Buffalo Bills WR Amari Cooper impressed in win over Titans

Just five days after joining the Buffalo Bills, Amari Cooper caught four passes for 66 yards and a touchdown as the Bills defeated the Tennessee Titans 34-10. Buffalo's new wideout receiver said he was impressed with his new quarterback and his fellow wideouts.

“It was very impressive. They know he’s a great player,” Cooper said of quarterback Josh Allen, adding that watching him on TV and then being on the field with him are two different things. “I think it's his 100th start today and it seems like he's had 100 great performances so I think this was no different. He went out and did his thing like he normally does, but he’s definitely a phenomenal player.”

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

“That's what was impressive about today, you know, a lot of guys stepped up and played the wide receiver position,” Cooper said, showing his appreciation for offensive coordinator Joe Brady's game plan before offering praise to his teammate. “Congratulations to young Buck Keon on his first 100-yard game. He really put together a series of plays… There were a lot of impressive plays from the receiver group.”

Cooper quickly pushed back against comments about his lack of snap counts, playing 18 in his first game as a Bill, and said he did what he could to memorize the playbook, but there was still a lot of material for him to digest.

“Of course I knew I wouldn't be able to play the whole game,” Cooper said, noting that he had an impressive memory but that playbooks sometimes contained hundreds of games. “I knew I wasn’t going to learn everything, so I just tried to learn as much as I could and just be there for the team.”

Although Cooper didn't learn the entire playbook, he learned enough.

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

It may not have been a typical day at the office, but Cooper did his part to help – even when things didn't go as planned. There was a moment in the fourth quarter when Allen had to get rid of the football quickly. The throw wasn't perfect, but Cooper adjusted and turned 2nd-and-8 into a first down.

“Communication rules the nation – I've been talking to (Allen) all week about this route and how I run it because sometimes I run slant routes a little differently than other receivers.” Cooper said he and Allen are working on it to get up to speed as quickly as possible. “I had to warn him about this way because it’s not a typical way to run the route.”

Cooper wasn't worried about Allen not being able to get the ball where he would like it, but said that was with a defender in his face and the fact that he didn't have a chance to actually practice the route during the week , is to be expected.

“I think things will get better in the future,” said the veteran.

And Cooper is looking forward to moving forward with his new team, saying momentum is important to achieving victories.

“Momentum is very important and I think the best teams are the ones that build on that. They just understand how to keep the ball rolling,” he said. “That’s exactly what we need to do.”