Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper logged 11 catches for 265 yards and a couple of touchdowns in his team’s win over the Houston Texans on Sunday, and afterward, he credited quarterback Joe Flacco for his monster performance.
“To be completely candid, I would attribute most of it to Joe,” Cooper said, via Kelsey Russo of the Browns’ official team website. “He has an incredible feel for the game. He has an incredible arm. I think, obviously, with the relationship between a receiver and a quarterback, it’s a symbiotic relationship. The best way to explain it is that we mesh well together.”
It marked Cooper’s second straight 100-yard outing, as he finished with four catches for 109 yards and a score in the Browns’ Week 15 victory over the Chicago Bears.
Meanwhile, Flacco threw the credit back at Cooper.
“When you have good football players, they know how to get open and you know how to throw them the ball,” Flacco said. “It’s just as simple as that. And there’s some miscues that we’ve had because he takes his time with some things. So, there is still some getting used to on little things, the way he does little things differently. Overall, good receivers know how to get open in the spot that they are supposed to be on time and in rhythm of the play, and that helps a quarterback out.”
The massive day gave Cooper a career-high 1,250 receiving yards on the season to go along with 72 receptions and five touchdowns.
Cooper became the first player in Browns history to record back-to-back 1,000-yard receiving yard seasons. Last year, the wide out caught 78 passes for 1,160 yards and nine scores in what was his first year with Cleveland after coming over in a trade with the Dallas Cowboys.
The 29-year-old, who played his collegiate football at the University of Alabama, was originally selected by the Oakland Raiders with the fourth overall pick of the 2015 NFL Draft.
He spent the first three-and-a-half seasons of his career with the Raiders before being dealt to the Cowboys midway through the 2018 campaign.
Amari Cooper has made four trips to the Pro Bowl throughout his career.
The Browns improved to 10-5 with their win over the Texans and will take on the New York Jets and Cincinnati Bengals to wrap up the regular season.
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