What was Amari Cooper doing on Dak Prescott’s game-ending interception?

What happened?

Dak Prescott and Amari Cooper were clearly not on the same page on the  interception that sealed the Dallas Cowboys’ 49-38 loss to the Cleveland Browns in Week 4.

It seemed like Cooper did not expect to be targeted on the play; he appears to stop running, which allows cornerback Denzel Ward to intercept the ball in the red zone. Cooper saw two defenders sitting on his slant route, and he barely looked for the ball. Still, Prescott threw at the receiver, who turned his head at the last second, only after Ward made a great play on the ball.

It was already a long shot for the Cowboys to win the game after Odell Beckham Jr. scored a 50-yard rushing touchdown with 3:25 left to halt Dallas’ would-be-epic comeback. But Ward’s interception cemented a Browns’ win and left the Cowboys fanbase pointing fingers.

Here’s a look at the play.

There are a number of charitable possible explanations for why Cooper seemed not to expect the football. He may have seen the safety crashing and not expected Prescott to zip him the ball. Cooper might have made a pre-snap read that was different than what Prescott saw, so he might have expected a quick throw to a different player with a more advantageous matchup. Either way, Cooper looked out of sync with his quarterback (which wasn’t the case the rest of the day: Cooper had 12 catches for 134 yards and 1 touchdown).

After seeing the play, folks on Twitter turned on Cooper. Some thought he gave up on the play (which probably isn’t correct). Some thought the interception was his fault (which may be correct).

It was a rough final play for the Cowboys offense, which was otherwise impressive on Sunday.

[vertical-gallery id=951534]