Derek Carr appeared on Sirius XM Radio with Adam Schein on Friday afternoon and fielded a question that hasn’t been brought up since the season ended.
What was it that so negatively affected Carr’s chemistry with Amari Cooper this season?
Carr acknowledged that he and Cooper hit a “bump in the road” and said the two are working to get better.
Carr also said Cooper was dealing with a very difficult foot injury this season.
“He will never tell you, and he’ll never even talk about it, but that man was out there playing on one foot. He’s out there just trying to battle for his teammates… I will roll with that guy any day of the week. He would never say it to you, no one would ever say it to you but I’ll say it to you to have his back. That man was out there playing as hard as he could and giving everything he could, and honestly a lot of guys probably wouldn’t have even played with what he had going on.”
ICYMI: #Raiders @derekcarrqb tells @AdamSchein about improving his communication with Amari Cooper, Cooper battling on "one foot" last season & why he'll always have Amari's back pic.twitter.com/7iNDxk40Qq
— Mad Dog Sports Radio (@MadDogRadio) February 16, 2018
Most likely, the injury Carr was referring to was the ankle injury (believed to be a high ankle sprain) that Cooper suffered against the Broncos in week 12.
Cooper returned earlier than expected from the injury, only to re-injure the ankle early in the game against the Chiefs.
Certainly the ankle injury was a bad one, but it doesn’t explain what held back Cooper during the first half of the season.
Hopefully, that’s a matter Jon Gruden will be able to solve and resolve in the very near future.
twitter: @raidersbeat
I’ll be the first to make the obvious joke……..
It looked more like Cooper was playing with 1 hand last season!
Right! A bad foot can’t explain all those dropped passes!
Cooper will be straightened out by Chucky if not he’ll go the way of the dodo bird Gruden not a fan of losing. No ones job is safe this goes for anyone dont perform have fun playing with the browns.