Cooper pickup pays off in Dallas

Dallas’ Jerry Jones is getting praised for a football move.

There might not be a better way to explain the impact of the oft-criticized owner and general manager’s bold trade, sending a 2019 first-round pick to the Raiders for receiver Amari Cooper with the Cowboys at 3-5.

Cooper leads the NFL in yards receiving since joining the Cowboys, who have won five straight games to get to the brink of the NFC East title.

With Cooper, Dak Prescott looks more like the 2016 NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year rather than a struggling quarterback. Running back Ezekiel Elliott is finding more operating room; he had a career-high 12 receptions against the Eagles on Sunday. And Jones is being viewed as the man who saved Dallas’ season.

The Cowboys (8-5) can wrap up the division with a win at Indianapolis (7-6) on Sunday.

“I think a big part of doing things with the desire to excel is to show them,” Jones said after Cooper scored three touchdowns, including the winner in overtime of a 29-23 victory against Philadelphia that gave the Cowboys a two-game division lead with three to go.

“I think that’s a major motivation factor — to show them. I think the way sports and football, it just gives you a chance when people say, ‘I don’t like that move, that’s not smart.’ ”

There were plenty of secondguessers when Jones made the move at 3-5, with conventional wisdom saying the Cowboys had problems beyond a missing playmaker at receiver in the first season without franchise TD-catch leader Dez Bryant, dumped in a cost-cutting move.

The display Prescott and Cooper put on against the Eagles in the last half of the fourth quarter and overtime was remarkable. Touchdown throws of 28 and 75 yards in the fourth quarter were followed by a 15-yarder in overtime, with Cooper grabbing a pass tipped by Philadelphia’s Rasul Douglas and cruising in from the 7.

“He is making big plays,” Jones said. “You can see he is a difference-maker.”

Jones has the pats on the back to prove it.

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