Raiders notebook: Amari Cooper has huge first half

OAKLAND - Amari Cooper had an amazing game at the Coliseum on Sunday. Unfortunately, just about all of the good stuff happened before halftime.

Cooper had nine catches for 117 yards in the first half of a 26-10 loss to the Kansas City Chiefs, becoming the first Raider to have nine-plus receptions before the break since Jerry Rice grabbed 10 against Pittsburgh in 2002. It was the third time in Cooper’s young career that he eclipsed 100 yards in the first half of a game; that tied Tim Brown’s franchise record. A reminder: Brown is in the Hall of Fame. Cooper has played 22 NFL games.

“He and I are on the same page,” Cooper said of Raiders quarterback Derek Carr. “I know how he wants to throw the ball. I know how he wants me to run my routes. We just have to build on it now.”

In the second half, Cooper caught just one pass for 12 yards. Carr acknowledged that the Chiefs switched up their coverage to take his No. 1 target out of the game.

“We could see it,” Carr said. “We knew what they were doing. Me and Coop were talking about it during the game. We would run a play, come back and I’d check with him, make sure we saw the same thing. We were seeing it.”

Cooper, a first-round draft choice out of Alabama last year, has 108 receptions in less than a season and a half. That’s a franchise record for most catches in a player’s first two seasons; Cooper passed running back Marcus Allen (106 in 1982-83) on Sunday.

HAPPY MUDDER’S DAY

Groundskeepers had a white tarp protecting the field at the Coliseum before the game. But when they pulled it off shortly before kickoff, a steady rain made things pretty gooey. The rain was off and on after the first quarter, but several players slipped on cuts during the course of the game.

“Even when it stopped raining, whenever you went to the ground there was mud everywhere, all over the ball,” Chiefs quarterback Alex Smith said.

To their credit, the Raiders didn’t try to use the rare California rainstorm as an excuse for their loss.

“They had the same conditions as we did,” Cooper said. “Just a part of the game. Just have to go out there and execute.”

Coach Jack Del Rio went further. “I think we threw it best when it was the wettest,” he said. “I mean, the wettest, early portion of the game is when it was really the sloppiest and I thought we went out and started the game perfectly fine.”

HORSE SHY OF A TEAM

Starting halfback Latavius Murray missed his second game with a toe injury he suffered at Baltimore in Week 4.

Against the Chargers a week ago, his absence didn’t seem to matter a great deal. The Raiders have a pair of dynamic rookie backs in De’Andre Washington and Jalen Richard, and they helped their team rush for a passable 89 yards in the victory against San Diego here.

Against the Chiefs, though, Washington ran for 49 yards on 10 carries, and Richard added a meager 8 yards on four carries, adding five yards on a couple receptions.

The Raiders could have used Murray, who is bigger than his understudies, against a stout Kansas City front anchored by 346-pound nose tackle Dontari Poe.

“I think they’re doing a fantastic job,” Carr said of Washington and Richard, “but … if you lose a starter, it’s always going to be hard on you. It’s going to be hard because Tay is such a good player, Pro Bowl running back. He’s had over 1,000 yards last year, been in some tough games, ran the ball really hard for us. You can never just replace people and just think, yes, we got it.”

NO PLACE LIKE AWAY

One strange aspect of Del Rio’s tenure with the Raiders: His team is now 4-7 at the Oakland Coliseum since he got here, and a healthy 7-4 on the road. This year the Raiders are 1-2 at the Coliseum and 3-0 is hostile territory.

“When you come home, that has to be an advantage,” Carr said. “There’s got to be something where it’s just a different feel. It has to be. We have yet to create that. It’s frustrating.”

Good news for these road warriors: Their next two games are at Jacksonville and Tampa Bay.

THE QUOTE MACHINE

Chiefs cornerback and Oakland native Marcus Peters on the Raiders’ flirtation with Las Vegas: “They better not go anywhere. They better not go anywhere. But we’ll see.”