When his Seahawks teammates and coaches talk about Cooper Kupp, it's clear that the veteran receiver has made an impact that far exceeds his production on the stat sheet.

Bring up Kupp, and teammates will rave about his work ethic and leadership, or coaches will speak with reverence about the way he sees the game, challenging players and coaches alike to keep up with his football brain.

But what sometimes gets lost in all of those intangibles is the fact that, when given the chance, Kupp is still a really good receiver.

A former first-team All-Pro, AP Offensive Player of the Year and Super Bowl MVP with the Rams, Kupp signed with Seattle as a free agent, returning to his home state after eight seasons in L.A., and while he was always expected to have significant role on the team, he was never going to receive the volume of targets that he did with the Rams, not in an offense that was near the bottom of the league in pass attempts, and not with Jaxon Smith-Njigba emerging as one of the best receivers in the NFL.

During the regular season, Kupp had 47 catches for 593 yards and two touchdowns, and his 70 targets were his fewest since his second season when he played only eight games due to injury. But while Kupp had the second fewest catches and yards of his career, so many of those went for key first-down conversions, or were big gains on key late-game drives, such as his toe-tapping sideline grab in an overtime win over the Rams. More than half (26 of 47) of Kupp's catches went for first downs, his 8.5 yards-per-target average was his best since his historic 2021 season, and his 58.6 percent success rate, defined by Pro Football Reference, was the fifth best of his career and best since 2022.

But while Kupp hasn't often been the team's top target, he has stepped up repeatedly when called upon, and in Saturday's 41-6 win over the 49ers, he was Sam Darnold's top target on what was an efficient day for the passing game despite a lack of overall attempts. Kupp caught all five of his targets to lead the Seahawks with five catches and 60 yards, accounting for nearly half of the team's 124 yards through the air, and his 21-yard catch on second-and-20 helped extend a first-quarter drive that ended with a touchdown.

"That's awesome," Seahawks coach Mike Macdonald said of Kupp leading the team in receiving Saturday. "That's really great. Every catch that he makes seems like it's in some sort of high-leverage situation. I mean, this guy's made an absolute massive impact on our team. Add that to a Hall of Fame career is pretty cool. Glad he's a Seahawk."

What made Kupp's productive day all the more important for the Seahawks was the job he did blocking for a dominant rushing attack, that produced 175 yards on the ground. Several of Kenneth Walker III's big runs, including two touchdowns, featured downfield blocks by Kupp to help Walker get to the end zone, and throughout his decorated career, Kupp has excelled in the less glamorous parts of the job.

"Coop's been great," Darnold said. "He's obviously such a great leader for us. But the way he's stepped up—I don't think people realize what he does in the run game as a blocker. He's one of the best, if not the best, run-blocking receiver that I've ever seen, or in the NFL, throughout his entire career. And with the accolades and everything that he's done in the NFL, to be unselfish like that in the run game, it's something special. But, yeah, he's obviously been showing up, throughout practice and training camp, all those things as a receiver and catching the rock. And so for him to do that in a game and in games, especially in big-time games, that's huge for us."

For his part Kupp, has been the consummate professional despite a reduced role, at least in terms of targets. At various points this season, he's talked about this being a rewarding season because of the connection he has with his teammates, and about taking pride in doing his role, whatever that may be, and he has always been quick to heap praise on Smith-Njigba as the third-year receiver put up historic numbers. But that doesn't mean that Kupp, as a receiver, doesn't still like having games like Saturday's where he's a go-to target.

"Everyone wants the ball at the end of the day," Kupp said. "Some guys are more vocal about it than others, but I can promise you everyone wants the ball the exact same. So yeah, it's great when it finds you, but I've said it before, you're ready for the opportunity when it comes. You've got to prepare as if that's going to be there. I'm glad I was able to get my hands on the ball a few times, but also, I'm just really excited about how the guys played in the run game as well. K9 going for what he did and being able to do that in the run game, it makes the pass game become a lot easier when you can run the ball the way we have been. We've got to be able to keep that up."

This will be Kupp's second NFC championship game—he missed the Rams' 2018 Super Bowl run due to injury—and first since the Rams won it all four years ago, so he both understands how big the stakes are, and also how hard it is to get this far.

"You don't take these things for granted," Kupp said. "This is a testament to the process that it takes to get here, the amount of work that goes into it. This league, the guys are the best in the world that you're going up against, each and every day, and to get to this place is a testament to the coaches, and a testament to the guys and the process that they have taken through this time. It's going to be a really cool thing. I'm sure we'll talk about it this week. Everyone is going to want to say that everything is sweet, and the results that happen today will somehow impact what's going to happen next week. It's going to be great because the way we've gone about this, week after week and game after game. What's sweet isn't what happens out there, what's sweet is what we know; the amount of work that happens during the week. As long as we can do that, as long as we keep following that process, we're going to be so confident, so excited about whoever is across from us next week."

As Saturday's game showed, Kupp is still more than capable of shouldering a big load in the passing game, but regardless of what kind of numbers he puts up next week, he's going to a big part of everything they do.

"He's meant a lot—everything for the offense," said linebacker Ernest Jones IV, who was teammates with Kupp for three seasons in Los Angeles. "The steadiness, regardless of whether he's getting the ball or not, Coop's the same person. Ultimately, Coop just wants to win. I credit those guys (receivers) because Jaxon (Smith-Njigba) gets a lot of the love, but those guys are not selfish at all. They all go out there and compete. Coop's been doing it a long time, so for him to, in a sense, take the back seat and not be the guy that's big. That shows what kind of player he is, and we knew that."