Cleveland Browns wide receiver Amari Cooper celebrated his holiday by breaking two team records and catching 11 passes for 265 yards and two touchdowns, having his best day as a pro in the Browns’ 36-22 win over the Houston Texans.
Before today, the most receiving yards in a game this season was 230 by Chicago’s D.J. Moore in Week 5.
Cooper broke the Browns single-game receiving yards record (Josh Gordon, 261) and became the first Cleveland player to eclipse 1,000 yards receiving in back-to-back seasons early in the contest. His 252 yards receiving topped his previous best of 226 yards as a member of the Dallas Cowboys in 2019.
Amari Cooper also become just the third NFL player in history to record four games with over 210 yards in receiving, along with Hall of Famers Lance Alworth (San Diego Chargers) and Calvin Johnson (Detroit Lions).
Cooper’s day started with a bang when he caught a play-action pass from Joe Flacco for an impressive 53-yard gain to reach the Texans six-yard line and set the franchise mark on his 62nd reception of the season.
But that was just the beginning. Amari Cooper finished the first quarter with two catches for 75 yards including one of several acrobatic catches — including an incredible leaping grab along the sideline for 22 yards.
His first-quarter output put him in elite company alongside Jarvis Landry and Josh Gordon as one of only three Browns receivers to achieve 75 or more receiving yards in the first quarter of a game.
Amari Cooper could not be stopped
One of a half-dozen highlights of Amari Cooper’s day was his 75-yard reception for a touchdown on a bomb from Flacco with 12:16 remaining in the first half, giving the Browns a 14-0 lead. Flacco finished the day with 368 yards, three touchdowns and two interceptions in the win.
Cooper, traded from Dallas to Cleveland before the 2022 season, has quickly solidified himself as one of the Browns’ greatest all-time receivers — in only two seasons. Before Sunday’s game, he had accumulated 139 receptions for 2,145 yards in 31 games, establishing a record that continues to expand.