Cooper low-key over weekly honor
WR gets offensive award for effort against Kansas City
ALAMEDA, Calif. — Amari Cooper caught 11 passes for 210 yards and two touchdowns last week.
As for the attention that has followed, he isn’t caught up in it.
The low-key Raiders wide receiver stayed true to form Wednesday. He met with reporters but didn’t bask in the glow from his career game, which came in a 31-30 victory over Kansas City. The performance led to AFC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Wednesday.
Cooper joined Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Tim Brown as the only wide receivers in team history to be given the weekly award. Cooper’s single-game yardage total was the second-highest in franchise history behind only Art Powell (247 yards) in 1963.
“I just play, man,” Cooper said. “I try to play good every week. If it doesn’t happen, I just move on.”
Minutes earlier, Derek Carr lavished praise on Cooper.
The quarterback talked of his receiver’s versatility. Cooper played a variety of receiver positions last week, including the slot where he was targeted on 11 of his 18 attempts. He caught six of them for 95 yards and a touchdown.
Carr recalled comments he heard recently from Cleveland Cavaliers forward Lebron James.
“He was talking about how he played point guard this past game,” Carr said of James, “and you take a guy that’s super smart, that can go from playing the three and then go play the one and he can go play the five. He knows all the sets; he knows all the plays. Amari’s the same (way) mentally. He’s the same kind of guy where he can go play X, F. He can play the Y. He can play the Z. He can play H.
“I don’t know if he can play quarterback. I’m sure he’d find a way to be successful.”
A reporter told Cooper that Carr compared him to Lebron James and asked for his thoughts. Cooper responded in Cooper fashion.
“I think it was hyperbole,” he said.
Peters pokes Raiders fans
The eventual relocation to Las Vegas is a sensitive topic for many Raiders fans in the Bay Area.
As an Oakland native, Marcus Peters knows this. He had some fun with it anyway.
Last week, Raiders running back Marshawn Lynch rode a Bay Area Rapid Transit train with Peters, a Kansas City Chiefs cornerback and longtime friend, following the teams’ Thursday game. At multiple points of a commute from the stadium to downtown Oakland, Peterson playfully prodded passengers about the impending move.
Lynch’s media company, Beast Mode Productions, posted some raw video of the commute.
“That’s why they’re going to Vegas,” Peters said to passengers with a smile on his face. The context of his comment was unclear. In response, the crowd groaned.
Later, he said: “Always remember: They’re only going to be here for a certain amount of weeks. Y’all know the worst nightmare of your life?
All y’all are gonna have to become Niners fans.”
More groans and boos followed.
Notable
— Running back Elijah Hood, a rookie seventh-round pick, was promoted Wednesday from the practice squad.
— Cornerbacks David Amerson (foot) and Gareon Conley (shin) were the only Raiders players on the 53man roster to not practice Wednesday. Six were limited participants: safety Karl Joseph (groin), linebacker Cory James (knee), linebacker Marquel Lee (ankle), linebacker Nicholas Morrow (ankle), right tackle Marshall Newhouse (foot) and tight end Lee Smith (knee).
Contact reporter Michael Gehlken at mgehlken@reviewjournal.com. Follow @Gehlkennfl on Twitter.