What's up with Cooper?

[Don Otreply]

13 hours ago, fasteddie said:

On the one pass thrown to him, Cooper hadn't even turned around to see the pass. It was out of bounds by the time he looked. Seems like he didn't run the pattern correctly. 

Wasn’t the best pass location wise, likely a miss communication thing, 

[ChronicAndKnuckles]

On 1/20/2025 at 9:02 AM, oldmanfan said:

Everybody eats.  Brady keeps saying it, fans keep ignoring it.  When Cooper is open Josh will get him the ball.  When Brady see the favorable matchup he’ll call the play.

Thank you. Who gives a crap? As long as they keep winning it really doesn’t matter if he has 0 catches or 15. They’ve ran the ball so well and I hope they continue to do so. They put up 27 points (actually 30 since they were in FG range at the end of the game) where Josh threw for 127 yards and 0 TDs ! That is insane. Look at it like a game of Chess. If you can beat up your opponent without using your queen and putting it at risk then why not? Like you said, when the matchup is there, Brady will exploit it. Cooper will have his number called at some point. We are one game away from the Super Bowl. Take that in for a minute. Buffalo will utilize whatever weapons they have to get to the promise land. 

[QCity]

49 minutes ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

 As long as they keep winning it really doesn’t matter

 

[dave mcbride]

59 minutes ago, Don Otreply said:

Wasn’t the best pass location wise, likely a miss communication thing, 

I thought the throw was right on the money. He was obviously supposed to go there, but was slow getting out of his break and was late. He barked about being held, but it was normal (if real) contact and pretty good defense.

[hondo in seattle]

1 hour ago, mjt328 said:

What was the problem with the Bills offense before Joe Brady became the offensive coordinator?

Most would say too much reliance on Josh Allen, Stefon Diggs and the downfield passing game creating big plays.  It was exciting.  But it also resulted in too many up and down games and too many turnovers.

 

This year, the offense has been focused on playing smart, efficient and mistake-free football.  Running the ball.  Short passes and check-downs.  Spreading the ball around.  Only unleashing the beast when absolutely needed (such as the Rams and Lions games).  It has resulted in one of the best offensive seasons in team history.

 

Around the league, most defensive coordinators are primarily concerned with stopping Allen from making big plays.  And Amari Cooper is still viewed as our most dangerous downfield receiver.  Which means the smartest and most efficient way to attack is by running, and with the short/underneath passing game.  For better or worse, Cooper is not going to be heavily used unless we need to attack down the field.

 

 

This is true.

But I don't think this is the whole explanation.  I think, as GunnerBill often says, our outside receivers aren't separators.

But I also think scheming a downfield passing game isn't necessarily Brady's forte.  I'm not saying he's bad at it but he's not among the best.  

[NoName]

Is Cooper being used differently than MVS was earlier in the year?  

[zow2]

Cooper doesn't suck by any means, but if his routes are forcing Josh to throw him the ball in these tiny little windows because he can't separate, he's not going to see the ball.   This is not the game to make risky throws just to feed a guy.

[Buffalo_Stampede]

2 minutes ago, NoName said:

Is Cooper being used differently than MVS was earlier in the year?  

No. Both are Mack Hollins backup.

[JP51]

4 minutes ago, zow2 said:

Cooper doesn't suck by any means, but if his routes are forcing Josh to throw him the ball in these tiny little windows because he can't separate, he's not going to see the ball.   This is not the game to make risky throws just to feed a guy.

honestly I think this is a likely explanation... especially with what I saw to be the game plan... very focused on not turning the ball over... very little risk being taken and it worked out... so to your point... no 50/50 balls to Coleman or Cooper really, maybe the PI on Coleman one but other than that very focused on ball security.. It seemed to work out for them... I suspect it will not work in KC and we will need to be a bit more aggressive.

3 hours ago, Don Otreply said:

Wasn’t the best pass location wise, likely a miss communication thing, 

Yeah, not sure that one worked out.. hard to tell if it was a bad pass or a bad route.. either way it looked totally out of synch.

[Bleeding Bills Blue]

I'd say its scheme familiarity, and blocking.  He's also been banged up a bit.  He missed 2 games with a wrist injury when everyone hurt their wrist early this year.  And he missed the NE game with a back injury.  There was also a personal issue that caused him to miss some practice.  

 

In any case, this next game is the big one and one of the main reasons they brought him in.  

Edited 10 hours ago by Bleeding Bills Blue

[Freak-O]

If he’s on the field taking focus from the other receivers I don’t really care who gets the ball. He’s a threat and the other teams need to treat him as one, which is a good thing for us. 

[Buffalo_Stampede]

People think I’m joking about Amari Cooper being Mack Hollins’ back up. That is exactly what he is. He’s 4th or 5th on the WR depth chart.

 

 

 

 

[Dan Darragh]

10 hours ago, QCity said:

 

I don't think the objective of the coaching staff is to get Cooper more balls, I've never even inferred that. You said they've optimized him, which is kind of crazy. Right? Cooper will be gone next year unless he signs a short term team-friendly deal. But I do hope the anxiety pills are prescribed by a licensed physician. 😉

You should probably look up optimize.  And while you're at it, look up infer.

 

One way or the other I won't need the anxiety pills by Monday.

[GaryPinC]

7 hours ago, ChronicAndKnuckles said:

Thank you. Who gives a crap? As long as they keep winning it really doesn’t matter if he has 0 catches or 15. They’ve ran the ball so well and I hope they continue to do so. They put up 27 points (actually 30 since they were in FG range at the end of the game) where Josh threw for 127 yards and 0 TDs ! That is insane. Look at it like a game of Chess. If you can beat up your opponent without using your queen and putting it at risk then why not? Like you said, when the matchup is there, Brady will exploit it. Cooper will have his number called at some point. We are one game away from the Super Bowl. Take that in for a minute. Buffalo will utilize whatever weapons they have to get to the promise land. 

Well, everyone eats is fine, but if we want to keep him we better use him because otherwise it lowers the value of his next contract.  He only played 21 of 61 snaps in this game.  He's not getting much of a chance to eat.

[starrymessenger]

Awhile back McD mentioned that the Allen/Cooper chemistry was not yet there and was very much a work in progress. Looks like that hasn't changed. As for Cooper not gaining separation what good is he if he can't separate. Isn't that part of a #1's job description. 

[SoCal Deek]

I’m guessing it’s mostly due to the late season acquisition. The rest of these guys have been together for months, not weeks. 

[4BillsintheBurgh]

I was surprised while watching the game that when Buffalo goes heavy run, Anderson in as tackle eligible, they send Coleman out there. It seems to me like that would be a good spot to put Cooper in, could draw more attention from a safety and really shouldn't need to block at all, you're basically one on one. If they don't trust Cooper to be out there in that situation I don't think it bodes well for any additional usage overall and we'll see more of the same over these next two games.

[Solomon Grundy]

7 hours ago, hondo in seattle said:

 

This is true.

But I don't think this is the whole explanation.  I think, as GunnerBill often says, our outside receivers aren't separators.

But I also think scheming a downfield passing game isn't necessarily Brady's forte.  I'm not saying he's bad at it but he's not among the best.  

I thought separating was Cooper's strength 

Edited 5 hours ago by Solomon Grundy

[hondo in seattle]

16 minutes ago, Solomon Grundy said:

I thought separating was Cooper's strength 

 

@GunnerBill tells me it's not.  And from what I've seen so far this year, I tend to agree.

 

I also noted that when McD was asked something about not throwing to wideouts or something like that, he said that Josh is throwing to whoever is open.  My interpretation is that McD was saying Josh didn't throw much to Coop because Coop wasn't open.  

[strive_for_five_guy]

1 hour ago, GaryPinC said:

Well, everyone eats is fine, but if we want to keep him we better use him because otherwise it lowers the value of his next contract.  He only played 21 of 61 snaps in this game.  He's not getting much of a chance to eat.

If we wanted to keep him, why would we want to the value of his next contract to be higher?  Ultimately, I don’t think it’s going to matter, because I think it’s clear he’s nothing more than depth for them at this point and he won’t be any younger next season.  They’ll be better off using an early draft pick to add to the WR stable.