National Football League

Joe Flacco-Amari Cooper connection fuels Browns victory. Are they primed for playoff run?

Published Dec. 24, 2023 5:02 p.m. ET

Joe Flacco and Amari Cooper were unstoppable Sunday for the Browns.

It served as the latest example as to why Cleveland deserves respect as one of the AFC's top Super Bowl contenders.

The Flacco-Cooper connection fueled the Browns' 36-22 victory over the Texans (8-7) on Sunday at NRG Stadium. Cooper recorded 11 catches for a career-high and franchise-record 265 yards and two touchdowns, plus a two-point conversion. More than a third of Flacco's 42 pass attempts went to Cooper.

Their connection started at the beginning of Sunday's game, when Flacco completed a 53-yard pass to Cooper on the Browns' first play from scrimmage. In the second quarter, Flacco hit the veteran receiver for a 75-yard catch-and-score up the sideline to give Cleveland (10-5) an early 14-0 lead.

The tandem's most impressive play came in the third quarter.

With 4:30 left in the period, the Browns were going for it on 4th-and-8 at the Texans' 30 — field-goal distance — because kicker Dustin Hopkins had been ruled out earlier with a hamstring injury. Flacco was being brought down by two defenders, but he had enough arm strength to complete a 13-yard pass to Cooper, who toe-tapped for a catch by the sideline in tight coverage.

The play had a completion probability of 13.8%, the sixth-most improbable completion this season, according to Next Gen Stats. It also marked just the seventh completion since 2017 when the separation between the quarterback and pass rusher, distance from the sideline, and coverage separation were all less than one yard, per NGS.

Cooper caught four receptions for 148 yards and two scores on seven targets with less than a 33% completion probability, the most such yards in a game in the Next Gen Stats era (2016-present).

The Flacco-Cooper connection was the main story, but Sunday added to the notion that the Browns should be looked at as legitimate Super Bowl contenders.

It starts with their historically great defense, which had another strong performance against Houston. But it's Flacco's play that makes a deep playoff run feel possible.

His career renaissance at 38 years old is all the more impressive considering Cleveland doesn't have what most league observers would say is a top-end supporting cast on offense. Cooper has been one of the best receivers in football for years and Njoku has put together a breakout 2023 campaign, but nothing else on paper wows you about Cleveland. The offense has been decimated by injuries, including superstar running back Nick Chubb and both starting offensive tackles — Jedrick Willis Jr. and Dawand Jones — being out for the year.

On Sunday, Flacco completed 63.4% of his passes for 368 yards and three touchdowns with two interceptions, the second of which has an asterisk. It occurred from the Texans' 18-yard line with five seconds left in the first half — an obvious field-goal situation — but Houston elected to throw because of Hopkins' injury. Flacco was picked off in the end zone by cornerback Derek Stingley Jr.

One of Flacco's best plays of the game came early in the second quarter, when he threw on the money to Njoku in stride on a 21-yard touchdown pass. The ball placement was terrific, threaded between two defenders in the middle of the end zone.

Through four games, Flacco has 1,307 passing yards and 10 touchdowns to seven interceptions for the Browns. Entering Sunday, he had 939 passing yards, the most by a Brown in their first three career starts and his seven touchdown passes were tied for the most by a Brown in their first three starts.

Cleveland's fourth starting signal-caller this season, Flacco has been a star in the year of the backup quarterback.

It made his rapport with Cooper on Sunday possible — and raises expectations for Cleveland with the postseason fast approaching.

Ben Arthur is the AFC South reporter for FOX Sports. He previously worked for The Tennessean/USA TODAY Network, where he was the Titans beat writer for a year and a half. He covered the Seattle Seahawks for SeattlePI.com for three seasons (2018-20) prior to moving to Tennessee. You can follow Ben on Twitter at @benyarthur.