Jared Cook has been an underachiever in his career, but he now holds the same record for three franchises.
Jared Cook was the best player on the field for the Oakland Raiders Monday night, as he finished with nine receptions (on 12 targets) for 180 yards in a 33-13 loss to the Los Angeles Rams. It was also his career-high for yardage in game, as could be expected, and it became the Raiders’ record for yardage in a game by a tight end.
According to Michael Gehlken of the Las Vegas Review-Journal, this not a first for Cook in his career. He now holds the same single-game tight end yardage record for three franchises.
In Christmas Eve 2011 for the Tennessee Titans, against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cook had eight catches for 169 yards and a touchdown. Then in Week 1 of the 2013 season for the Rams, against the Arizona Cardinals, he had seven catches for 141 yards and two touchdowns. Both of those records still stand for each franchise. Those games also account for three of his 19 career touchdowns.
Cook looks the part, listed at 6-foot-5 and 254 pounds, but he’s also been an underachiever. His career highs for catches (54, in 2017 with the Raiders), yards (759, in 2011 with the Titans) and touchdowns (5, in 2013 with the Rams) simply don’t stand out.
Cook did average over 12 yards per catch in all but one season from 2010-2017, and he narrowly missed the mark in 2012 (11.9 yards per catch). So explosive plays can be considered his forte, and all four of the Raiders plays that went for more than 17 yards Monday night were Cook connections with Derek Carr for 45, 32, 28 and 27 yards.
The 27-yard play, with under a minute to go in the game, pushed Cook past the previous franchise mark of 173 yards for a tight end, set by Todd Christensen on Nov. 20, 1986 against the San Diego Chargers.