The Oakland Raiders have a huge dilemma and it is called Amari Cooper. The wide receiver is in his third year with the NFL and the Raiders and has slowed down immensely with performance. The first two years with the Raiders, Cooper was the man as a rookie and was expected to lead the receiving squad this year.
So far in five games, Cooper has not been doing well and looks like he was never good at the game at all. Last week, he played with the backup quarterback, EJ Manuel, since starting QB Derek Carr was out with an injured back. Now, Carr is back this weekend and is expected to connect with Cooper.
At least, Cooper could have a chance to get back on the race at being who he was the last two seasons as a receiver.
Cooper’s Stats
After Week 5, Amari Cooper has 118 yards with one touchdown on 13 catches out of 33 attempts. That is a very low performance with stats for Cooper compared to what he put up the last two years. On top of this slump, Cooper leads the league with the most dropped passes, seven drops.
In the last three games, Cooper was pretty much out of the game. Not with injuries, but he was not making any plays whatsoever. During those last three games, Cooper caught for 23 yards on 15 targets. Pretty bad!
Last week against the Baltimore Ravens, however, Cooper was wide open a few times and was not spotted by EJ Manuel who was at the helm for Carr.
Even Coach Jack Del Rio stated that Manuel had a few missed opportunities with Cooper who open at times. The games of course was lost to the Ravens and put the Raiders with an unexpected record of 2-3.
Derek Carr is Back
It what expected that quarterback Derek Carr was going to miss 2 to 6 weeks with a transverse process fracture on his back.
However, things took a huge turn for the Raiders as Carr started practicing a week later after the Denver Broncos hurt him. It is expected that he will start for Week 6 against the Los Angeles Chargers.
With Carr back, things could turn around for Cooper since Carr loves to connect with Cooper. Still, in Week 3 and 4, Carr had trouble finding Cooper.
Also, Cooper was dropping most of the balls during those games. So now, it is time for both players to redeem themselves in a sense, and it could happen.
The Oakland Raiders need to keep their defense strong, especially the secondary, in order to win this weekend. Other factors will also have to be improved of course, but the defense is key. Oh yeah, protect Carr as well since he does have a tending back injury. It would be a horrible thing for the Oakland Raiders to see Carr start walking on the same path as Tony Romo did with the Dallas Cowboys when it came down to back injuries.