Dak Prescott completed four deep outs to Amari Cooper in practice last week.
He hadn’t done that in the last two years, according to someone who’s watched every practice since the quarterback joined the Cowboys in 2016.
Let that marinate.
Cooper, simply put, must be a game-changer for the Cowboys, who gave Oakland a No.1 draft choice for his services two weeks ago today.
The 24-year-old receiver has been described in the locker room as a different sort of guy, a receiver who has the combination of speed, route-running and big-play ability Prescott has never ever had in one package.
Dez Bryant had big-play ability, but his route-running was average and he wasn’t a player who scared cornerbacks with his speed.
Cole Beasley runs terrific routes but makes few plays downfield because he typically runs routes within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage. So did Jason Witten.
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Cooper will change the way teams cover everyone else just because they know he’s capable of making big plays whether it’s running past a cornerback or turning a short catch into a long touchdown.
Cooper has 19 career touchdowns, and 13 have been longer than 25 yards. He’s averaged 36 yards per touchdown reception.
Wow.
“Other teams when they play us, they have to scout for him,” Prescott told reporters Friday after practice.
“He's a threat. You can throw him a slant, you can throw him a quick screen or whatever and he can turn that into a home run.
“He has a quick twitch and then that transition to the explosiveness he has. You just kind of shake your head like, ‘Dang.’”
That’s why the deep out is important.
The Cowboys run a timing-based passing game. Throwing the deep out successfully requires a receiver running a quality route so he’s where he’s supposed to be when he’s supposed to be there, allowing the quarterback to throw the ball before the receiver makes his break.
If Prescott and Cooper can complete those in practice in two weeks, what might they accomplish in a month?
The questions about Cooper have never been about talent.
He was the fourth pick of the 2015 draft and one of only four receivers to have at least 70 receptions and more than 1,000 yards in each of his first two NFL seasons.
He caught 48 for 680 yards and seven touchdowns last year and has caught only 22 for 280 yards and a touchdown this season.
Still, he caught eight for 128 yards and a touchdown against Cleveland this year and 10 for 116 against Denver.
The Cowboys plan to make him the focal point of the passing game.
“He's going to be starting at wide receiver and playing a significant amount of snaps," play-caller Scott Linehan said Friday. “How many? We'll determine that a little bit more the day before the game.
“We're not really easing him into the situation. He's got a pretty big workload, and we'll just keep an eye on him and see where he is and how much he plays in some situations. Right now, there’s no limit with what we do with him."
Cooper spent a portion of the bye week in California working with receivers coach Sanjay Lal. He also spent several hours on the phone with Prescott going over hand signals and terminology.
Linehan worked with Calvin Johnson in Detroit. He knows elite talent when he sees it, and the importance of getting those types of players the ball.
“He's a guy who people respect his speed down the field. He can get behind defenses,” Linehan said. “He's been doing it his whole life. It's good to build a guy's route tree off of that starting point.
“When you have deep speed and you have quick transition skills there's really no part of your game that isn't there, for me at least seeing him. We get to know him better each day out here.
"I think people respect him. They know who he is. He's a guy who can hurt the defense in a lot of ways with his skill set."
The unrealistic expectations from fans - they seemingly think he’ll catch 15 passes for 300 yards and seven touchdowns - combined with the effusive praise from Linehan, Prescott, coach Jason Garrett and owner Jerry Jones could result in Cooper feeling pressure to perform at a high level.
Nope.
“Why should there be pressure,” he said matter-of- factly, “when you know you can play. It’s football, I’ve played it my whole life.”
