It took a while, but The Archer finally hit a bulls-eye.
Wide receiver Brandin Cooks caught his first touchdown as a Cowboy during Monday night’s 20-17 win in Los Angeles, a full six weeks into a season where he was supposed to take the top off the Dallas offense.
Coming into the game with just nine receptions and 73 yards on 19 targets over four outings (he was inactive in Week 2), the tenth-year veteran finished 4-for-4 for 36 yards and that crucial fourth-quarter score.
He admitted afterward that it was all about staying patient.
“I was just trusting the process,” Cooks told reporters after the win. “Went out there and had a hard week of practice. Worked hard, and then like I always say, when the opportunity shows, I just try to take advantage of that.”
He did just that, capping off the offense’s longest drive of the night (in yards) for the 50th touchdown of his pro career.
“It felt good,” he said. “It’s been a while, but at the end of the day, the ball found me. Great throw by Dak, trusting me. I’m thankful, for sure.”
Unleash The Archer 🏹 @brandincooks
Up Next ➡️ #LARvsDAL on FOX pic.twitter.com/0nqoeN3Lzq
— Dallas Cowboys (@dallascowboys) October 17, 2023
“He was due for a night like this,” quarterback Dak Prescott said of Cooks in his postgame remarks.
“He’s done everything right from the moment he showed up in the spring. been a consistent leader, leading other guys on the field, off the field, and just doing everything right and everything that we’ve asked him to do in between the lines. And he hasn’t really reaped the rewards.”
Cooks no doubt expected a larger piece of the sumptuous pie that can be the Cowboys offense. And while the Cowboys certainly had hoped to cash in on another 1,000-yard season from Cooks- as he’s given his previous four clubs- they also acquired the former first-rounder to provide veteran leadership in a receivers room where no one else is over 27 years of age.
Especially CeeDee Lamb.
The unquestioned WR1 within the Cowboys passing attack, Lamb was visibly frustrated during Week 5’s loss to San Francisco. His body language had many outside the building concerned about failing chemistry with Prescott and a disgruntled attitude turning into a distraction for the offense.
Cooks spent time in the days after the loss coaching Lamb on just rolling with the punches.
“That’s part of why I’m here, right? To be able to help lead,” Cooks remarked. “Obviously, he’s extremely talented, but there are some things he may not have been through in his career. So talking to him, telling him just continue to trust the process, the ball is going to find him. It simply has to, because he’s one of our best playmakers.”
Lesson learned: Lamb finished the Chargers game with seven catches on seven targets for 117 yards.
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Head coach Mike McCarthy hopes to make Cooks’s patience payoff even further by getting him more involved as a downfield threat coming out of the bye, but he also believes the rest of the 4-2 team can learn by example from his veteran pass-catcher in what has become, by his own words, a “rollercoaster” of a season.
“Brandin is the ultimate pro. He’s the same man every day. He’s a joy to work with, extremely coachable,” McCarthy explained from the podium Monday night. “He’s very, very consistent, and frankly, it’s a lead that we need to follow because we need to be more consistent and we’ve got to get our continuity. That’s a focus for us moving forward.”
If that happens, the Cowboys will be that much closer to hitting their own 2023 target.
And The Archer will be letting a lot more arrows fly, in a lot more end zones.
“Dak trusted me tonight,” Cooks offered, “and I just want to keep that going.”
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