Matthew Stafford may have secured another year in Los Angeles, but he’s finding it tough to see Cooper Kupp get released. The Los Angeles Rams quarterback shared plenty of memories with his go-to receiver since arriving in 2021, with one of his most memorable moments being Kupp’s viral interview that same year.
Kupp threw a truckload of NFL jargon at a reporter, and while many believed he was genuinely breaking down his touchdown, Stafford recently revealed that it was actually a deliberate move to overwhelm the reporter.
Matthew Stafford Reveals Cooper Kupp’s Veteran Move Behind Viral Interview
The Rams faced the Jacksonville Jaguars in Week 13 of the 2021 season. Despite coming off a three-game losing streak, they dominated the Jaguars 37-7, with Kupp hauling in a sensational touchdown pass from Stafford.
After the game, Kupp was interviewed on the field, and when asked to explain his touchdown, he responded with a highly technical breakdown.
“Yeah, they had a little three-deep fire zone. Brought the nickel off the edge, safety dropped down. They didn’t look like they were doing a replacement fire zone, so I knew with the back away, we were going to get three pushing through that had an opportunity to kind of run there if I could beat my guy, just had to beat the safety to the end zone,” he said.
Stafford revisited the moment during the latest episode of the “New Heights” podcast with Travis and Jason Kelce and revealed that Kupp did it on purpose to catch the reporter off guard.
“The story behind that is, he’s doing this interview postgame, which he doesn’t love being in front of the camera anyway,” Stafford said. “And the reporter asks him a question, and he answers it. She asks him another question,n and he answers it. Then, it’s like a third question, and he’s thinking, ‘Okay, what’s going on here? I’m trying to get off the field, get in the locker room and go.’
“She asks him one more question, and so he’s like, ‘You know what? I’m just going to go top rope, way over your head, so that you’re just gonna go, ‘Okay, thanks, Cooper. See you later.’”
Cooper Kupp’s viral interview was actually just him pulling a veteran move @Mentos pic.twitter.com/hPTWsFu5yJ
— New Heights (@newheightshow) March 12, 2025
Stafford admitted that he and his Rams teammates still “give [Kupp] s—” for that interview, calling it a “veteran move” by the Triple Crown winner.
“I’m like, ‘You just went rogue football on this reporter,’ and she was just like, ‘And that’s Cooper Kupp.’ So he was like, ‘Thank God, I can go take a shower and get out of here.’
“But it was a pretty veteran move by Coop to get out of that one.”
Stafford agreed to restructure his contract with the Rams to lower his 2025 cap hit, but Los Angeles still decided to move on from Kupp after his production dropped following his 2021 Triple Crown season. However, the Rams have since added Davante Adams to their receiving corps, giving Stafford a strong duo in Adams and Puka Nacua.