In 2014, I thought we struggled a bunch with zone defense because of the quarterback and that may be mostly true - Sims sometimes lost guys dropping into areas - but I do think the fact that Cooper's game is so predicated on his route running that sometimes zone teams could take him out of his game. He can make the best in the world look silly man-on-man. Not only is he fast but he's technically sound as a route runner. Cooper was also pretty well prepared from a film study perspective too. He knew how guys reacted to certain body motions or stances and ate them up for cheating.It's satisfying to see him play a game like this. I could sense a lot of doubt creeping into analysts voices as the weeks went along. Amari is NOT Julio. I don't think he's a guy that will shred you even with 2 guys over the top. He eats single man coverage and soft zone alive. He's gotten a lot better against press-coverage but Oakland needs to scheme ways to get him single man looks and let him run after the catch. His explosiveness and elusiveness aren't being fully utilized out wide.
Not many guys can be like Julio where they break people down regardless of scheme. Cooper is one of the best in the NFL at WR but he's not quite in the Julio or AB tier.