BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – Amari Cooper is still working on the guest list for this weekend.
“It's not finalized yet,” Cooper said Thursday. “Some of them will be last minute, so we'll see.”
His return to Miami means plenty of family and friends are hitting him up for tickets for Sunday’s Browns-Dolphins game. Cooper, who was born and grew up in Miami, remembers his days as a Dolphins fan, but he understood playing for them some day would be a long shot.
“I don't think I ever looked at it that way because I always understood how the draft worked,” Cooper said. “I think I, more so, was always excited about being drafted to any NFL team.”
Cooper starred at Alabama before the Raiders drafted him fourth overall in 2015. The Browns essentially stole the four-time Pro Bowler from the Cowboys in a March trade this offseason and he’s on pace for his sixth 1,000-yard receiving season of his career.
Since arriving in Cleveland, Cooper’s roots helped him bond quickly with another south Floridan – backup quarterback Jacoby Brissett.
“When you're from a certain place you automatically have certain things in common culturally, certain words and stuff that you use and certain places,” Cooper said. “So we were able to gel really quickly.”
Brissett and Cooper have hooked up a team-high 39 times for 553 yards and five touchdowns in eight games.
Need for speed – Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill is thought of as the fastest receiver in football. Jaylen Waddle is no snail either. So, advantage Dolphins, right?
Browns cornerback Greg Newsome II says, not so fast.
“They’re fast, fast dudes but we got speed on this side of the ball as well,” Newsome said. “I think we match up perfectly with them. But it’s definitely a challenge going against guys like that who can take the top off any second and this one of those games where you’ve got to keep your eyes right.
“Everybody has got to do their job and it’s not just on one person or one position group to stop everything. You’ve got to rely on everybody, you know some plays might get beat the D-line save you or sometimes we have great coverage and allow the line to get there, so it’s definitely going to take all of us.”
While Newsome is confident the secondary will be able to keep up and hang with Miami’s dynamic duo, he has plenty of respect for them – especially Hill.
“I just feel like he can run any route,” Newsome said. “There’s a lot of, like, just straight really, really fast guys that don’t really make it in the NFL. There’s a lot of guys that’s out there that’s probably faster than him, guys out their in the world but when you’re able to run great routes, catch the ball, not drop too many passes. It’s a hard guy to cover when he can run every route – the big guys and the small guys – so he’s definitely a very, very talented, well-rounded wide receiver.”
As he prepared to sit down for his weekly press conference, Browns defensive coordinator Joe Woods joked he was running late because he was dealing with some receivers. Drawing up this week’s gameplan for limiting Hill and Waddle hasn’t been easy.
“You are picking your poison,” Woods said. “If you want to send a lot of attention to Tyreek, then now he is one on one. If you try to take away both of the guys, now you have to deal with the tight end and you have to deal with the backs. I think there are a couple of things you have to do, but in order to take away something, you are going to weaken yourself somewhere else. That is just the nature of the game.
“They are set to break records in terms of the receptions and the yardage that those guys are putting up.”
Special lefty – Left-handed quarterbacks are rare, but the Browns face one Sunday in Tua Tagovailoa, who is having an MVP caliber season to date.
While Browns defenders have said this week that Tagovailoa being a southpaw doesn’t affect them, cornerback Greg Newsome II explained what and why the Dolphins QB will be unique to defend.
“We’ve been going against a lot of right-handed quarterbacks, so boots are probably going to be going a lot opposite this week,” Newsome said.
Tagovailoa is completing 69.9% of his passes and thrown for 1,980 yards with 15 touchdowns and just three interceptions. Nine of his TD passes have come on third or fourth down.
“I think he really goes through his progressions quickly, he gets rid of the football on time and he is not afraid to throw the ball into tight windows,” Woods said. “The thing I see him do for a young guy is throw receivers open, as well. He has been impressive just watching tape. The more I watch, the more impressed I am with what he is doing.”
Double muscle – The Browns eight-man offensive line formation they broke out at the goal line against the Bengals that saw Michael Dunn and James Hudson report as eligible on Nick Chubb's 3-yard touchdown run has a name.
“We call it ‘double muscle,’” offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt said. “Usually, you usually use a muscle tight end or a tackle at muscle positions. That was a double muscle. It is fun to signal – it looks like you are flexing. You are just getting creative.”
Don’t be shocked if they use that page from the playbook again – and elsewhere on the field.
“It could happen,” Van Pelt said. “We had a good idea of what they would play versus that type of personnel grouping, and we got it. Yeah, you could pull it out. Have done it in the middle of a game in short yardage and gone into jumbo, which is our goal line package in the middle of the field. Generally, you will get a goal line defense, but some teams will not do that. Some teams won’t allow that and they won’t match your personnel. We had a good feeling we were going to get matched in that situation.”
Emerson back – More good news for the Browns secondary as they prepare to face Miami’s prolific passing attack – cornerback Martin Emerson, who has played a key role in helping fill the void while Denzel Ward remained out with a concussion, returned to practice.
Emerson was idle due to an illness, but it appears he will face the Dolphins Sunday.
Njoku and JOK idle – Tight end David Njoku and linebacker Jeremiah Owusu Koramoah both remained sidelined Thursday.
Both players worked on the side during the portion of practice open to reporters.
Njoku is rehabbing a high ankle sprain while Owusu-Koramoah deals with a knee injury.
Notable quotable – “The receivers. He had like three or four first rounders at ‘Bama. And now he’s got some of the best guys in the league. So that's the difference.” – Amari Cooper on the reason behind Dolphins quarterback Tua Tagovailoa’s breakout season
Injury report – DNP: TE David Njoku (ankle), LB Jeremiah Owusu-Koramoah (knee), RT Jack Conklin (foot), DT Perrion Winfrey (illness); LIMITED: CB Greg Newsome (oblique), RG Wyatt Teller (calf); FULL: DE Myles Garrett (rest), DE Jadeveon Clowney (rest), LG Joel Bitonio (rest), WR Amari Cooper (rest), CB Martin Emerson (illness), CB Denzel Ward (concussion)
Up next – Practice Friday.