Ram tries to put the Cooper Coop toothpaste back in the tube

Before the Rams won two games in five days to move into a three-way tie for second place in the NFC West, they were trying to trade aging and expensive receiver Cooper Kupp.

After going from 1-4 to 3-4, the Rams apparently decided not to do what they were trying to do. And to pretend they never tried to do it. And to call out those who were reporting that they were trying to do what they were trying to do.

“I'll tell you what: teams get there,” coach Sean McVay said after a 30-20 upset of the Vikings. “I saw some things there— They're just not true. We addressed those individuals. Teams called about him and we let him know what the dialogue was there. And then there are a lot of things where there's not a lot of accountability to reporting. And that's unfortunate.”

If the Rams have addressed any reports about the Rams calling teams about trading for Coupe, we have yet to see any retraction. We doubt we will.

Again, there's no reason for any team trying to trade for a player to say more than one team is talking to the team he's playing for. Reports like these can only make it harder to close the deal, as other teams will come to the table and compete for the player.

Remember when the Rams were trying to trade for Matthew Stafford? Ram did not say squat. Lions didn't say squat. If there had been, other teams would have tried to chase Stafford — and the price would have gone up.

It is possible that McVay did not know the truth about the coup negotiations. “It hits all the marks,” Koop said of the report as a source of knowledge about trade negotiation dynamics and reporting on trade negotiation work. [Les] Snead/[Kevin] DEMF production.”

Look, we understand why the Rams would change their mind about the coupe trade. And we can understand why they don't want Coop to think they'll dump him and his salary without a second thought. But there's no need to talk about a perceived lack of “accountability” if there's nothing to call people out and hold accountable for reports that are “simply not true.”

There is no reason to doubt the accuracy of reports about the Rams calling the team about trading for Kupp or the Rams being willing to pay some of Kupp's salary. None of them. And we're not going to pick a winner in the credibility battle between those who make their living covering the NFL and the Rams.

We'll just ask St. Louis.