Amari Cooper’s 51-yard touchdown catch-and-run to tie the game on Sunday actually brought back some bad memories.
Remember Tennessee in Week 3?
“It’s a scar,” Cooper said. “You’re in this league long enough, you have scars from previous events.”
In Week 3 against the Titans, Cooper caught a pass from Deshaun Watson and was ruled out of bounds as he turned and ran up the sideline at the 40. He wasn’t out of bounds. Not even close.
His catch on Sunday was similar. It was on the other sideline, but it was still a play where he had to make a catch, turn and get upfield.
“I was kind of worried about that a little bit,” Cooper said when the Tennessee game came up, “but fortunately I was able to stay inbounds and the refs were able to recognize that as well.”
Cooper’s touchdown capped a 6-play, 80-yard drive that featured completions by quarterback Joe Flacco to Elijah Moore and Kareem Hunt, the latter on a pitch to Flacco after Hunt took a direct snap.
The touchdown toss from Flacco on second-and-4 to Cooper was so good, the Browns’ top receiver could barely contain his excitement for what Flacco was able to do.
“That was all Joe. That had nothing to do with me,” Cooper said. “Not many quarterbacks could make that throw.”
Cooper started the play on the right side lined up in the slot and ran across the middle. Flacco ran play action with running back Pierre Strong Jr. and rolled to his right. Cooper ran behind linebacker Tremaine Edmunds and the ball arrived when Cooper was between Edmunds and defensive back Terrell Smith.
“When I was running across, I felt that I was open a little bit, but the window was so small that if he hadn’t thrown it how he threw it, it would’ve been impossible for me to catch it,” Cooper said.
The ball was on its way to Cooper before he cleared Edmunds and after he caught it, he got past Smith and ran outside of safety Jaquan Brisker and tip-toed down the sideline the remaining 28 yards to the endzone.
“I saw him coming around the MIKE linebacker, I knew somebody was out to the right, but there was a huge hole in there,” Flacco said. “I let the ball go kind of as he was wrapping around the mike and it was all him from there.”
“When I was running, I saw that the window was closing, but then once he threw it, I saw how he threw it and I was like, ‘Yeah, I could catch this,’” Cooper said. “I wasn’t sure if I would score though, but then when I saw those guys, they kind of fell or whatever happened, my main focus was just staying in bounds.”
Sunday was Cooper’s best game with Flacco. He caught four passes for 109 yards after catching a combined 10 catches for 111 yards in the previous two games.
“Great football player,” head coach Kevin Stefanski said. “You’re always trying to find ways to get Amari the ball. Joe fit it in a very tight window, and then Amari did the tight rope down the sideline. But very heady player, has made huge plays for us in these ball games, and we need them.”
This play certainly falls under the category of huge. The Browns were down 17-7 going into the fourth quarter and it felt like all the injuries and all the turnovers were finally going to catch up to them.
They opened the quarter, however, with a fourth-down stop and turned it into a 33-yard Dustin Hopkins field goal. Then, after the teams traded three-and-outs and the Bears punted, Flacco threaded the needle to Cooper who turned and saw green grass in front of him.
“In this league it’s pretty much all about momentum,” Cooper said. “You want to garner up as much momentum as you can, and I would say that’s what that play did.”
The Browns forced another three-and-out and drove 63 yards on 8 plays for another Hopkins field goal with 32 seconds left, which held up after a wild Hail Mary attempt to end the game.
The huge play by Cooper to tie the game was one of the moments you bring Flacco in for and one of the reasons you went and got Cooper.
“I knew that I had to make a play as far as just catching the ball. I didn’t know I would score,” Coooper said, “but I attribute the whole thing to Joe just because I played with a lot of different quarterbacks and not a lot of quarterbacks are keen enough to make the throw the way that he made it. It was incredible.”
Maybe it even erased a scar or two for Cooper.
