The Development Of the Nick Foles-Riley Cooper Connection

One of the biggest developments in this season has been the increased production of Eagles wide receiver Riley Cooper.  Cooper’s explosion from a production standpoint is a major reason the Birds are getting ready to host a playoff game on Saturday.

The former Florida University wide receiver was virtually non-existent in the stat sheet during the first four or five games after taking Jeremy Maclin’s spot, when the starter went down with a torn ACL during training camp.  Nobody had any idea that Cooper was going to become such a big play receiver, when Nick Foles took over for Michael Vick, when Vick suffered a hamstring injury during the game against the New York Giants.

A connection was formed between Foles and Cooper, after that Giants game and before the battle with the Buccaneers.  Foles started throwing the ball to Cooper, even when it looked like he was covered.  This phenomena started in the Tampa Bay game, then it exploded in the Oakland Raiders game.  Foles targeted Cooper six times in the Bucs game.  He caught four of the passes for 120 yards with the longest connection going for 47 yards and a touchdown.

In the Raiders game, which saw Foles throw a record-tying seven touchdown passes, three of the tosses went to Cooper.  He was targeted six times in that game by Foles.  Cooper came down with five of those throws for 139 yards with the longest of the three scoring catches going for 63 yards.  The big, physical wide receiver averaged 27.8 yards per catch.

Next up on their schedule was the Green Bay Packers in Wisconsin.  Foles targeted Cooper five times and they connected three times for 102 yards, which was a 34 yards per catch average.  Two of the three catches were touchdowns, which was amazing to say the least.

[media id=375 width=400 height=320]This didn’t just happen.  According to Cooper, It occurred over time when the receivers earned the trust of quarterback Nick Foles to the point that he would throw the ball up to them, even when it looked like they were covered, when he saw them in a one-on-one situation.

“When we started kind of getting going the first few games after all those bumps and bruises, kind of figuring everything out”, Cooper said.  “It was kind of one of those things we talked about as a group, as a receiver group not just me.  As a receiver group, trust DeSean, trust Avant, trust me that we’re either going to come down with it or we’re not going to let them come down with it.”

“I think over time we kind of developed that trust”, Cooper explained.  “Okay, he threw a ball, we didn’t come down with it, but we batted it down like DeSean did in the end zone.  That to a quarterback is when he has that trust in you.  He’s not afraid in one-on-one matchup throw it up, he’ll come down with it, or else incomplete, move on the next play.  So I think that’s kind of what we’ve been doing.”

This was an amazing development and clearly it’s one of the main reasons that Foles was able to throw 27 touchdowns passes and have only two interceptions.  Cooper singled out Jackson for breaking up a pass that could have been intercepted, but Cooper was the guy who benefited the most from Foles throwing to guys in one-on-one situations, even when it looked like they were covered.  He made a point to give Foles credit for his accuracy.

“He put the ball where it needs to be”, Cooper said with a smile. “You know on the deep balls, he throws it where only we can make a play.  He tries to throw it where only we can make a play. You’ve got to love that from a quarterback when he has that (smile) (confidence in you)”.

Number 14, the former outfielder, who was drafted a number of times by Major League ball clubs, has benefitted from his history of chasing fly balls in the outfield.  It became a common thing during this season for Foles to throw the ball up and let Cooper use his superior, size and strength along with his ability to judge the ball in the air, to come down with the football. You can see that the confidence and trust flows both ways.

At first I thought it was luck, but it’s not luck when you start putting up the numbers this duo was putting up.  Defensive coordinators have been put in a bind because of that.  They can’t give Jackson too much attention or they will mean leaving Cooper one-on-one.  They can’t focus on LeSean McCoy and the Birds running game too much or that will mean allowing both Cooper and Jackson to flourish.

“Now defenses when they look at us, they know we’re going to use everybody”, Cooper said.  “They’re not focusing on one guy.  They’re thinking,  they’ve got a lot playmakers.   They have a lot of ability on the offensive side of the ball.  They have to account for everybody.  They can’t just pay attention to just one person.  Let’s really focus on this guy.  Nick,  he’s going to throw it.  He’s going throw to everyone.  He’s going to let everyone get touches.”