Will the new staff be able to reach Cooper?

[817Gill]

Are we forgetting the universally known fact that Garrett’s gameplans became more conservative on the road? Have y’all seen Coop’s target splits between home and away games?

Not saying Coop is blameless, but we tend to leave facts in the thread that we found them. Why do we have illuminating threads about Garrett & co’s shortcomings but completely leave all that info out when moving to another thread?

Garrett’s offenses became very conservative on the road and always played not to lose, this is the biggest factor IMO. Coop is a cerebral guy, you saw how annoyed he was getting with Linehan to the point of asking Dak to change plays. He loves chess and his Rubik’s cube. He’s also can get frustrated if he sees scheme or gameplan issues (one of his gripes in Oakland). Combine these factors and you likely get a guy who saw all the crap we saw and got frustrated in those games in which the crap was pronounced.

Is it the right way to go about things? Not how I would do it, but seems to me that’s Amari. Dudes never had a strong offensive coach, I would bet on this staff having the best chance of all he’s had in the league.

 

[817Gill]

All these questions have known answers.

1. Garrett would tone down the game plan on the road, get conservative and try to run the ball.
2. Cooper was benched because Sanjay had certain formations and plays where he wasn't on the field. That was one of them. Sanjay is an idiot.
3. Cooper himself says he needs to focus more on the road
4. Cooper said he was more hurt than he ever had been in his career the 2nd half of last year.

We have had plenty of threads that have basically solidified all these topics. I don’t know why people don’t take that information and apply it to this thread. Great post.

 

[Runwildboys]

Those injuries only when you travel are the worst.

Hey, maybe his legs cramp up on the long flights!

 

[Williamsboys]

Jon Gruden knows football players, he traded Cooper for a reason. Oakland didnt have much of a receiving core and to trade him says something to me.
"Reach out and touch, Amari's hand, make the road a better place. if you can.."
"Reach out and touch, Amari's hand, if he cant do it, ...Pack his Van"

 

[charron]

One could say he is 10% better at home than away typically but nagging injuries could have been part of the issue that widened that disparity for 2019. It's never just 1 thing but just him being healthy is a good place to start and the fact that we have Lamb and Gallop means we are not forced to rely on Cooper as much.

 

[Cowboyny]

I think injury can affect a player performance, those who will say injury is no excuse that is a great saying but not a factual one. Injury can have an impact on a player’s performance. You can also look at how the overall team played road and away. At home the team was 5-3 and on the road 3-5 so overall play on the road was unacceptable not Cooper alone.

Fair enough. Cooper will have his opportunity to silence his critics.

 

[quickccc]

I was in the camp of wanting the Cowboys to resign Cooper. If we look at him objectively, take away our fandom, his home/away splits have a huge gap in his production. Why is he such an inferior player on the road compared to home games? The stats support this. Yes, we understand he was dealing with a multitude of injuries last season, but injuries have no bearing where the games have been played. We are going to need our #1 WR to show up big in meaningful road contests, if he continues this trend, he will not be a Cowboy in the near future.

Frankly i'm not basing Cooper off this home and away ..as i think he would struggle vs elite CBs, even if they should play here at home
in Dallas. And coaching is not gonna play a part of him playing up to par, that will still be up to Cooper himself.
Either the guy is an Alpha male lead dog ...or he is not.

i'm willing to bet if Cooper is still yet going thru the motions with his struggles vs top CBs, and disappearing acts, they are not gonna be putting
" injuries " or "double team " as an excuse why he is not performing up to expectations per the enormous contract they gave him.
And plus yet again, it's a reason they felt compelled to place an escape option out of that contract.

Why did they give him that monster contract despite a great WR class in the draft ?

- They apparently did not think they would be in a position to select the true blue chip 'special " WR they coveted at the mid 1st round at 17th overall.
They though CeeDee Lamb would be long gone. When he wasn't and he somehow slipped to our slot, that totally changed the dynamics of the draft and our path to having that true No. 1 lead feature WR.

- Plus the Cowboys did not want to chance losing a guy to FA that they gave up a first round pick on, ..and it was reportedly only two in that great WR class that they would coveted and in consideration to be their No.1 pick and warranted of the 17th overall - and we got one of them.

- i dunno where Calvin Ridley or DJ Moore were on the Cowboys draft board before they selected LB Leighton Vander Esch before them.
But apparently they did not see them as the value that they saw in LVE and they passed on WR in the 1st rd.
And Courtland Sutton was reportedly very high on their board as well but they had him projected in the 2nd round, and reportedly would have picked him over Connor Williams had Sutton dropped that far to their 2nd rounder.

- Cooper does has the physical skills, he's a marvelously quick feet, a smooth route runner who has burst and open field running ability.
but he does not have the ultra competitiveness that gives a player a mentality that takes him (and the team) into another level of production.
Elite WRs are a much more frequency and regularity show up than what has been seen in Cooper in both Oakland and Dallas.

He's just not DeAndre Hopkins Tyrek Hil elite No.1 feature lead WR, he's really a No. 2 guy.
And with Dak not being an elite pure passer , he really needs that elite lead No.1 ..not two No.2's .

 

[Redball Express]

We have all seen that Cooper is a totally different player in home games, compared to the one's on the road. One can argue that when he's plays in Dallas, he is a legitimate #1 WR, but on the road he flat out disappears.

What is the cause of this? Is he a mentally weak player? Does he lose focus? Does he give less effort if not apart of the game early on? What was the reason he was benched in the most important game last season in Philadelphia? All legitimate questions.

The Cowboys in essence resigned Cooper to a 2 year extension. The new staff has 2 years to figure out the issues with him or be forced to release him. This is kind of crazy to envision when he plays so well at home, but if they cannot rely on him in big moments on the road, might as well find someone else who can.

I think you are cherry picking here.

THE ENTIRE TEAM SUCKED ON THE ROAD

Let that sink in.

Amari had issues but so did Dak,Zeke, Beard just keep on talking.

If this team is going to succeed at all..

they have to change their identity on the toad.

It's an Us vs Them mentality.

We are not angry about nothing right now.

All of us want to believe coaches will change things.

Players play. Play crappy and you lose.

Easy formula.

 

[Hennessy_King]

With a player as talented as Amari Cooper. If the staff can't "reach" him. They aren't good coaches. That's what coaches are supposed to do is motivate the players and get the most out of them.

 

[Doomsday101]

Fair enough. Cooper will have his opportunity to silence his critics.

I think this team has much work to do to silence their critics. Fact is this team did not play well on the road

 

[John813]

Jon Gruden knows football players, he traded Cooper for a reason. Oakland didnt have much of a receiving core and to trade him says something to me.
"Reach out and touch, Amari's hand, make the road a better place. if you can.."
"Reach out and touch, Amari's hand, if he cant do it, ...Pack his Van"

Rumor is Gruden didn't want to trade Cooper.

https://www.nbcsports.com/bayarea/r...ys-mark-davis-not-jon-gruden-wanted-trade-him


Cooper is represented by Joel Segal, same agent as Khalil Mack. Those negotiations went sour and Davis wanted him off the team.
https://sports.yahoo.com/raiders-ow...l-mack-dont-blame-gruden-trade-141736496.html

 

[Johnny23]

Gotta love the Amari Cooper mental gymnastics. It's never changed since he was drafted by Oakland. You are just struggling to cope with the fact he is what he is. It's not the injuries. Those are the excuses made to cover up for him. He's a good receiver. Just not the best reciever. He's going to have drops, disappear for stretches at a time, and have nagging injuries. That is who he is. Just accept it.

 

[CouchCoach]

Am I missing something? Cooper isn't a diva or a bad actor. I am assuming the coaching staff was all onboard with re-signing him.

He's one of the best route runners the game has seen in many years and yep, he's had the dropsies several times in his career but when he's on, he's as much a handful as there is in the league.

 

[Bullflop]

Cooper is pretty much of a self-motivator. I'd say he has proven that as a Dallas Cowboy. I'm just hoping he'll be able to play better in the away games this year. Whether the current staff can somehow inspire him to be different in that respect this year remains to be seen. I think Garrett might have been largely responsible for being overly timid on the road. Whether that might have influenced Cooper's play is highly questionable.

Injuries might have had something to do with Cooper's disappearances on the road but that would be purely speculative. Whatever might have been responsible for Amari's problems on the road is a mystery that may need to be resolved. OTOH, strange coincidences have been known to occur.

 

[ConstantReboot]

We have all seen that Cooper is a totally different player in home games, compared to the one's on the road. One can argue that when he's plays in Dallas, he is a legitimate #1 WR, but on the road he flat out disappears.

What is the cause of this? Is he a mentally weak player? Does he lose focus? Does he give less effort if not apart of the game early on? What was the reason he was benched in the most important game last season in Philadelphia? All legitimate questions.

The Cowboys in essence resigned Cooper to a 2 year extension. The new staff has 2 years to figure out the issues with him or be forced to release him. This is kind of crazy to envision when he plays so well at home, but if they cannot rely on him in big moments on the road, might as well find someone else who can.

The issue with Cooper is coaching staff idiocy. Why does this team think it's smart to take out Cooper in the redzone and substitute him for Noah Brown?

Noah Brown almost single-handedly destroyed our chances to win out against Seattle in the playoffs.

Why does the coaching staff rely on him during crunch time like in the Minnesota game?

It's just one of those dumb things that the Redtop has done that make you wonder if he knows anything about football.

 

[JD_KaPow]

We have all seen that Cooper is a totally different player in home games, compared to the one's on the road. One can argue that when he's plays in Dallas, he is a legitimate #1 WR, but on the road he flat out disappears.

What is the cause of this? Is he a mentally weak player? Does he lose focus? Does he give less effort if not apart of the game early on? What was the reason he was benched in the most important game last season in Philadelphia? All legitimate questions.

The Cowboys in essence resigned Cooper to a 2 year extension. The new staff has 2 years to figure out the issues with him or be forced to release him. This is kind of crazy to envision when he plays so well at home, but if they cannot rely on him in big moments on the road, might as well find someone else who can.

The coaching staff approached home and road games entirely differently. The offense was managed far more conservatively on the road, always. This is well documented (go read Bob Sturm, for example). I don't think we can project anything onto individual players based on the home/road split in prior years.

 

[quickccc]

Am I missing something? Cooper isn't a diva or a bad actor. I am assuming the coaching staff was all onboard with re-signing him.

He's one of the best route runners the game has seen in many years and yep, he's had the dropsies several times in his career but when he's on, he's as much a handful as there is in the league.

He's on so long as hes not facing elite CBs.
It's those that are more than a handful for cooper himself .

 

[Cowboyny]

Frankly i'm not basing Cooper off this home and away ..as i think he would struggle vs elite CBs, even if they should play here at home
in Dallas. And coaching is not gonna play a part of him playing up to par, that will still be up to Cooper himself.
Either the guy is an Alpha male lead dog ...or he is not.

i'm willing to bet if Cooper is still yet going thru the motions with his struggles vs top CBs, and disappearing acts, they are not gonna be putting
" injuries " or "double team " as an excuse why he is not performing up to expectations per the enormous contract they gave him.
And plus yet again, it's a reason they felt compelled to place an escape option out of that contract.

Why did they give him that monster contract despite a great WR class in the draft ?

- They apparently did not think they would be in a position to select the true blue chip 'special " WR they coveted at the mid 1st round at 17th overall.
They though CeeDee Lamb would be long gone. When he wasn't and he somehow slipped to our slot, that totally changed the dynamics of the draft and our path to having that true No. 1 lead feature WR.

- Plus the Cowboys did not want to chance losing a guy to FA that they gave up a first round pick on, ..and it was reportedly only two in that great WR class that they would coveted and in consideration to be their No.1 pick and warranted of the 17th overall - and we got one of them.

- i dunno where Calvin Ridley or DJ Moore were on the Cowboys draft board before they selected LB Leighton Vander Esch before them.
But apparently they did not see them as the value that they saw in LVE and they passed on WR in the 1st rd.
And Courtland Sutton was reportedly very high on their board as well but they had him projected in the 2nd round, and reportedly would have picked him over Connor Williams had Sutton dropped that far to their 2nd rounder.

- Cooper does has the physical skills, he's a marvelously quick feet, a smooth route runner who has burst and open field running ability.
but he does not have the ultra competitiveness that gives a player a mentality that takes him (and the team) into another level of production.
Elite WRs are a much more frequency and regularity show up than what has been seen in Cooper in both Oakland and Dallas.

He's just not DeAndre Hopkins Tyrek Hil elite No.1 feature lead WR, he's really a No. 2 guy.
And with Dak not being an elite pure passer , he really needs that elite lead No.1 ..not two No.2's .

-I think you hit the nail in the coffin, he lacks that elite competitiveness that #1 WR's possess. As you said, he has all the physical tools to be an elite receiver, but is missing that key trait to become great. Excellent point, you either have it or you don't! We don't know how Lamb is going to be, but many believe he has legitimate #1 WR potential. Perhaps the team did find their #1 WR.

 

[Cowboyny]

The coaching staff approached home and road games entirely differently. The offense was managed far more conservatively on the road, always. This is well documented (go read Bob Sturm, for example). I don't think we can project anything onto individual players based on the home/road split in prior years.

It's a fair argument to make.

 

[Cowboyny]

I think this team has much work to do to silence their critics. Fact is this team did not play well on the road

In the past, they have performed well on the road, but last year they struggled badly.