ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. -- The play started, as so many inconceivable ones do, with a bad throw.
Amid the snow and difficult conditions, Buffalo Bills quarterback Josh Allen threw a quick pass from a "sticky hand" to his left to wide receiver Amari Cooper.
Cooper had San Francisco 49ers cornerback Renardo Green next to him ready to make a tackle, with safety Malik Mustapha and linebacker Fred Warner soon joining. Before going to the ground, Cooper saw Allen run behind him -- the quarterback chasing the ball down just in case -- so he lateralled the ball to him.
"Amari Cooper to Josh Allen for the TD!" is a new one 😂
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"I was wondering what he was doing over there. That doesn't usually happen when you throw a dart route like that," Cooper said. "I just saw him. I figured he was over there because he wanted the ball, so I gave it to him."
The rest will go down on Allen's highlight reel for years to come -- Allen ran 9 yards after the lateral and he lunged into the end zone. The record books will not reflect Cooper's role, listed as an Allen-to-Allen touchdown with a lateral in between from Cooper.
The moment represents more than just an exciting play in a division-clinching win.
"Coop just got here, so the amount of trust that goes into that shows the type of program that we have here," left tackle Dion Dawkins said. "That the guys can come in, in the middle of the season and build the trust that they can do things like that and feel confident in doing it. So, a lot of people see what Josh did, but Coop was the one who really had to trust it."
The score occurred Dec. 1 in Cooper's fourth game as a Bill after he was traded by the Cleveland Browns on Oct. 15 (he missed two games due to a left wrist injury). The trade for Cooper, 30, came in his 10th season, four of which ended in playoff runs with one postseason victory in 2018 with the Dallas Cowboys.
Cooper's role with the Bills is different from his other stops, where he racked up seven career 1,000-yard seasons. In Buffalo, he has played 45.9% of snaps after never having a season with less than 75.4%. He has logged his fewest targets per game (6.07).
This is a record offense for spreading the ball -- 13 players with receiving touchdowns, tied for the most in a season in NFL history. The unit also has a commitment to running the ball, including with an extra lineman on the field for 148 plays this season, by far the most of any team. Big-time numbers for receivers are far from guaranteed.
The trade to Buffalo awarded Cooper a "blank canvas," as he put it, and garnered him a position to reach long-desired postseason success. He has been on teams with losing records, distractions and even winning teams where every win "seemed like it was tough." As part of the Bills' offense, the reserved wideout has made it clear he's enjoying this team and has made an impact by simply being himself. The Bills' playoff journey begins Sunday against the Denver Broncos (1 p.m. ET, CBS) in an environment the receiver says he has always wanted to experience.
"I feel good. I've always wanted to be on a team like this," Cooper told ESPN. "Being in the league a long time, some guys are fortunate enough to be on great teams every year, teams that go deep into the playoffs, but that's more of a rare occasion."
THE BILLS ARE Cooper's fourth stop in the NFL. Originally drafted fourth overall out of Alabama by the Oakland Raiders in 2015, expectations were high. He spent almost four seasons with the Raiders before he was traded to the Cowboys during the 2018 season after amassing more than 1,000 receiving yards in each of his first two seasons in the league.
Dallas traded Cooper to the Browns in the 2022 offseason. Cooper had his best seasons in Cleveland, amassing 1,250 receiving yards in 2023 and a career-high nine receiving touchdowns in 2022. He began the 2024 season in a holdout, which included an unexcused absence from mandatory minicamp, before his contract was restructured. Being traded is now common for the receiver.
Ask those who know Cooper, and the initial response is usually the same. He's quiet, a skilled listener and observer. "You don't get much out of Amari," said former Cleveland Browns quarterback Joe Flacco, who had a good relationship with Cooper during their 2023 run.
When Bills coach Sean McDermott gave Cooper a game ball for reaching 10,000 career receiving yards after a Week 17 win over the New York Jets, players in the locker room jokingly called for a speech. Cooper didn't oblige, but the moment garnered some laughs.
Referring to him as the quiet elder statesman receiver is too simplistic. Chess is one of his hobbies. He boxes in the offseason to stay in shape. But though he might not fit some of the common wide receiver stereotypes and isn't loud or flashy, his impact on teammates has been felt. When Cooper was traded to the Cowboys in 2018, his arrival yielded team success.
"I [distinctly] remember a moment where we weren't really moving the ball in Dallas and he was like, 'It's OK. I remember one game I had one catch at halftime, I ended up with 11 catches. You just got to just stay in it,'" former Cowboys and current Bills wide receivers coach Adam Henry said. "And it was calming for the bench."
"[Cooper] meant everything to my career," Cowboys wide receiver CeeDee Lamb -- cousin of Bills receiver Keon Coleman -- told ESPN. "Having Coop, just being in his presence obviously early on I needed a mentor, and he was that for me. He was my big brother. He was my guide. He was my experienced mentor and that's the best way I can put it because as for me, I was looking for a way to go, a route to run and how to become a pro and Coop was definitely the one to help me set that up."
Cooper's mindset is to be himself. He takes mental notes from successful people and those doing things the "right way." Hall of Fame safety and former Raiders teammate Charles Woodson was an example for Cooper during his rookie year.
The way Cooper viewed the veteran Woodson in Oakland is how some current players regard Cooper now.
"Cooper was really, one of those quiet leaders, a guy who everybody respected and knew how good of a football player he was and went out every day and showed it," former Cowboys teammate Chidobe Awuzie told ESPN. "... I ended up creating a great relationship with him. He was my locker mate, right next to me and we started playing chess together and talked about faith, talked about a lot of cool things, and it was one of my real good friends I had in this league that still is my friend today. He was a great teammate."
The Buffalo wide receivers benefit from having Cooper be that bellwether: Jalen Virgil owned a number of jerseys of receivers he admired, including Cooper's No. 89; KJ Hamler watched Cooper at Alabama and then in the NFL; rookie Coleman has used Cooper as a resource, soaking in the veteran's experiences. A variety of players in the room said they've learned from Cooper's example.
"I pick up a lot from Coop, even though he doesn't even know this," Hamler said. "I watch his steps, I watch how he gets out his routes and stuff like that. So to my eyes, he doesn't talk s---. He doesn't do none of that. He just goes out there and shows up and plays. So, just watching that and watching him in Year 10, I kind of envision myself, all right, I'm in Year 5, Year 10, I got to be like that."
Curtis Samuel said if Cooper laughs at one of your jokes, that's how you know it's a good one. Khalil Shakir noted how Cooper has been helpful for things away from football, in addition to on the field.
"[Cooper's] super dope, just like the professional that he is, the guy that he is. He knows a lot about a lot of things just outside of football as well, just life in general," Shakir said.
"... For me, every time he's on the field, I watch him. It's weird, but you just kind of watch his every move on every single route. If I have to run that route next, and you got somebody, a player of his caliber doing it before, you want to try and do it at the level that he's doing it at."
WHEN COOPER FIRST came to Buffalo, offensive quality control coach D.J. Mangas was tasked with helping get him up to speed. They did walk-throughs of the offense's plays in the morning and afternoon. As Cooper has become more comfortable with the Bills' offense, they have spent less time on their overview. But Cooper continues working at it, making sure he has a strong grasp on the mental component.
Mangas, who said Cooper missing a couple of games because of the wrist injury was beneficial, has gotten to know his new receiver.
"You get a receiver that has had the success he's had, it's the humble piece, the humility," Mangas said. "The fact that we're still walking through and he goes out there, and I know on the stat sheet sometimes it says no catches or no targets or whatever, but trust me, he's got an impact ... and still seeing him after the game, being as happy as anybody that we won the game and a lot of guys in those shoes, I think it wouldn't be the same."
To hear Cooper describe it, this is what he has been wanting. Getting an opportunity to be on a team that has "the chance" before he finishes his playing career. McDermott often references during speeches to the team how great teams don't beat themselves. Cooper has seen a lot of teams do that. This team, however, he believes has the potential to beat those great teams. "That's all you can ask for is a chance. We just have to take advantage of it."
In 10 years, he has experienced only one playoff win with the Cowboys. In his rookie year, the Denver Broncos, a team that the Raiders beat late in the season, went on to win Super Bowl 50.
"It's like, 'Yo, we beat them,'" Cooper said. "We could have just, if we were just a little bit more consistent, maybe that could have been us."
Some years, watching the Super Bowl has been difficult, to the point he just won't watch. Being on different teams has given him perspective.
"I've been on winning teams that every win seemed like it was very tough, but with this team, this is like, we make winning easy and this is not an easy league to win in," Cooper said.
Cooper's second touchdown catch as a Bill came against the Jets. The throw, he said, was one most quarterbacks wouldn't make because the cornerback stayed on him. He didn't start to jog, but thought Allen would go elsewhere until he realized that the pass might be coming his way. "[Allen's] going to give you an opportunity," Cooper said. "Every quarterback isn't that way, for some reason. But, yeah, I am grateful for that. I just got to continue to show that, 'Hey, I'll come down and make these plays.'"
Receivers can take time to get on the same page with their quarterback. Cooper said it's all about taking advantage of his opportunities, noting his targets have gone up and down at every level "since little league."
Off the field, Cooper said the close-knit nature of the team differs from other places and that carries to the field.
Asked what differs between the culture of the Bills and Cooper's other teams, he answered in a fashion undeniably true to himself.
"I just feel like it's a little bit more," Cooper said. What did he mean by that? "A little bit of more togetherness."
Bills players note they can be themselves under McDermott, an approach McDermott credits to making the work more enjoyable and he gives players an opportunity to be or become the best versions of themselves.
"Not that he wasn't happy in Dallas, but I've seen him smile a lot more," former Dallas and current Bills practice squad quarterback Mike White said. "He's goofing around more. In Dallas, he would just kind of hang out with the receivers and maybe a couple running backs here and there, but I'm just talking in the facility, what I know, but here he seems like he's having more fun, joking around."
Contrasting Cooper's Buffalo experience to his previous teams' cities, left tackle Dion Dawkins described the transition as being "kind of like a culture shock."
Cooper will be a free agent after the season. He's in the final year of a five-year, $100 million contract he originally signed with the Cowboys -- receiving a $5 million raise from the Browns this offseason, in addition to Cleveland guaranteeing the $20 million that was left on his contract, which enabled the trade to Buffalo. Decisions will need to be made, especially if his on-field role continues to be minimal in the postseason.
But, as the Bills' postseason run begins, making an impact with a lateral pass or by being an example to other wide receivers means that much more.
"In those playoff games, when the game is over with, you want to feel like you've left everything out there," Cooper said. "Because truthfully, over the course of your career, the postseason games are the ones you're going to remember the most."
ESPN's Todd Archer, Turron Davenport and Stephen Holder contributed to this story.