Bengals cornerback ready for Kupp challenge
INGLEWOOD, CALIF. Cincinnati Bengals cornerback Mike Hilton knows all about playing against great receivers, and now he’s tasked with lining up Sunday opposite the Los Angeles Rams’ Cooper Kupp, who led the NFL with 145 catches, 1,947 receiving yards and 16 touchdown catches.
“I feel like we’re (among the best) in the game,” Hilton said Friday about the challenge of defending Kupp. “What better way to go show it than on Super Bowl Sunday?”
Hilton said Kupp’s ability to pick up yards after the catch is topnotch and he stressed the importance of getting him to the ground quickly to limit the damage.
After beating the Kansas City Chiefs and Patrick Mahomes in the AFC championship game, Hilton said he and the Bengals secondary are comfortable with defending great passing teams.
Hot ticket
Ticket demand for Sunday’s big game at SoFi Stadium has begun to spike, with the biggest single-day surge Thursday: nearly twice the daily sales StubHub had seen in the last week.
Not surprisingly, much of the interest is coming from California buyers, who purchased 30-percent more tickets in that one-day splurge. They have accounted for nearly 75 per cent of new tickets sold over the past three days, and 31 per cent of total sales so far, StubHub reported Friday.
Sales to Ohio and Kentucky have remained almost completely even over the past three days, but Ohio ranks second in demand at 9 per cent. The secondary market “get-in price” dropped 9 per cent to $3,000 (U.S.) on Thursday.
The ref
Ron Torbert, an NFL referee since 2014, will handle his first Super Bowl on Sunday.
Torbert, 58, a Harvard Law School graduate and former lawyer, will be the third Black referee to work a Super Bowl.
Assignments for the post-season are given based on a grading system used throughout the regular season.
“I’ve been preparing for this moment for more than 30 years,” he said. “I didn’t always know that’s what I was doing, but every game I worked, every clinic, every training camp and practice that I’ve been a part of, every moment at the gym, every training and scouting video that I’ve ever watched, has helped me get ready for this game.”
The coin flip
Billie Jean King will be joined by team captains of the California School for the Deaf Riverside Cubs, members of the high school girls flag league of champions and girls youth tackle football players from the Inglewood Chargers and Watts Rams for the Super Bowl coin toss. The NFL will be recognizing the 50-year anniversary of Title IX, enacted in 1972 to provide equal funding for men and women at high schools, colleges and universities that received federal funds.