"This popped us" - Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones reacts to Amari Cooper missing key games due to COVID vaccination status
The NFL world was shocked last week when Dallas Cowboys wide receiver Amari Cooper was added to the COVID Reserve list after testing positive for the virus. As with most players who are on teams that aren't at a 100 percent vaccination rate, it was unclear whether or not Cooper was vaccinated before the positive result.
The Cowboys were without Cooper in this past Sunday's loss to the Kansas City Chiefs. Cooper will miss his second consecutive game on Thanksgiving due to the ten-day period non-vaccinated players must be out for after testing positive.
While making his weekly appearance on 105.3 The Fan earlier this week, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones spoke about Cooper's status. Jones said that Cooper was asymptomatic at the time he tested positive. While Jones praised the Cowboys' number one wide receiver for the type of player and person that he is, he also expressed some frustration with the situation:
"But this is a classic case of how it can impact a team. You cannot win anything individually....This popped us. This did pop us," Jones said.
Cowboys owner Jerry Jones praised WR Amari Cooper for being “outstanding” from a character and intelligence standpoint. “But this is a classic case of how it can impact a team” when someone not vaccinated. “You cannot win anything individually. …This popped us. This did pop us.”
Jerry Jones also added a positive spin to the Amari Cooper situation, saying that at least he won't test positive again this season and that it will give his lingering hamstring issue a 'two-week rest'.
At the start of the season, Jerry Jones had said that he expected his players to get the COVID-19 vaccine, and that although he believed everyone had a personal choice, it shouldn't be a selfish one.
Last week's revelation proved what Jones was trying to prevent. Cooper's positive COVID-19 test came just days before one of the Cowboys' biggest games of the season against the Kansas City Chiefs. The Cowboys lost 19-9, and while the defense showed their ability, the offense couldn't get into the end zone once.
Cooper will also miss the Thanksgiving Day game against the Las Vegas Raiders, making it two games in which Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott will be without his WR1. The Cowboys also lost wide receiver CeeDee Lamb to a concussion in Sunday's loss to Kansas City. Lamb's status for Thursday is still questionable.
And so Amari Cooper also will be ineligible to play on Thanksgiving against the Raiders. twitter.com/toddarcher/sta…
The Dallas Cowboys will face the Las Vegas Raiders in their traditional Thanksgiving afternoon game at AT&T Stadium.