You're right, writers work to fill deadlines. The lazy way to do it is to drink beer with one eye on the game, write mainly from the stat sheet, and gin up some tension or controversy from the stat sheet to make a report. Controversy and gossip sells, but it's cheap.
Another way is prep yourself up with all the information you can gather beforehand, watch the game attentively and take notes, look at the highlights with fingers on the pause and replay buttons to get a closer look at individual players, take a look at the stat sheet to be sure of your judgements or to quote stats to justify your conclusions, and then write. Excellence sells, too, but it's harder to come by.
A better article could have compared Kupp's targets and receptions to Puka's, couching the discussion of key receptions in narrative about where the game was at the time the catches were made, what McVay was doing strategically, and the role of each play both when out for passes and as blockers (or if you want to bring Tutu into it) as a decoy that he defense had to account for. Write about why each receiver was used as he was - if you care to or dare to, or are capable of it.
Or finish your beer, go to the stat sheet, and grind out some copy before you grab a Jameson's.
