Amari Cooper Should Probably Expect A "Random" Drug Test From The NFL After Saying He And Elijah Moore Can Be The Next Tory Holt And Isaac Bruce
Cleveland.com - “We’re going to be a great tandem. I think about great tandems like Tory Holt, Isaac Bruce. That’s what I think we could be. We both run really good routes, both create separate separation. We both can get open and we’re both reliable.”
To be a tried and true Browns fan there is a certain level of delusion you need to have. You need to be able to convince yourself that Brandon Weeden or Cody Kessler might not actually be that bad. You need to be able to talk yourself into Freddie Kitchens being adult enough to control a locker room. And then when you finally are forced to accept none of those things are actually true and enter the bargaining stage of grief, you tell yourself there is always next year.
Or you just need to be on a lot of drugs.
So I know a thing or two about buzzed up, unrealistic hopes and expectations. But Amari Cooper saying he and Elijah Moore can be like The Greatest Show on Turf means at best he's talking out of his ass and at worst he is doing bath salts. "Random" drug test incoming.
Issac Bruce and Tory Holt were named the 9th best receiving duo of all-time by NFL.com. They had 613 receptions for nearly 10,000 yards and 57 touchdowns in their first four seasons together. It's pretty much blasphemy to compare Cooper and Moore to these guys and I'm a die hard Browns fan.
To put into perspective just how dominant they were, Jaylen Waddle and Tyreek Hill last year combined to average 180 receiving yards per game. In 2000, Holt and Bruce combined to average 194 yards per game. And in 2003 they combined to average 172 yards per game. They were historically dominant and did it for a long stretch.
Now I love Amari Cooper. He's one of the best route runners in the league. The type of dude you want running a route tree if you're a QB. But Cooper isn't even a top-5 guy in the league and Elijah Moore, while crazy talented, is also crazy unproven. Them being on the level of Holt and Bruce is a take straight out of the muni-lot after tailgating about 11 beers and 4 jello shots.
As iconic as Holt and Bruce were on the actually football field, they were more iconic on the digital one. In the Madden games from the early 2000's these dudes were unstoppable. Straight cheat codes. You could drop back with Kurt Warner and just throw up a bomb to either of them and they beat the DB 90% of the time. And when they didn't beat the DB fair and square you could stop and make the defender run into you and then start running again and they were so fast they would catch up to the ball.
They were the new age Bo Jackson from Techmo Super Bowl.
I'll admit that I have a massive chubb for Deshaun Watson throwing to Cooper and Moore this season, and I ain't talking Nick. But to throw around those names as a comparison is pretty absurd. How about you just be a top-10 duo this season and the team make the playoffs first. Then we can set our sights on one of the greatest wide receiver duos to ever step on a football field.