Rams take 23-20 lead with Cooper Kupp 1-yard…

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Much of Super Bowl LVI was contested without many flags thrown. That changed in the fourth quarter, and it helped the Rams take a late lead.

Starting with the ball on their own 21-yard line down 20-16 with 6:13 left in the season, Los Angeles got its drive going with a 9-yard pass to tight end Brycen Hopkins. But an incomplete pass and a Cam Akers run for no gain left the Rams with fourth-and-1 at their own 30-yard line.

That’s when receiver Cooper Kupp took a jet sweep to the right for a 7-yard gain to keep the drive alive.

Kupp’s 8-yard reception on second-and-10 left the Rams with third-and-2, which L.A. converted with a 6-yard pass to Hopkins.

Then on the next second-and-7, Stafford sent a laser over the middle to Kupp who caught it and ran it for a 22-yard gain down to the Cincinnati 24. Kupp caught the ball on the next play, too, for an 8-yard gain.

An Akers’ 8-yard run set the Rams up with first-and-goal at the 8 at the two-minute warning.

Needing a touchdown, Stafford missed Van Jefferson in the end zone on first-and-goal. The Rams wanted a defensive holding penalty on Stafford’s second-down pass to running back Darrell Henderson over the middle but didn’t get it to bring up third-and-goal.

On third down, the Bengals were flagged for defensive holding, which gave Los Angeles another set of downs from the 4-yard line.

Stafford looked like he’d hit Kupp in the end zone for a go-ahead touchdown. But offsetting penalties — offensive holding on Rob Havenstein, unnecessary roughness on Von Bell — meant the teams had to replay the down.

Then the Bengals were flagged for defensive pass interference on Kupp to put the ball on the 1-yard line.

Stafford attempted a sneak on first down, which was unsuccessful. But on second-and-goal, Stafford hit Kupp on the right side with a fade route to put Los Angeles up 23-20 with just 1:25 left in the contest. Kupp caught the pass over cornerback Eli Apple.

The Bengals have two timeouts left to try and at least tie the game in regulation.