Amari Cooper is hurting, but starring - and pointing Cowboys fingers at himself
FRISCO - I've been asked if there is any "finger-pointing'' going on in the Dallas Cowboys locker room after that 34-24 home loss to the Packers and the answer is "yes.'' Amari Cooper is finger-pointing - at himself.
"The first one was definitely me,” Cooper said, reflecting on a first-drive massive opportunity he failed to latch onto that turned into a Packers takeaway.
And then he mentioned another Dak Prescott interception in that game, on a ball intended for Randall Cobb.''
"I think,'' Coop said, "that was on me, too.''
This is a sign of character from a Dallas locker room that is going to need all of it it can muster after dropping to 3-2. Amari brings all of that and more, including an effort against Green Bay in which he caught 11 balls, scored a 53-yard TD, and posted a career-high 226 receiving yards.
But yes, his drop in the first quarter of the Packers game was key; it could've completely triggered momentum control for the Cowboys. And a second-quarter interception? Cooper said the route he ran was improper as it failed to draw a defender away from Cobb, leading to the pick.
Said Prescott in admiration: "Amari saying that, I think, is an example of a lot of guys in our locker room, a lot of guys on our team who look in the mirror before they point fingers. And as long as we have those type of guys on our team, we’re going to be fine. We’re going keep getting better. We’re going to keep taking things like this, take them on the chin, learn from them, and get better because of it, simply because of that attitude.”
Actually, though, in Cooper's case, maybe we should skip the "taking it on the chin part, as he's dealing with enough aches and pains as it is. The plantar fascia irritation is fading. But the bum ankle remains. And now there is a quad injury and well, when you look at the midweek injury report and it lists Cooper as "limited''?
That is a gross understatement (I mean to say, on some of these "limited'' days he's barely been able to do anything at practice) ... until we get to Sundays, at which time Cooper emerges as the NFL’s second-leading receiver with 512 yards and is tied for second in the league with five TD catches.
Cooper and Prescott are not along in this unwillingness to play the blame game. Another heart-and-soul guy reiterates the same.
“At the end of the day, we’ve got to look in the mirror as a team and realize that we shot ourselves in the foot too many times,” running back Ezekiel Elliott said. “We’ve got to look in the mirror and see that there was a lot of things that we could have done or fix to win that ball game.”
An yet at the same time, there is The 24-Hour Rule. The Saints loss and the Packers loss are gone. The winless Jets are next up.
“Yeah, I've moved on,” Cooper said. “I’ve just got to stay in that place so you concentrate and just catch the ball first. It’s the most important thing. And then run, that’s it.”
And do so despite injuries. And do so with all the fingers pointing at the end zone.
