Merry Christmas, Cleveland Browns fans. Under the tree is a new franchise receiving record, courtesy of Amari Cooper – and his helper, quarterback Joe Flacco.
Cooper went off for 265 yards on 11 catches (15 targets) and two touchdowns as the Browns defeated the Houston Texans 36-22 to solidify their standing as the fifth seed in the AFC playoff race.
Josh Gordon previously held the organizational mark (261 yards) and made that history more than a decade ago – Gordon's big game came in a Week 13 defeat to the Jacksonville Jaguars, and he had 10 catches with two touchdowns in the effort.
Somebody on the sideline told Flacco that Cooper needed 10 more yards for the record ahead of the team’s final drive, and the quarterback knew he didn’t even have to force the ball his way for Cooper to make history.
“He’s a special player,” Flacco said of Cooper.
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Cooper's prior career best was 226 yards, which came while he was a member of the Dallas Cowboys in a Week 5 loss to Green Bay Packers on Oct. 6, 2019.
On Sunday, the 2015 fourth overall pick by the Raiders accumulated 75 yards in one play on a deep pass down the left sideline that saw him burn Texans cornerback D'Angelo Ross, shake off a pass interference penalty and sprint into the end zone for a touchdown.
But his most impressive play came with about four minutes left in the third quarter, when Flacco floated a perfect pass to the sideline while being taken down and Cooper somehow kept both feet in bounds to complete the catch. Browns head coach Kevin Stefanski called it “an incredible play” by both players.
Earlier in the game, Cooper wrote his name into the Browns record books by becoming the first pass-catcher in team history to have back-to-back 1,000 receiving yard seasons. That bit of history came on a 53-yard connection from Flacco on the game's opening possession that set up the Browns' first touchdown of the game. By the end of the game, he'd surpassed his 2022 final receiving total of 1,160 yards. It is Cooper's sixth 1,000-yard season.
Stefanski said Cooper has emerged as a leader for the Browns, who have had to navigate starting quarterback Deshaun Watson’s season-ending shoulder injury.
“I’m happy for Amari because he’s a consummate pro,” Stefanski said. “He’s one of the best I’ve ever been around. What he knows about this game, the way he sees this game, he’s like a savant out there.”
According to ESPN Stats and Information, Cooper joined Terrell Owens as the only receiver with 200-yard games for three separate franchises.
The emergence of Flacco, signed off his couch and now 3-1 as the Cleveland starter, has been a boon for Cooper. Over the pair's first three games together, Cooper had 14 catches (27 targets) for 220 yards and one touchdown, including a 109-yard effort in a 20-17 victory last week against the Chicago Bears.
