A week after seeing both Cooper Kupp and Brandin Cooks suffer concussions, forcing them to miss the second half against the Seattle Seahawks, the Los Angeles Rams were given another scare at wide receiver. In the first half of their win over the Broncos, Cooper Kupp suffered a knee injury that required him to be carted off the field.

He remained sidelined through the half, but he returned for the first series of the third quarter. It was a remarkable turnaround after suffering what appeared to be a gruesome leg injury, but the Rams knew pretty quickly that he wasn’t himself.

They pulled him out after that possession and didn’t allow him back into the game, taking a cautious approach with their wideout.

“He played that first drive and did some things,” Sean McVay said after the game. “But you can just see there’s a difference when you’re out there gutting through it and then when you’re out there able to be a great guy with short-space quickness, the lateral agilities to be able to work edges on people in the pass game, all the different things that we ask him to do in the run game — he just wasn’t himself.”

As great as it was to simply see him back on the field for a handful of plays and standing on the sideline for the rest of the game, Kupp isn’t out of the woods yet. He’ll undergo further testing on Monday to determine the severity of the injury, which will give the Rams a clearer plan for him moving forward.

Cooper Kupp said Rams held him out in second half for precaution. He will get more tests tomorrow. McVay didn’t give much of an update on Saffold, who likely will get more tests on his knee tomorrow. — Rich Hammond (@Rich_Hammond) October 15, 2018

After the game, Kupp did speak to the media and said he was feeling “all right,” but his knee felt “kind of stiff,” according to Myles Simmons of the Rams’ official site. The training and medical staff cleared Kupp after some initial tests, which is obviously a good sign, but an MRI is likely coming Monday to determine whether there is more significant damage in his knee than first thought.

Kupp felt good coming out of the break and wanted to get back on the field, but McVay and the training staff felt it was best to limit his workload and prevent further injury.

“Coming out of halftime I thought I could go out there and play. I wanted to play,” Kupp said. “It’s hard not being able to go out there and compete — you feel like you’re letting the guys down not being able to go out there and give it your all. For me, I’m always going to go out there and push and try to get back on the field and play, but it comes down to what’s best for this team long-haul — what Reggie and his training staff believes is best for us.”

As for the play when the injury occurred, it wasn’t exactly a legal one. Darian Stewart grabbed Kupp’s pads from behind and pulled him to the ground, which is always a dangerous way to tackle someone.

Stewart was flagged for a horse-collar tackle, costing his team 15 yards, but Kupp didn’t view it as a dirty play. He didn’t feel there was anything malicious about it and that Stewart – a former Rams safety – was simply making a football play. And while Kupp is “upset” that he got hurt, he doesn’t have any hard feelings toward Stewart.

“You never want to get hurt, but I hold no ill-will towards Stewart. I know he wasn’t doing it with any kind of malice or anything like that,” Kupp said. “He checked on me during the game — came out during the second half, asked if it was good. But it’s a game. It’s tough, I know if I was playing defense and that was the only way that I was going to be able to get someone down, in the heat of the moment it’s tough to know if you make that tackle or let that guy go.