Couch: Connor Cook unfazed (as always) by ride with Raiders

GRAND RAPIDS – If Connor Cook has changed after a year in the NFL, it doesn’t come across in a 10-minute interview.

He’s never been one for deep self-analysis. He’s always had an unshakable faith in himself and the situation around him. Even when it’s been hard to justify. I don’t believe it to be a front. Cook is who he is, take it or leave it, like him or not.

Who he is can be a detriment to him. It also sometimes serves him well. It did early on at Michigan State and throughout most of his college career. It caused him to slide in last year’s NFL Draft and then probably allowed him to better cope with a year as an afterthought as a third-string rookie quarterback with the Oakland Raiders.

He didn’t play at all through 15 games, didn’t even dress for games, and took very few snaps in practice, “four to eight a practice,” he estimates. Then, with no warning, as the two quarterbacks in front of him fell to injury, he was Raiders’ starter, thrust into action against two of the league’s top defenses, Denver and Houston. Both games on the road, including a playoff game against the Texans that didn’t go well.

Cook’s recollection of how he felt the first time he took the field as an NFL quarterback, on New Year’s Day in the Raiders’ regular-season finale at Denver, is classic Cook.

“I didn’t really feel too nervous. I didn’t really feel too overwhelmed,” he said Thursday evening, before the Spartan Winter Tailgate in Grand Rapids. “I was kind of taken back and shocked that I didn’t feel too nervous, because, when I went in against Denver, I just felt ready, if anything.”

Shocked that he wasn’t nervous. That was his only feeling. That’s Cook. His oblivion is a strength. His lack of sensitivity an attribute on the football field. Off the field, he is sometimes unaware. On the field, few QBs at any level are blessed with such pocket awareness.

It’s a combination that helped him to bounce back from a brutal interception in the Rose Bowl, to take in stride falling two rounds further than projected in the NFL draft and to feel good about his NFL prospects after completing 18 of 45 passes and throwing three interceptions in a 27-14 playoff loss, in which he became the first NFL quarterback to make his first career start in a playoff game.

“I was going into that game thinking, ‘Why can’t we go out there and win this game?’” Cook said Thursday.

Cook is probably better off where he is right now with the Raiders than if he’d been a high draft pick or if he’d slipped further in the fourth round to the Dallas Cowboys. The Cowboys reportedly had interest in him. With Cook gone, they selected Dak Prescott. Prescott was the NFL’s Offensive Rookie of the Year. Maybe Cook could have done that. Maybe not. In Oakland, where he'll forever be behind emerging young star Derek Carr, there are few expectations of him. He might be the Raiders’ backup quarterback next season. They might bring in a veteran to compete with him for the No. 2 job.

“I think looking at the whole year, it was good,” Cook said, “having a chance to sit back and learn and obviously take a lot of notes in the meeting rooms and getting the mental reps in practice. And then going into the last game of the season and just dressing and feeling like ‘Oh, finally’ to put on the jersey again and then all of sudden your number gets called. It’s a thing that tells you that no matter what you do in the NFL, you’ve always got to be ready, if you’re the third string (QB), if you’re on the practice squad. All of a sudden one person gets hurt, you’ve got to be ready when your number gets called.”

Cook wasn’t everyone’s choice early at MSU. He won’t be in the NFL. He’ll have to prove people wrong when he gets the chance. He’ll get another chance. He’s a strong-armed, big kid with notable gifts and flaws, in a league short on quarterbacks.

He at least now knows what he’s getting into.

“It’s strictly a business, and there are guys on the practice squad that come in and one day he’ll be in the locker room and all of a sudden the next day he’s gone,” Cook said. “Everyone is always working. No one is ever complacent. No one is ever satisfied. Someone is always gunning for your job, no matter if you’re a four-time Pro Bowler or a 12-year vet. There’s no real certainty for anything. So everyone is working their tails off at practice, just so they can have their job secured. That’s the biggest thing. It’s a little bit different than college. I mean guys have families to feed.”

Contact Graham Couch at gcouch@lsj.com. Follow him on Twitter @Graham_Couch.