Amari Cooper vs. Marcus Peters will be matchup to watch on Saturday

The Dallas Cowboys need Amari Cooper to beat Marcus Peters if they hope to take down the Los Angeles Rams on Saturday night.

After the 2015 season, I was convinced that we were going to see dozens of matchups between Amari Cooper of the Oakland Raiders and Marcus Peters of the Kansas City Chiefs. Both were outstanding as rookies, and it appeared that these two would be going to battle for the next several seasons in the AFC West.

However, things didn’t work out that way for Peters or Cooper. Both were traded in 2018, but their new teams will now face off on Saturday night for the right to play in the NFC Championship game. This week, Cooper and Peters will get another chance to renew their rivalry as they are likely to see a heavy dose of one another. Today’s film room is going to examine what to expect from each player in this star-studded matchup.

Since entering the league in 2015, Cooper has long been regarded as one of the best route runners in the NFL. But unlike most of the top route-runners in the league, Cooper has excellent size and speed on top of his precision. His ability to line up all over the field and run any route makes him one of the hardest receivers to guard in the entire league.

While Cooper is an elite athlete, Marcus Peters, is not. According to SPARQ, Peters tested as just an average athlete as he struggled mightily in the agility and speed drills at the NFL Combine. But where Peters makes his money is as a playmaker. His ball skills are phenomenal, and he isn’t afraid to take chances to make a play. Since Peters entered the league in 2015, no player has more interceptions (8) than him. No cornerback in the NFL has terrified quarterbacks more than Peters since being drafted.

Cooper and Peters’ contrasting styles have always made for an entertaining matchup. In preparation for this upcoming game, I went back and looked at the film from their previous meetings to see who may have the upper hand this weekend.

Before we begin, I wanted to be clear on a few things before discussing the matchup. Unlike in their previous meetings, I don’t expect Peters to “shadow” Cooper. According to Pro Football Focus, most of Peters’ snaps this season have come as the right outside cornerback. In fact, he hasn’t played on the left side of the field since Week 11. I certainly don’t expect that to change in the Divisional Round of the playoffs.

Cooper, on the other hand, has moved all over the field since joining the Cowboys. A majority of his snaps have come as the right outside receiver, but he does operate in the slot and on the left side quite often, depending on the matchup. In the Wild Card round against the Seahawks, 37 of Cooper’s 61 snaps came as the left-side receiver, per Pro Football Focus. Considering the usage of Cooper in Dallas, it’s fair to assume we should see a heavy dose of Cooper versus Peters once again.

This won’t be the first meeting for the two this season. In Week 1, the Raiders took on the Rams and Cooper was held to just one reception for nine yards. However, in that matchup, the Raiders avoided Peters at all cost as Cooper never saw a target when Peters was lined up across from him. If and when the Raiders threw the ball to Cooper, it was when he was lined up on Aqib Talib.

I don’t want to take too much from that game for several reasons but the main reason being that Los Angeles was still trying to figure out how to utilize Peters. It was his first start with the Rams, and they played a lot of zone coverage in that game. As the year has gone on, the Rams have played more man-to-man on the outside and that is the coverage I expect them to use this week against the Cowboys. Without further ado, let’s get to the film.

One of the things that Peters really struggles with is quickness. Unless Peters can get his hands on Cooper, he will always struggle with in-breaking routes because he just lacks the quickness and speed to keep up. On the play below, the Chiefs were shadowing Cooper with Peters and that forced Peters into some bad situations. Take a look at just how much separation Cooper was able to get on the speed cut.

Because Peters struggles with quickness, it forces him to play in a lot of off-coverage. Now, that isn’t always a bad thing, because Peters is one of the best cornerbacks in the league at reading routes and route combinations. He has an innate ability to see and understand what is happening in front of him. Being the gambler that he is, this will often lead Peters to jump a lot of underneath routes.

While he has had a ton of success doing this throughout his career, it leads to him being vulnerable to double moves. When Cooper was with the Raiders, he had a lot of success getting open on double moves against Peters. Here is an example of Cooper winning down the field on a post-corner route.

Assuming Dallas can protect their quarterback this weekend, I fully expect the Cowboys to take a few chances down the field on double moves to Cooper. But if the Rams line Peters up in off-coverage against Cooper on Saturday night, expect the Cowboys to run a lot of in-breaking routes to take advantage of his lack of quickness.

We’ve established that Peters struggles with in-breaking routes and double moves, especially against Cooper. But one of the fascinating things to watch in this matchup is how often Dallas runs “speed outs” to Cooper. Because of Cooper’s overall speed and quickness, these type of passes are nearly unguardable if thrown correctly. They have become a staple of the Cowboys’ offense and is one of the best routes in Cooper’s toolbox. Take a look at how well Cooper ran this speed out against Peters a few years ago.

I fully expect Dallas to run a few speed outs this weekend, especially on third down. However, running them against Peters could be a risky proposition. As I mentioned before, Peters is a gambler with fantastic hands. Despite the quick separation, if this ball is not thrown perfectly, it can be a pick-six and Peters has made a living in the NFL on stopping these type of routes. Giving up five yards on a speed route every now for a potential pick-six is well worth the trade-off in his mind.

The longer the route and the later the ball is thrown, the better the chance that Peters will have an opportunity to make a play on the ball. Take a look at this interception by Peters against DeAndre Hopkins in 2016. The ball placement was fine, but the throw was late, and it allowed Peters to make the interception against the Texans.

These type of plays happen far too often with Dak Prescott and the Dallas Cowboys. Due to whatever reason, there is seemingly a throw or two every week that is late by the Cowboys’ passer. If that happens against Peters, Dallas could be in big trouble on Saturday night.

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If and when Cooper is matched-up with Peters, he should have the upper hand. He is simply a better, more consistent player from snap to snap. But as we know in the NFL, turnovers are king. If Peters can bait Dak Prescott into one poor throw as a speed out or on a slant, that could be the difference in who goes on to the NFC Championship game. Expect Cooper versus Peters to have another heavyweight battle, but this time, in the NFC.