Buffalo Bills WR Amari Cooper impressed by win over the Titans

Cooper had, in reality, hours to prepare for his Bills debut

Just five days after being traded to the Buffalo Bills, Amari Cooper hauled in four passes for 66 yards and a touchdown as the Bills rolled over the Tennessee Titans 34-10. Buffalo’s newest wide receiver said he was impressed by his new quarterback and his fellow wideouts.

“It was very impressive. You know he’s a great player,” Cooper said about quarterback Josh Allen, adding that watching him on television and then being on the field with him were two different things. “I believe this is his 100th start today and it seems like he’s had 100 amazing performances, so I guess this was no different. He went out there and did his thing like he usually does, but he’s a phenomenal player for sure.”

It wasn’t just Allen who impressed Cooper during the veteran’s Bills debut. Cooper, who’s playing in his 10th NFL season, said the most impressive thing about the day was the number of players who were making significant contributions on offense.

“That was the impressive thing about today, you know, a lot of guys stepped up and made plays at the wide receiver position,” said Cooper, showing appreciation for offensive coordinator Joe Brady’s game plan, before giving a shoutout to his teammate. “Congratulations to the young buck Keon for his first 100-yard game. He really put together a string of plays out there … It was a lot of impressive plays made out there by the receiver group.”

Cooper was quick to put a stop to any comments about his lack of snap counts, he played 18, in his first game as a Bill, saying that he did what he could to memorize the playbook but that there was still a lot of material for him to digest.

“Obviously, I knew I wouldn’t be able to play the whole game,” Cooper said, noting that he has an impressive memory but that playbooks sometimes have hundreds of plays in them. “I knew I wouldn’t be able to learn all of them, so I just tried to learn as much as possible and just try to be there for the team.”

While Cooper didn’t learn the whole playbook, he learned enough.

“The plays that were for me, I was 100% comfortable with, because, you know, I went over them a lot and it was just another day at the office at the wide receiver position.”

Maybe not quite just another day at the office, but Cooper did his part to help out — even when things weren’t going just as they were drawn up to go. There was a moment in the fourth quarter when Allen needed to get rid of the football in a hurry. The throw wasn’t perfect, but Cooper adjusted and converted the 2nd & 8 to a first down.

“Communication rules the nation — I talked to [Allen] about that route throughout the week and how I run it because I do run slant routes a little bit differently sometimes than other receivers.” Cooper said he and Allen are working on getting on the same page as quickly as they can. “I had to warn him about that way because it’s not a typical way to run the route.”

Cooper wasn’t worried about Allen not getting the ball where he likes it to be, however, saying that with a defender in his face and not having had a chance to actually practice the route during the week, it was to be expected.

“I think moving forward it will be better,” the veteran said.

And Cooper is excited about moving forward with his new team, saying that momentum is important in building wins.

“Momentum is very important, and I think the best teams — they’re the ones who build off it. They just understand how to keep the ball rolling,” he said. “That’s exactly what we have to do.”