Eagles receiver Riley Cooper says he doesn’t know whether fans booed or cheered him in the preseason opener, which came nine days after video surfaced of Cooper using a racial slur.
Cooper caught one pass for 19 yards, and he said afterward that he was told the fans cheered him then. But he says he was blocking out the crowd noise and therefore doesn’t know if the fans in Philly are supporting him.
“I didn’t pay attention,” Cooper said, via CSNPhilly.com. “I know I had that one catch and people said it was a good reaction.”
The home team’s fans will always cheer the player who’s helping their team, so any time Cooper makes a 19-yard catch, he can expect to hear cheers in Philadelphia. A bigger question is how Cooper will be treated when he plays on the road.
Cooper did say that he was glad to be back on the field after a week and a half in which he was sent away from the team for a few days after he became the subject of intense scrutiny and harsh criticism.
“I felt great,” he said.
That’s something Cooper hasn’t been able to say very much over the last week and a half.