The catch that finally broke the franchise mark came in a big spot late in the game. On fourth-and-7 with under four minutes to play, the Browns were looking to run down the clock and avoid giving the Texans any chance to come back. Quarterback Joe Flacco dropped back to pass, and with defenders closing in, threw toward the sideline to find Cooper for a 13-yard fourth-down conversion.
It was the sixth-most improbable completion in the NFL this season, per Next Gen Stats, with a completion probability of 13.8 percent. Cooper had four catches for 148 yards and two TDs on targets with less than a 33% completion probability on Sunday, the most such yards in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (since 2016).
“Man, I’ve only been receiving passes from Joe for a short period of time, but one thing I learned quickly is he has amazing arm strength. So sometimes when it looks like he’s down, if he sees you, he’s going to get it out, so I just stayed alive,” Cooper said to Dales of the fourth-down play.
The pairing of Flacco and Cooper has been fruitful through the first three games they’ve played together, having connected for 77 and 109 passing yards the last two weeks, though they blew those previous numbers out of the water with Sunday’s historic effort.
“Man, Joe throws a beautiful ball, a beautiful ball, easy to catch,” Cooper said to Dales. “He has a lot up here, he’s a very cerebral quarterback, honestly he just has a good feel for the game, and us together, it’s like we’re in rhythm. Yeah, I plan to keep having these types of games with Joe.”