Knee injury sidelines Rams receiver Kupp
The Rams didn’t have leading receiver Cooper Kupp available for their NFC divisional playoff game against the top-seeded Packers.
Kupp headlined the Rams’ list of inactive players for Saturday’s game. He had been listed as questionable with a knee injury.
Kupp had 92 catches for 974 yards in the regular season to lead the Rams in both categories, and three of his receptions went for touchdowns. He followed that up by catching four passes for 78 yards in a 30-20 playoff victory in Seattle last week.
The Rams also were without starting left guard David Edwards, who had been listed as questionable with an ankle injury.
The Rams’ other inactive players are quarterbacks Bryce Perkins and John Wolford, outside linebacker Terrell Lewis, offensive lineman Brian Allen plus wide receiver Trishton Jackson.
Rams coach Sean McVay already had announced Thursday that Wolford wouldn’t be available. Wolford started against the Seahawks but left early in the game with a neck stinger.
The Packers played without defensive lineman Kingsley Keke, who had a pair of two-sack games during the regular season.
Keke hadn’t practiced this week as he recovers from a concussion that also prevented him from playing in the Packers’ regular-season finale — a 35-16 victory in Chicago.
The Packers’ other inactive players were quarterback Jordan Love, cornerbacks Ka’Dar Hollman and Josh Jackson, outside linebacker Jonathan Garvin and tight end Jace Sternberger.
Getting closer: Browns All-Pro defensive end Myles Garrett acknowledged “I’m due” after going without a sack in consecutive weeks against the Steelers.
While he finished sixth in the league with 12 sacks in the regular season, Garrett has recorded 2 ½ sacks in the six games he’s been back since a tough bout with COVID-19.
“You just have to know that your time will come,” Garrett said Friday in reference to going without a sack in last weekend’s 48-37 wild-card victory at Pittsburgh. “I got close a couple times, but like I said before, I’m due.”
As the Browns (12-5) visit the defending Super Bowl champion Chiefs (14-2) for an AFC divisional game Sunday, Garrett hopes to return to his game-changing ways and relishes the chance to face quarterback Patrick Mahomes.
“He’s kind of regarded as the face of the league right now. He goes right up there with [Rams defensive tackle] Aaron Donald as the two faces that people see as the best on offense and defense,” Garrett said of Mahomes on Zoom.
“I want him to be able to go home when he has his kid or kids and tell them he went against Myles Garrett. It’s not just me versus him, it’s the Browns versus the Chiefs. But individually I like to leave an impression on everybody I go against.”
In 2020, Garrett recorded four strip-sacks, all coming in Browns’ victories, and tied for third in the league in that category. He wants to make that kind of impact in Arrowhead Stadium.
“This would be the game to do it, going against one of the best teams in the league if not the best team in the league,” he said. “They’ve got to go in there and they’ve got to prove it and we’ve got to prove we can battle with anybody.”
The Browns continue to be disrespected. Last week Steelers receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster said, “the Browns is the Browns,” now plastered on a billboard on Interstate 271. Steelers receiver Chase Claypool went on TikTok live Monday and said, “Bad loss, but the Browns are going to get clapped next week, so it’s all good.” Claypool also told DAZN Canada, “If the Browns had won with more class, then I wouldn’t have been so salty about it, but them mocking JuJu during the game and after the game just didn’t sit right with me.”
Peters fined: Ravens cornerback Marcus Peters was fined $15,000 by the NFL for unsportsmanlike conduct and “physical actions directed at the Titans bench” in last week’s 20-13 wild-card round win, according to a league source.
After recording a late interception with under two minutes remaining, Peters led several defensive players onto the Titans logo. Peters spun the ball on the logo and gestured in the direction of the Titans bench, while other teammates stomped on the logo, imitating a pregame confrontation Titans players had with coach John Harbaugh in the Week 11 meeting between the teams. The Ravens were flagged 15 yards for taunting.
Defensive end Derek Wolfe said after the game that the act “wasn’t a disrespect thing. It was more like a team unity thing.”
It’s the second fine for Peters in the last month. He was fined $12,500 for unsportsmanlike conduct for spitting in the direction of Browns wide receiver Jarvis Landry during the teams’ Week 14 meeting. Peters denied spitting at Landry in a statement and later said that the NFL heard his appeal.