‘It was all on me’: Wide receiver Amari Cooper struggles with drops against Titans.

NASHVILLE — It was a strange day for Amari Cooper.

Before the first quarter was over, it was hard to tell if the Raiders’ wide receiver was the elite pass-snagger who puts so much danger into the Raiders’ offense, or someone who still has some work to do.

On the Raiders’ first scrimmage play, Cooper caught a short pass from Derek Carr for a 6-yard gain, and two plays later, Cooper turned another short pass into an 8-yard touchdown, rolling over a would-be tackler with a bit of brilliance.

But as the quarter was ending, with the score 7-7 and the Raiders on the Titans’ 2, Cooper dropped three passes in a row. That’s a month’s worth of drops in the blink of an eye.

None of the plays was simple, but all three balls were catchable. One slant was a bit high and a smidge behind Cooper, but certainly catchable. Another pass was tipped by a lineman, so it was fluttering a bit, but Cooper had it bounce off his hands in the back of the end zone.

“It wasn’t on Derek, definitely, it was all on me,” Cooper said of the three-pass sequence. “It’s something I have to get better at. I have to come down with those balls.”

Could it be a positive that those drops didn’t cost the Raiders the game, and their offense will be even more potent when Cooper makes those grabs?

“That’s not the way I look at it,” Cooper said. “It’s not good for me at all.”

Not that he was moping. Cooper is a very serious fellow, not brash and outspoken like a lot of wideouts. So part of the Raiders’ challenge this week will be to get Cooper to shrug off what for him was a subpar day.

Cooper still caught five passes for 62 yards. In the fourth quarter, he helped keep a drive alive with a 23-yard hookup with Carr on 3rd-and-5.

But for the day, Carr and Cooper were 5-for-13 on their attempted connections. With Carr’s other seven targets, he was 17-for-19.

The Raiders’ third-year receiver caught 72 passes as a rookie and 83 last season, and his five Sunday project to 80. So it’s not time to panic, but Cooper is serious about his craft. Chance for a repeat of three drops in a row? Slim.