This season, Kupp is first in receiving yards with 1,141, he’s first in touchdown receptions with 10, and he is second in targets behind only Tyreek Hill. But unlike Jefferson, who primarily lines up on the boundary, Kupp takes a majority of his snaps from the slot, which means this assignment falls on Chandon Sullivan.
Opposing quarterbacks have been efficient against Sullivan this season, completing 71 percent of their passes, but to Sullivan’s credit, he’s held receivers to only 10.5 yards per catch and surrendered only one touchdown. Sullivan’s 0.8 yards per snap allowed this season is the fourth-best among slot corners per PFF.
But Kupp presents an entirely new challenge. As we’ve already discussed, pressure on Stafford is one way to really help Sullivan and this secondary, but we may also see Barry provide the secondary with some extra defenders as well.
Under Barry, the Packers are almost always going to play with lightboxes more frequently than not, but they really embraced that during the three-game stretch against Arizona, Kansas City, and Seattle. Green Bay was basically daring those teams to run the ball in an effort to take away the passing game–which worked as they gave up only 601 total passing yards during that three-game span.
However, this past week against Minnesota and Dalvin Cook, we saw Green Bay commit more defenders to the run game, which then opened up the passing game. So I won’t be surprised at all if we see Barry take a similar approach from the Arizona, Kansas City, and Seattle games. This season, the Rams rank 22nd in yards per rush with 4.0.
With that said, even with the extra help that Barry can try to provide Sullivan and the other Green Bay cornerbacks, slowing Kupp is no easy task. In the end, he’s still very likely to put up numbers, but the hope is that he doesn’t take the game over.
As Davante Adams has said in the past, “Cooper Kuppp is the most underrated receiver in the league.”