BEREA, Ohio (92.3 The Fan) – In baseball, they dig the long ball.
Basketball it’s dunks and blocks.
In football, it’s big plays – long runs and deep passes.
Browns receiver Amari Cooper, no stranger to hauling in long touchdowns, is confident they’ll have fans jumping out of their seats – in a good way – plenty this season.
“Hopefully it's going to be fireworks,” Cooper said Thursday. “We definitely have the talent on this side of the ball to be everything that we want to be. I don't know what you should expect. I would just say wait and see. Why not?”
Cooper, acquired from the Cowboys in March, is right.
The Browns have plenty of explosive talent offensively. He himself is a four-time Pro Bowler that averages over 1,000 yards per season receiving.
Then there’s their dynamic battering rams out of the backfield – Nick Chubb and Kareem Hunt who can take it to the house every time they touch the football.
Tight end David Njoku hasn’t had a box score stuffing, eye popping season, but the Browns clearly believe he is capable of delivering one after giving him a whopping $54.75 million contract extension this offseason.
The offensive line, anchored by the best guard combo in football in Joel Bitonio and Wyatt Teller, is among the NFL’s best.
So just because Deshaun Watson isn’t available for the first 11 games, there’s no reason to bail on the Browns according to Cooper.
“Obviously Deshaun's a phenomenal talent, a great quarterback,” Cooper said. “But we believe in the guys who are going to be playing on Sunday. Listen, we know what we have and we just ready. We're preparing, we're ready to go out there and win a football game.”
Offensive coordinator Alex Van Pelt is tasked with mixing all that talent together with the help of head coach Kevin Stefanski.
“I feel the same [as Cooper],” Van Pelt said. “We are a good group on offense. I really like our men that we have. They work hard. A bunch of smart guys, talented guys. It is hard to come out and predict where we will be, but we feel pretty good about who we have in the room and where we are headed and what direction we are in.
“We obviously established that we are a team that can run the football. We know that is something we can hang our hat on, and it all starts with the run game.”
Cooper is quite fine with that.
“That's fireworks too,” Cooper said.