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Browns passing offense at best against Giants when Deshaun Watson finds Amari Cooper
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- Browns passing offense at best against Giants when Deshaun Watson finds Amari Cooper
CLEVELAND — It was exactly how the Browns envisioned it all looking.
There was a stretch in the fourth quarter of Sunday's 21-15 loss to the New York Giants when the Cleveland passing offense came alive. It was efficient, it was effective and it ended up in the end zone.
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It also had one very big common denominator: Amari Cooper .
Quarterback Deshaun Watson completed seven consecutive passes between 13:40 and 2:38 of the fourth quarter over three-plus possessions. The final five of those completions went to Cooper for 49 yards and a touchdown, which helped trim a 14-point lead down to six.
"Keep giving him opportunities, keep giving him balls that he can catch down the field and, yes, just give him a chance," Watson said after going 21-of-37 passing for 196 yards with two touchdowns and an 89.5 passer rating. "And I think that's the key as a quarterback, giving all our guys a chance to make plays. And he did that today and definitely want more out there, but we just got to keep going."
Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper (2) celebrates after scoring on the Browns' first offensive play against the New York Giants on Sunday in Cleveland.
Those five completions to Cooper matched the number of receptions the Pro Bowl wide receiver had coming into the game. However, by that point, they were the final five catches of what was a seven-catch, 86-yard, two-score day for the 10-year pro.
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A week ago, despite the Browns coming out of Jacksonville with a win over the Jaguars, it seemed like the connection between Watson and Cooper was the gray cloud hanging over the offense. There were drops and badly missed connections, which Cooper pinned on himself for what he deemed sub-par practices.
Apparently, the self-motivation worked for Cooper.
"Yeah, during the week I said I needed to treat the practice like the game, just more intentional," Cooper said. "Not saying that I got complacent or anything like that, but I just was more intentional. I hate not playing great football because I know I can play great football every single week. So that was just my focus."
It seemed to be the focus of Watson to make that work during the week receive a reward on Sunday. The Browns special teams gave the quarterback and coach Kevin Stefanski the ideal way to do just that by recovering a fumbled opening kickoff return at the Giants 24.
On the first offensive play of the game, Watson dropped back and tossed a perfect pass toward Cooper, who was running a go route down the left sideline. Despite being tightly guarded by New York cornerback Deonte Banks , Cooper pulled in the pass before falling out of bounds, giving the Browns an early 7-0 lead.
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It was just the kind of start Cooper envisioned two days earlier.
"Yeah, the first play of the game got shown to me, I think it was Friday," Cooper said. "And just try to go out there and get an explosive from the jump, and that's what we were able to do."
The problem was after that play Cooper had just one catch — a 13-yarder early in the second quarter — on four targets until a 6-yard TD catch with 11:33 remaining in the game.
It's not a surprise, then, there were struggles for Watson to connect. And that was when he had time behind an offensive line that was, by the end of the game, patchwork at best due to injury.
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Cooper was targeted on seven consecutive passes — starting with the five completions in a row — before being shaken up on a third-and-4 incompletion with 2:28 remaining in the game. The next pass after that, Watson's final one of the day, was dropped by Cedric Tillman on fourth down to end the Browns' chances.
"Yeah, obviously, situational football, like that two-minute drive and things of that sort," Cooper said. "You just got to come out and do better. You practice those drives to go and actually score, you know what I mean? So we didn't do that and we lost."
Chris Easterling can be reached at ceasterling@thebeaconjournal.com. Read more about the Browns at www.beaconjournal.com/sports/browns. Follow him on X at @ceasterlingABJ
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Amari Cooper re-emerges in Browns passing offense in loss to Giants
