Raiders’ dreams take flight in hands of Amari Cooper

Recommended Video:

SAN DIEGO — What does hope look like? It looks like a 6-foot-1, 210-pound, lightning-fast young man named Amari Cooper.

The Raiders’ rookie wide receiver, more than any other factor, embodies the promise of something new. Something big. Something different.

“He’s off to a nice start,” head coach Jack Del Rio said with admirable restraint and understatement.

Cooper has become a must-see star in a star-laden league. And he was that again Sunday, the centerpiece of a comprehensive beating of the Chargers. Though the final score was 37-29, that was thanks to a fourth quarter the Raiders forgot to play. The win put the Raiders at 3-3 and in second place in the AFC West, squarely still in the playoff picture with two wild-card hopefuls (the Jets and Steelers) up next.

The Raiders need to learn to finish. But, garbage time aside, this was the Raiders’ most impressive road performance since the 2010 season, when they smoked both Denver and Kansas City. On Sunday, they started the game with urgency. They were crisp, energetic and efficient on offense. They looked like a team that had been coached well during the bye week and was ready to play the game.

Something good is happening with the Raiders and the easiest place to point to is the top draft pick who is producing in ways that too many high Raiders draft picks didn’t. Cooper, the fourth overall pick, joined some rarefied air Sunday. With his 133 receiving yards, he became the third rookie in NFL history to go over 500 yards in receiving in his first six games, along with Randy Moss and Anquan Boldin.

Cooper, 21, is making playing in the NFL look easy. Fun.

“Yes,” he said with a quick smile. “It’s really, really fun.”

Jimmy Wilson can’t stop Amari Cooper from making this catch in the second quarter, during which he had 117 receiving yards. Jimmy Wilson can’t stop Amari Cooper from making this catch in the second quarter, during which he had 117 receiving yards. Photo: Harry How, Getty Images Photo: Harry How, Getty Images Image 1 of / 12 Caption Close Raiders’ dreams take flight in hands of Amari Cooper 1 / 12 Back to Gallery

Cooper, in a blue checked shirt and navy suit, was restrained after the game, matching his coach’s description of him.

“He’s continuing to go about things the right way,” Del Rio said. “It starts with the way he works. He’s a soft-spoken, humble guy who loves to play football. He’s serious about his job.”

A receiver is a dependent player. He can’t do anything unless his quarterback gets him the ball, unless the offensive coordinator calls passes to go his way.

The Raiders are figuring out that part, too. Derek Carr’s eyes light up when he talks about getting the ball to Cooper, who is as nice a safety valve as any quarterback could want. And coordinator Bill Musgrave called a good game Sunday, mixing the run and the pass and keeping the Chargers’ soft defense off balance.

“We had a good week of practice and we took it out on the field,” Cooper said.

The Raiders’ offense was in the zone in the first half, scoring 20 points in the second quarter — when Cooper had four catches for 117 yards — and finding a rhythm that it can build on.

“It felt that way,” Carr said, “but we weren’t as good as we need to be in the red zone.”

Maybe they should be sure to feed Cooper.

“He’s amazing,” Carr said of Cooper. “He’s awesome.”

In that second quarter, Carr found Cooper on a 44-yard pass. Carr saw Cooper beat the corner and put the ball up for him over the safety.

“That was a ‘please-catch-it’ kind of deal,” Carr said. Cooper did, brushing off his jersey with unusual flare when he stood up, and setting up a field goal.

On the Raiders’ next possession, Carr tossed a short pass to his left for Cooper and then it was off to the races, with the offensive line galloping downfield to block.

Cooper pivoted past a corner, stepped out of the grasp of a linebacker, started to stumble, regained his balance, didn’t lose speed and beat everyone to the end zone to finish a 52-yard play.

“It was a perfect play,” Cooper said. “I saw that I had a lot of room and began to stumble, but I got my footing back. I felt like I might get caught, but I didn’t.”

Nope. Hard to catch that man.

“He’s a quick-twitch guy,” San Diego corner Jason Verrett said. “He’s aggressive. I have respect for him.”

With every new highlight by Cooper, the crowd at Qualcomm Stadium erupted into deafening cheers of “Cooooop.” Sunday’s game felt like a home game for the Raiders, with Oakland fans filling at least half the seats and dominating the atmosphere.

“Great weather, great atmosphere, great day to play some football,” Cooper said.

The subtext of the game was what happens next for both teams, who have stated their plans to partner on a stadium in Carson (Los Angeles County). It seems ludicrous for division rivals to share a stadium, and the smart betting still says the L.A. market is the Rams’ to lose, but a nagging subplot of Sunday’s outing was whether it could be the last game between the two teams at Qualcomm. Mark Davis spoke to an L.A. reporter on the field before the game and made his case again for relocating to Los Angeles, noting that nothing is happening in Oakland.

The location of the Raiders’ future is murky. But the prospect of that future is bright right now. And a lot of that optimism revolves around hope, bottled in a No. 89 jersey, loping down the field.

Ann Killion is a San Francisco Chronicle columnist. E-mail: akillion@sfchronicle.com Twitter: @annkillion